Members of the Dam’s affected movement (MAB) defended on Saturday (25) the need to create a health protocol to accompany the situation of the populations affected by the breakup of the Vale Vale Dam in Brumadinho. The claim occurs after a study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) detect elevation in the presence of metals in urine samples of children from 0 to 6 years old living in the affected region.
“We need a specific protocol to face this scenario. We are very concerned because the level of contamination increases in the blood of people, in animals, in all plants. All this brings serious health problems. Fiocruz’s study proves what We have spoken. This increase in the contamination rate, especially in children, is absurd.
This Saturday (25), the rupture of the dam turned exactly 6 years. To mark the date, the victims’ association of family members and affected by the rupture of the dam in Brumadinho (Avabrum) organized an act in the city center, closing A week of activities in which they charged for justice. The demonstration was attended by MAB.
“People’s contamination is a theme that worries us a lot. This toxic mud has spread, created consequences. We see sick people throughout the Paraopeba river basin. The same happens in the Rio Doce Basin, hit in 2015 by breakup From the Dam of the Samarco Mining Complex in Mariana. A specific health policy is urgent to those affected by dams, “added Joceli.
In Brumadinho, the collapse of the structure released an avalanche of tailings that generated large environmental and socioeconomic impacts, affecting thousands of people in different municipalities of the Paraopeba river basin. In all, 272 lives were lost, including in this account two babies of women who were pregnant.
Contamination
THE Study released by Fiocruz On Friday (24) brings the results of analysis of blood and urine samples collected in 2023, four years after the tragedy. At least one of five metals – cadmium, arsenium, mercury, lead and manganese – in the urine of all children aged 0 to 6 who were evaluated.
Compared to analyzes performed in 2021, there was a worsening of the scenario. In the case of arsenic, for example, the total percentage of children with levels above the reference value went from 42% to 57%.
“The results demonstrate an exposure to metals and not an intoxication, which can only be considered after clinical evaluation and performing other examinations to define the diagnosis. Thus, a medical evaluation for all research participants who presented is recommended Levels above the recommended biological boundaries, so that the results are analyzed in the general context of their health, “said Fiocruz researchers.
In adults, the situation also draws attention: arsenic was detected at high levels at about 20% of urine samples. It is metal that most often appears above the reference limits. On the other hand, in the adolescent population, the percentage of samples detected with metals above the reference values decreased from 2021 to 2023.
The study also analyzed other factors such as medical diagnoses. Attention, an increase in the prevalence of some conditions, such as high cholesterol, which went from 4.7%in 2021 to 10.1%in 2023. Similar situation went with a group of diseases that includes emphysema, chronic bronchitis or Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which jumped from 2.7% to 10.7%.
