``I wish I had prioritized my life'' Lessons from Minamata: Repeated crises in the Amazon

Gracie Colup, 26, an indigenous woman, sighs as she navigates a small boat along a tributary of Brazil's Amazon River. Ahead of my line of sight, a gold mining boat is dripping murky water. Near the village where I stay as a teacher. It is illegal to operate in indigenous reserves, where mining of underground resources is not permitted, but "it's the same as usual. There are more upstream." He seemed to be muttering to himself.

Gracie grew up in a riverside community. There was fish on the table every day. Until recently, I didn't know that the mercury used in gold mining contaminates fish and harms the health of those who eat it.

This spring, I found out I was pregnant.

I want to make sure my baby is properly nourished. However, is it okay to eat fish? My anxiety grows.

The period when mining ships began to be seen frequently coincided with the era of former President Bolsonaro. Nicknamed "Brazilian Trump," he took a stand against the development of indigenous reserves and drastically reduced the budget and staff of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), a government agency that cracks down on illegal mining.

When the current President Lula, who champions the protection of indigenous peoples' rights, took office in 2023, crackdowns began to tighten. According to IBAMA, 1,300 mining ships, 690 excavators, 84 aircraft, and 3,100 engines have been neutralized through blasts and other means.

However, Gracie said, ``Even if I report it, they rarely come to take action.'' Even if they come once in a while, once the rain has subsided, the mining ships will appear again.

The mistake of “economy over life”

Officially recognized in 1956, Minamata disease in Japan affected people who ate fish contaminated with methylmercury. It has been revealed that there are "fetal patients" who are not infected or inherited, but who were infected in the womb by mercury from fish their mothers ate without knowing about the contamination. Furthermore, the delay in taking countermeasures led to the spread of damage.

"Brazil has Japan's mistakes...