Medicine on Alert is an independent network of doctors who are concerned with local and global health issues.
Our main topics of interest are:
• The impact of the coal mining project called Guaíba Mine on the health of the 4.5 million people living in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (capital city of Rio Grande Sul, in south of Brazil).
• Diseases caused or aggravated by air pollution, especially in children and the elderly.
• The impact of climate change on living beings.
• Public health.
• Planetary health.
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We want to make it mandatory to carry out a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in licenses for mineral coal mines, starting with the Guaíba Mine project.
The Guaíba Mine project, if approved, will be the largest open air extraction mineral coal mine in BRAZIL. At the moment in the environmental licensing phase, if approved, the project will be installed at a distance of only 16 km from Porto Alegre / RS, generating an impact throughout the Metropolitan Region of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul (south of Brazil).
Source: Instituto Internacional Arayara
AND WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH YOUR HEALTH?
Every hour, 416 kilograms of particulate matter will be released into our air for 23 years (estimated time for the mine to operate), totalizing be 30 thousand tons of dust. This means a huge load of air pollution, well above the standards recommended by WHO – World Health Organization.
Photo: Cloud of dust in the air released by an active coal mine.
Source: Rualdo Menegat
Photo: Cloud of dust in the air from an active coal mine (source: Rualdo Menegat)
Source: Instituto
Internacional Arayara
Scientific studies show that
air pollution causes illness and death.
Know some of the results of these studies:
%
of deaths from lung cancer
%
of deaths from stroke
%
of deaths from heart disease
%
of deaths from lung disease
Source: WHO – World Health Organization
Request an independent Health Impact Assessment for the Guaíba Mine project
Six medical societies and two health societies from Rio Grande do Sul issued technical opinions requesting an independent Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in accordance with WHO (World Health Organization) criteria for the coal mining project at the Guaíba Mine (see the dossier here).
AMRIGS (Medical Association of Rio Grande do Sul) has also positioned itself (read here) about the risks that the Guaíba Mine project can offer to health. Join them and sign the petition for the HIA.