Economic Impacts on Human Health Resulting from the Use of Mercury in the Illegal Gold Mining in the Brazilian Amazon: A Methodological Assessment

The main objective of this study is to propose a methodology to evaluate the impacts of ASGM on human health in different contexts in the Brazilian Amazon. It connects several points in the literature based on hypotheses regarding mercury dispersion in water, its transformation into methylmercury, and absorption by fish and humans. This methodology can be used as a tool to estimate the extent of environmental damage caused by artisanal gold mining, the severity of damage to the health of individuals contaminated by mercury and, consequently, can contribute to the application of fines to environmental violators.