The Most Dangerous Black Market You've Never Heard Of
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2021
- Mercury is crucial to small-scale gold mining in South America but increasing scrutiny of its health and environmental impact in the Amazon is leading to its prohibition throughout the continent.
This investigation delves into the underworld of mercury, following its path from Guyana to neighboring Suriname, exploring the health and environmental consequences, and what the prohibition of mercury would mean for the livelihoods of miners and communities across the Amazon.
‘MERCURY’ is a film by Tom Laffay, produced by InfoAmazonia, a data journalism initiative which reports on the Amazon. It forms part of a wider investigation called ‘Mercury - Chasing the Quicksilver’ led by journalist Bram Ebus. Read more here: mercurio.infoamazonia.org/en/
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*WATCH NEXT:* Buying Organs on the Black Market - ua-cam.com/video/XmD8tL1Dz0g/v-deo.html
🎉🎉🎉 1:21
scary, black market. does it exist? people asking about it? Organs? Hospitals?
❤❤❤@@raidjendoubi7235
Literally every Vice video has people saying "This is so good, just like the old Vice" they never stopped making this type of content lol.
What they likely mean is the "old Vice" wasn't putting out certain content thats unlike the usual great content they're known for. I've also seen the decline in certain content as well unfortunately.
So true I’ve seen these comments for at least two years
What they're saying is that Vice didn't go too far biased-liberal left in their coverage like they were doing for awhile.
@@quitoduck not trying to pick a fight but I think vice criticism was due to “lgbt kenamine in Colombia” stories rather than stuff like this.
@@michaelgilmore4267 thank you I'll check that out
For those wanting to quantify what a 'pennyweight' of gold is, it's an archaic measurement of mass equal to about 1.55 grams. Today the monetary value of 1 pennyweight of gold is about $80 usd. "5 or 6 pennyweight a day"...$400-$500 Even distributed among a crew of a dozen people, that's about 1-4 weeks of income for one days' work.
Just throwing that out there because I myself had absolutely no idea what it was and couldn't find the answer in the comments. =)
They aren't getting $80/pennyweight at the small dealers they are selling to.
@@tar5us452 damn
@@tar5us452 Yeah - makes sense. I didn't really think about that - I was just going off of spot weight.
What do you think? $10? Dealer sells for $30 to middle-man, middle-man sells bulk at $60/$70 to the big companies, then they sell above spot to investors and stuff?
Thnk you, 2021 and humans need to do this im ashamed off my race
You da real MVP my man
Wow, excellent piece shining light on a huge problem that many are a part of, but unaware of..
ON
INSTAGRAM
"show us other ways, teach us to use them and we stop using mercury"
These people just try to make a living for their family. mostly by wasting their own health....
Banning materials without providing a replacement, has and will never work. As the man said, only large scale mining companies will be able to do it. But that’s the whole point today. Transfer the wealth to large corporations, as the US did during the pandemic
During the pandemic? That has been happening for the last 100 years. Wealth inequality isn't a new thing.
There's a reason why they say the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer.
@@John-Perry its true but the pandemic amplified it tremendously
It is way more complicated than “rich corporation evil.” There are some pretty real reasons to not dump a bunch of mercury into your country,,,like what does it do to the poor kids who are drinking from a source just downstream or who play next to the small smelting plant, or the miners themselves. And yes, there have been a few cases where “ban it” worked- like with qualudes in the 70s. The reason you don’t hear about qualudes is that the US cracked down hard on the main ingredient….and almost overnight qualude overdoses and deaths dropped to practically zero.
@@Itried20takennames is cyanide safer in drinking water?
There are so few documentaries about Guyana! Despite the heavy nature of the video, it is still nice to see something about that region of the world. My mom grew up in a village near Georgetown. I have many stories but not a lot of images of what it may have looked like.
More documentaries about smaller countries please!
Not exactly, if you remember watching the Jonestown Massacre on PBS or Seconds from Disaster on NatoGeo, then you probably remember Guyana
I not from Guyana but I wish the people who used that beach would stop littering their trash everywhere. 👩🔧👨🔧
@@GbrJose not too many people know about this place me included till today
type up worlds deadlest roads guyana on you tube they do one there
@@GbrJose my mom is from there and I’d love to see a documentary
I live in Guyana and I wasn't aware of the problem with mercury. It seems as if the government doesn't even bring up this issue and take actions to resolve it. It may be considered illegal, but a lot of illegal things are swept under the rug and laws aren't strictly enforced because this is how things are like in developing countries. As the men say in this documentary, their living depends on this and it's how they earn money to support their families and send their children to school.
Guyana needs a transition to an IT based economy. The govt needs to push for increased internet speeds and free education in coding (Python, Java)
@@MS-tc2fs Do you even know what you're talking about? How can Guyana make such transition when it's still broke and struggling. We're still highly dependent on the primary sector for revenue. Besides, education is indeed free for programming. If you do CAPE subjects such as IT or Computer Science, you learn how to code.
@@momouwu1937 Poisoning yourselves with mercury is counterproductive to the development of society
@@momouwu1937 lol yeah that is pretty damn delusional and I’ve never been to and know only a little about Guyana 😅
This is the first time I have ever had contact with any human from Guyana! Most people have never heard of your country. Your country is so unsupported… so corrupt that the governments of each country recognize that mining cyanide & mercury widely support this and other corrupt practices An open secret to most big FMCG companies. I would love to know more about your country. Many western people are not allowed to travel there (I worked for a big company in Latin America, based in New York and was not even allowed to request a visa… Suriname and Guyana didn’t even “appear” on our “markets map”.). We need to learn about your culture, your country! Please can you upload content!!
That one dude talking about Mercury not being dangerous was very convincing
Don't drink the funny looking drippy metal. Please.
Anecdotal evidence can sound convincing when people speak with confidence, but it isn't statistically relevant and is often impacted by confirmation bias.
It depends on the type. U can Handel metallic mercury pretty safely
@@TreesTrees statistically government’s lie when it benefits them so statistically people either believe everything or nothing they say
@@TreesTrees Seen the video by Cody's Lab where he swills it around in his mouth?
Mercury checks at the hospital afterwards came up negative. It's the vapour that's dangerous, or getting it in an open wound or actually ingesting it. Using a fume hood and cartridge respiratory system that's rated for mercury vapour, as well as gloves, is sufficient in most cases for handling mercury. Similarly for burning it off.
Cyanide is also a dangerous substance. Mercury is the lesser of the two evils as long as there are measures to recycle the mercury evaporated off as vapour. Widespread release into the air is obviously bad, as is it leeching into groundwater, but then cyanide would be worse in the groundwater, especially if it made its way into an aquifer at some point.
the man saying he has 16 siblings is the most guyanese thing i have ever heard.
You Guyanese?😂😂😂😂😂
somebody has to stop breeding
Not Black people
@@mrlampcompressor1614 people who can't afford kids should stop having kids
people can afford to have many kids. the world is ours and there is enough space on it for everyone to have their own land and farm to feed their family.
Yet nothing about Exxon ruining those fresh waters and nothing about all the trees being cut down. As a Guyanese we all know how rich the country is but the poor infrastructure and greed has lead down a terrible path. Gold is too plentiful in Guyana and it’ll never stopped being mined. Big up all my Guyanese and all my Caribbean people ✊🏾❤️
👋👋
I would like to donate at least 40% of my proceeds after watching this towards a good cause. It is not our fault American people use so much oil and their government buy up resources from us and make us rich. i do feel bad now.
Repent to Jesus Christ!
“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Romans 10:10 NIV
@@jesusislord6545 Because that will stop unfettered greed and capitalism. Ultimately, yes, but yeah kind of falling on deaf ears when they're living the problem.
@@TRC2002 it's funny how some users, out of millions, are known. I've seen Repent! around; They must have no life at all.
I remember several years ago heroin addiction destroyed my life, I suffered from severe depression and a mental disorder until I was recommended to psilocybin mushroom treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly I'm 8 years clean now. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms.
they saved you from death bud, let's be honest here mushrooms are one of the most amazing things on this planet I wish people could all realize. they can solve a lot of problems, more than mental treatments.
yes, that's right, I researched and found out that shrooms are helpful in many ways but nobody talks about where to get them. Very hard to get a reliable source I can reach out to
Yeah, but I'm pretty sure of Sporeville he's an intelligent mycologist.
they've helped me a lot as well I'm a war vet diagnosed with PTSD. A lot of issues spun out of control when I came home. This is something i looked up and tried after trying the roller coaster of antidepressants. Day and night difference
How do I reach out to him? Is he on Instagram
i don't know whether its my obsession or its the quality of work that just keeps pulling me to this damn good content. i congratulate Shane smith the founder of vice and the quality of their work from Middle East, to Ukraine, Antartitic to baltic regions from south east to north including africa. covering almost everything of real importance for world community. Terrorism, conflicts health social and political issues. the vice is up there on top the table, thank you for becoming an integral part of my phd thesis.
What is your thesis about?
When I was a teen, I accidently dropped a mercury thermometer and it cracked . I spent the week thinking I was going to die from a tiny bit that will not effect you. So I can't imagine being exposed like these people
You mean affect? Fkin idiot
As with anything like this "get educated" on it. Mercury stays in the body and remains there and repeated exposure whether working with it or exposed environmentally, even consuming things like fish too often over a long period will cause toxicity and health problems eventually. Mercury is notoriously hard to get out of the body and relatively expensive. Chelation tech is getting better and Types of Blood filtration. Mercury is very difficult to get dislodged from the body tissues in order to remove it.
@@datarake7222 calm your tits lol
I think they use a different liquid since like the 70s
When my thermometer broke I swallowed the mercury, and I'm a Guyanese 🇬🇾.
This was a great piece but I have just a couple of recommendations: 1) As an environmental engineer, I know first hand how easy it is to get caught up in my thoughts and switch between units when speaking to audiences unfamiliar with SI unit conversions. When the scientist said they have 30,000 ug/m3 and then gave a reference point that 1 mg/m3 is very, very high I suspect that his implying they are 30x over a 'very high' contaminate concentration went unnoticed by a lot of the audience. A lot of videos now will supplement the narrative with text showing helpful tidbits, and I'd recommend throwing in a block of text with those kind of scenes to show the audience that conversion for context (my teams do this all the time in presentations). 2) for a 30 min piece on mercury proliferation in south America, not a lot of time was spent explaining the risks and routes for exposure and toxicity. Maybe much of the older audience remember mercury being in the public eye back in the days where it was contentious as a fuel additive, but the risks regarding bioaccumulation are probably not as well understood as the producers here may expect. The scientist and the narrator both allude to 'persistence' but that doesn't really communicate the pernicious reality of mercury contamination in natural systems. A few more minutes explaining this could have conveyed some well-founded fears toward the audience regarding this dangerous metal. The shots of people handling it are unsettling but pretty cool though. It really is mercurial and a fascinating and amazingly-useful metal... too bad it will shred every cognitive function of these poor miners over a long enough exposure time.
I think I botched those units myself. haha. Now that I re-read my comment i'm thinking he said it was 30,000 ng/m3 and then mentioned 1 ug/m3 was high... either way it is the same ratio and could be confusing.
To add to this, it would have been nice to hear more about the alternatives to mercury and their respective risks.
Why don't you just make a documentary if you're so gay for Mercury
This is just a part of the full film 'MERCURY'. Link is in the description. Maybe they go more in detail who knows. With what you're educated on, I would watch that and then judge. But for what you are saying, good to know! Now I'm curious to watch their full film doc.
@@devon9075 You can edit your comment for any corrections. Just click on the three dots that appear in the upper right corner when you hover your cursor over your comment. :)
"I have to do it for my family." The ultimate expression of a Government that has failed, causing one to turn to desperate and illegal action to provide for ones' family.
I guess the US has failed then too because there are plenty of criminals here
@@aquariuscheers9191 It's more about why there are criminals not so much as acknowledging they exist. With no safety nets, one bad turn of events can lead to a desparate situation. On the other hand, apparently handouts like welfare causes exploitative behavior.
@@Teabahgeue Heisenberg has entered the chat
The US will be soon change it’s name to New Venezuela
@@AllShallBeRevealed1776 it is already Europe's Dog. Why do you think our leaders have been of European Descent?
Excellent documentary! I was unaware of the impacts of mercury and our environment, governments not locking down on this, how poor people are influenced to work in these mines because they have to feed their families/maintain a living, how places like Canada, Switzerland, and others are supporting this industry, how the black market is a multi-millions industry-esp. with mercury, and I learned so much more. Thank you so much for sharing.
As a whole Africa is one if not the most corrupt places in the world.
Haven't you read a single science book written in the USA since 1980??? WTF?!?! Lazy!!
@@ericswain4177 this video doesn't have anything to do with Africa, it takes place in South America.
"impacts of mercury and our environment" Everything we do impacts our Environment, the question is, are the benefits worth the costs, and mercury is a very important element for industry.
"how poor people are influenced to work in these mines because they have to feed their families/maintain a living" By being given a wage? A job? Whats so bad about that?
"places like Canada, Switzerland, and others are supporting this industry" yes again, whats so bad about that, we need mercury, they provide mercury. That's called trade.
"how the black market is a multi-millions industry" Then lets make it white, legitimize the market, make it more profitable, increase investment, help the poor people getting mercury etc. Prohibition does not work anyway.
@@ericswain4177 they are in South America Eric.
As a guyanese, I'd like to say that it's awesome to see some exposure for my small country that's often ignored in the grand scheme of things. And yeah. It's pretty sad that this is what our citizens resort to but this is how we live. We are a nice people though, very friend... Socome visit and explore the other aspects of our culture. ( and no I didn't even know that this happens here) Thanks VICE ! ❤️
🇬🇾❤
Exposure like this nah good I’m from skeldon it’s make rich people from all over come and take over starving the village man dem and then work for dem self to working for some white man or something
Isn’t guyana famous for melons
Since 2019 I traveled to Colombia I was intrigued with that part of the Amazon where they are hidden, without a doubt I will go to know soon
Please be safe, pandemics and mercury poisoning never produces afterlives.
Imagine how desperate you’d have to be to mine Mercury with your bare hands?
You can actually hold pure mercury with your bare hands with no health consequences, look up Cody’s lab eats mercury lol
Actually UA-cam deleted that video but he also holds it
Yep, you can handle elemental Mercury pretty safely. I wouldn’t ingest it (technically safe in small quantities) though, cause it’s reacts with damned near *everything* and a lot of the products of those reactions are far, far more toxic - and obviously, the base metal isn’t exactly healthy.
the problems are the inhalation of mercury vapor when they boil the mercury off the gold, and the spread of mercury compounds all over the region from the waterways and the vapor, as the distributed mercury slowly reacts with other substances. I think you can even find elevated mercury levels in places that are only connected to gold mining areas by rainfall. the stuff poisons the whole region for decades to come, most of all the rivers. the industry has a terrible harm-benefit ration for a country. it has massively detrimental effects on society, kinda like how leaded gasoline used to make people stupid and violent.
Sometimes if you live below the poverty, and you desperately need the wealth, to some people, it's necessary, even if it is risky.
Guyanese in the house 🇬🇾✊🏽❤️🖤💛🤍💚. I’m first born in the country for my family from there. Only thing good I can take away from this is seeing a Vice documentary on my country. Besides Jim Jones I usually don’t hear too much content coverage on Guyana. Praying the economy flourishes and dilemmas lightens up 💔.
My hope is that shining a light on this problem will lead to steps leading out of it. What a sobering but enlightening doc. Thank you.
7:00 i really wanna appreciate that extractor for taking responsibility to build a system to keep him safe,
that was smart af
Only to put it into the ground water so he along with everyone else can drink it later. Yep...sUpER sMaRt
After watching this. Now think of privileged pics complaining at universities about micro aggression that never happened as the white supremacist USA gave them scholarship to act like cundz
That's an interesting take.
@@thisgame2 Lol get help dude.
@@bobt8578 i think he said the water gets pumped back into the system while the mercury deposits.. that's how i understood it at least
Mercury is literally the most amazing looking metal I've ever seen. It's fun to stare at it...like a dangerous beauty.
Uhhh.. nurse right?? Lol check out bismuth way prettier and not sketch what so ever like this is
I poured it out of an thermometer in middle school it feels weightless but cool
Reminds me of Radium clocks everyone used to have.
go look at melted aluminum instead
yeah, its cool but...... this will make your day then haha ua-cam.com/video/jeghGhVdt9s/v-deo.html&ab_channel=LockPickingLawyer
Crazy enough my father showed me how to process gold with mercury when I was maybe 12 years old, of course very small scale and we were in a well ventilated garage.
I remember my father he gave me a mask and told me to not breath in and to hold my
We watch from our devices that exist because of the gold they feed their families with. It's really fucked up but I won't judge anyone for feeding their family. I do think the one guy said the big gold mining companies are probably doing much worse with the blessing of their governments. Like always the little guy gets a raw deal while the rich and privileged judge and rule.
The amount of gold in your phone is trivial. Also, not all gold and silver comes from this godforsaken place.
@@goodkrypollo1706 I agree as individuals the amount of gold in our phones is very very small aprox 1/35th of 1 gram. So every 35 phone is equal to 1 gram. And if you think China the manufacturing mecca of cell phones isn't buying gold from those as you called them "God forsaken places". Your not being honest with yourself.
@@mp6756 there's other ways to extract gold cheaply without using cyanide and mercury.
I had learned how to do that as a child in the 80’s in Colorado. They would test pans of soil from river beds to see if it was worth panning for gold there. They would break transistor tubes from old tvs to get the mercury, run it through a test pan of soil, then put the mercury in a hollowed out potato and bake it for a few hours in a fire, then check to see how much gold flake remained.
@Charles Coderre WRONG- in a more primitive form they are transistors
So dangerous
O wow
Vacuum tube. Like light bulbs, vacuum tubes needed to be devoid of oxygen because of their filament. So in the old days the air would be sucked out to avoid combustion/filament burning out, hence the name vacuum tube. Transistors came after tube technology.
Not harping just sharing some information I think is neat.
@Charles Coderre He's meaning mercury rectifiers most likely.
Good to see Vice getting back to their roots. Can we get some future North Korean / Russian / China stuff?
You say that like it’s easy to go into North Korea during a pandemic and record a mini doc with secret cameras
China funds Disney and DIsney is funding Vice Media now.. connect the dots.
They will never report for 1 side bad men, because those men fund the channel for this 'news' just like all other news its a bunch of billionaire companies to spread their version of what is going on in history. It's all manipulators of advertising and billionaire investing into the news that props up their businesses with vice being part of disney media now, aka china globalism.
@SpongeBob Reported for spam as usual
@@everythinghaschanged42 couldn't be any harder than talking with people in Afghanistan & Hatti
They have never stopped making content like this.
I often complain about my 9-5 warehouse job, watching this definitely helps put things into perspective
I mean a shitty job is still a shitty job though. Just because someone has it worse doesn't mitigate or invalidate your own struggles.
As a fellow Guyanese, our country needs help. Being exploited, and no development happening in our country is devastating. Our people are suffering physically, mentally and economically.
do sumfin
"It's illegal yea, but you aren't doing nothing like extraterrestrial."
I mean, it’s not like you are bringing in uranium 🤷🏾♂️
Lmao. Wtf is this dude saying?!?
not like drugs
That one dude nailed it - the government needs to step up and teach them how to mine gold safely
@Jam D or do the work yourself while we wait. Sloth is as much a sin as greed.
Historically, mercury was used extensively in hydraulic gold mining in order to help the gold to sink through the flowing water-gravel mixture.
Thin gold particles may form mercury-gold amalgam and therefore increase the gold recovery rates.
Large-scale use of mercury stopped in the 1960s.
However, mercury is still used in small scale, often clandestine, gold prospecting.
It is estimated that 45,000 metric tons of mercury used in California for placer mining have not been recovered.
Mercury was also used in silver mining.
God bless Dr. Archer, what a remarkable woman, battling the stigma that mercury-handling workers face while fighting for their health in the first line! Probably with inadequate means too!!
I heard that back in the PS2 era, Sony was dragged in this mining issue due to when PS2 was so in demand, these poor miners were forced to work double time to harvest more rare earth. Because one of the rare components of the hardware's microchip was imported from this part of the globe.
VICE leading the short documentary space yet again. Well done, bravo.
dont worry, they will make a short docu on trans right again soon, hide the dislike ratio and pple in comments will say vice lost it.
Next day upload a docu about crack heads and weed and the same people comment "now this is the old vice we all love"
Bout time
Super fascinating coverage of an underground economy we hear absolutely nothing about. Would love to see/read more about how things have changed almost a year on (which is also to say I hope they have... at all).
I still think gravity methods are more effective at fine gold recovery but they do require upfront investment. Mercury is effective at trapping the fine gold particles but there is also mercury loss to the environment during the process - so it isn't going to be 100% recovery regardless of the option you use. Plus, its use in the field not being regulated means people are using alot of different methods with mercury. Something like a shaker table is ideal but even a spiral pan (for a couple hundred bucks or so) would recover the same amount in my view. It might not be investment they have readily available but it puts money in their pockets instead of the mercury traders and would provide a path forward of getting out of this cycle. You run sluices for volume and use the spiral pan or something like a gold cube for running the concentrate.
You taught me something today.
It seems that the mining industry is always at odds with Maroon peoples.
If it isn't stealing and poisoning their lands, its poisoning them directly in this way.
they seem more like a darker brown to me than maroon
@@TreyAnderson528 that’s not what maroons mean it’s a pretty interesting culture if you want to read up
@@TreyAnderson528 not really applicable
@@TreyAnderson528 cringe
@@TreyAnderson528 bruh
"They have to build a fence in the river"
Don't give the government ideas.
* "They gotta build a fence in the mothafuckin' river"
@@JGunit beater is the civilised translator
@@JGunit try using the term "Fatherfuckin" river". I like it....has much more gonadal rhythm to it makes me smile yes it goes deep as it should. Yes the Fatherfuckers of the world indeed tis so much more accurate
@@HigherWaysWoman copy that
@@HigherWaysWoman no
All blessing for Guyana.
Beautiful country. wonderful hard working people and rich natural resources.
next video should focus on the influx of Venezuelan and Haitian.
Im quarter guyanese n its cool to see channels i actually watch talk about things id never know otherwise
Cool to see my country represented honestly.
@BlackPill Bussy what
@BlackPill Bussy I'm Guyanese its not a German flag its the ruling political party flags the" people progressive party"
@@clairmontbabb2771 yeah and im pretty sure they're belgian not german
It was 2014 2015 election year ppp flag, pnc one was like Kenya 🇰🇪
@exposing truth ignorant
5:01 That's the Gnarliest coke nail ivd ever seen
That boy can toot a whole gram with that nail 😆
@@codeinecowboy8607 lol ABSOLUTELY correct... come to think of it...what your nails be lookin like these days Cowboy
I noticed that and thought “nah, must mean something else…what do I know?”. So thanks for confirming! 😆
That was a extension I just use a scooper lol
Empowering & inspirational! Thank you
7.30 it's music to my ears , what a voice
Hard to get people to stop doing something that they need to survive. Would be nice to find a reasonable alternative to the mercury.
There is an alternative, it’s called a sloose box
@@Smegma_pirate You must be the only one in the world that knows what that box looks like...I googled it and it found NOTHING on the internet...😂🤣😂
@@ladyaly864 lmao wtf you never watched gold rush its a gold trap with baffle and miners moss in it and the miners moss catches fine gold the baffles catch the big stuff and the water washes the dirt away
@@Smegma_pirate sluice box en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer_mining
@@ladyaly864 He is correct, but spelled it wrong...Sluice Box.
I love how that 1 guy is like '' Mercury is not as bad as people say it is'' lol. It is not what people say it is its scientific facts
Just like COVID 19 -.-
@@TonyMontana-qp9bu ya? Crazy covid has a 99% survival rate. But you dont wanna hear some real facts.
@@TheFn414 lol you look at overall survival as if that's the only metrics to consider 😂 maybe work a job like me and speak with young people on a weekly basis whose lungs are destroyed or are suffering other horrendous lingering effects
@@TheFn414 about 92% of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan made it home alive... I guess battlefield injuries aren't that bad either 😅
@@UA-cam_is_full_of_trolls Im 25. Iv had covid 2 times now… I have antibodies built up… And ALL of my friends have also had it and have had nothing happen…. I also work in the Healthcare Field and see over 40 patients a day… And guess what Most of them are young… I have seen cases of Young people have bad effects… But you wanna know what the one factor that is the same between EVERYONE that has Adverse effects to this virus? Ever. Single. One. Had a pre Existing health condition… Everyone… I have yet to see a patient who is healthy. With 0 Pre-existing health conditions come in and have a Adverse reaction to the virus… None.
That father who said he works so his kids can go to school is a good man regardless of his illegal activity. I hope the kids can eventually get the family away from that life.
When I was a little boy and was sick with pneumonia in the late 1980's, I had to constantly have my oral temperature monitored with a mercury thermometer. It took forever to measure my temperature and as a frustrated 6 year old, I bit the end off of a mercury thermometer and got a tiny mouthful of a few drops of mercury that I immediately spat into the sink. My mom freaked out and rushed me to the emergency room, knowing how poisonous it was. Fortunately, I did not swallow any mercury and was not seriously injured. Knowing mercury can cause severe airway and esophageal burns as only 2 dangers as a former emergency nurse, I am shocked to see those poor souls handling mercury with their bare hands and breathing in mercury fumes.
Great video!
A few things:
1. I'm stuck on the Surinamese government banning mercury but allowing cyanide to be used in the mining process. The Maroon man made a valid point about the fact that it is no safer than the substance they've placed a ban on.
2. The boat inspector guy seems like he has received a good handful of kickbacks throughout his career. I suspect this is the primary reason why this smuggling operation is still thriving after so many years of trying to put an end to it.
3. Dr. Wip mentioned the dangers of emissions contaminating the air. I didn't even think about how this is affecting the air quality in the region. I could easily see how this would affect the wildlife. Sadly, it appears the damage has already been done and the demand for mercury won't ease up any time soon.
Again, thanks Vice!
Cyanide is harmless if you have the antidote. IIRC, it reacts with cyanocobalin to form vitamin B12. The only problem is you need the equipment and expertise not to kill yourself.
Also there's simply not enough of the mercury to poison the only country, but there's enough to render the immediately area downstream of the mines uninhabitable.
@@samsonsoturian6013 vitamin b12 is cyanide whaa?
Cyanide is not as dangerous as mercury. Cyanide dilutes and decomposes, mercury stays around and accumulates.
They knew it was toxic, but the weight of taking care of their family outweigh their safety.
My new defence in any argument or conflict : “it’s not like I was doin’ anyting extraterrestrial “
Glad I know about it, now I can participate! Thx Vice!!
I wasn't aware of this mercury crisis. Watching this video reminded me how as a child we would play with the bit of mercury from a old broken mercury type thermometer. People do crazy things in the name of money. They are crazier in the name of gold.
Y'all finally did a piece on GUYANA!! Please more from here. Love Vice
I could only get through 2 thirds of this and I was so shocked and tearful had to stop. I'm just sorry they have to be put through this to survive.
I was wincing when the first dude handling the mercury with his fingers.
I am 51 now.
Lately I have looked around and wondered....
Which is most important?
Technological Advancement
Or
Human Progression?
Have we lost the chance to CHOOSE?
Blame Democrats. The obvious corruption. They literally funded the caravan and now the Taliban.
Illuminati told me to tell u delete your comment
What’s the difference?
This is like a scene out of Mad Max: Fury Road. What a world we live in
The u
Incredible experiences awesome wars people have endured and gone through..
A gradient to greater health and more resiliency is just around the corner
I’d be so bored if I didn’t have vice in my life. Massive respect to you guys.
Damn this is crazy sad. Get a life bro
just started watching it use to remind me of how 60 minutes use to be back in the 60's and 70\s when it was worth watching
In the 90s, when I was in grade school, I had a toy maze that had a ball of mercury in it that you had to guide through the maze. I thought it was the coolest thing and I use to bring it to school to show my classmates. Crazy how dangerous it is.
A few decades before that American children used to bring guns (shotguns and rifles) to school as part of their "show and tell." Talk about dangerous. lol
@@mahavakyas002 And before that, kids were working in factories 😆
@@kurtdewittphoto before that, many did not make it past a few years old
And before that teachers would beat students back to their senses with a stick
Wanna hear something crazy? I had the same toy as a kid in the 80s, only the maze was coated with something hydrophobic and it just used a drop of water. It's like we're moving backwards.
✨🌎❣️ Excellent Environmental Reporting 👍
@12:29 the mercury has given him super powers to drive straight even though the wheel is pointing 90 degrees😂
Thanks for the awesome work in bringing this piece...meticulous work all around...unfortunately I am not sure if the catastrophe unfolding will get addressed at all with we as a global civilization not seeing us as one...we are right now going in the other direction...with multilateral world organizations being hollowed out for myopic "power play" by rich & powerful countries & the increasing reliance on a dated & corrosive form of so called development called "economic development" that uses a dated & destructive form a wealth management, Capitalism.....the answer i think is not going to come from the top its up to us in the bottom, it needs to be bottom up from education to innovation to demanding change every one has to play a part they can...that's how this can change
Jeez! How long did this take to make? It's incredibly high quality!
Thanks for awareness 👋
I'm 65 and can remember playing with mercury when I was a kid. We even broke some thermometers on purpose just to get it. Thank God I have no known problems from it today.
Guyana 🇬🇾 that's my home country!!! Thanks Vice for covering this problem miners face !!
Up
VICE NEWS is slowly adopting Nolan level cinematography and Zimmer kind of sound track.
Best thing that could ever happen for them
It’s so wild to me to see that person holding mercury in his bare hand😱
Just gotta say the camera work is top notch
A wise man once said "when the rivers are all dried up, and the trees cut down, man will then realize that he will not be able to eat money."
😂🤣😂We all know these trees are the only ones that will ever grown on this planet and that evaporated water coming down in the rains don't refill rivers...That "Wise Man" was making a fool out of you...😂🤣😂
@@ladyaly864 are you on crack cocaine?
I think it was the last fish caught.
@@jnanacaksusa3932 haha you are correct.
Yea it was really fun narrating this documentary, first time and not the last time
This was you? If so, do you work for VICE offices??
Great work, your tone was spot on
This was "FUN!?"
Great job
13:33 The gullwing door on that 4 Dr sedan is wild! Trying to figure out where the person is that can be seen in the reflection...
This is unbeliavable. I can't imagine what the future holds for us humans... very sad indeed.
The fact that we get free documentaries on UA-cam by VICE News is truly a gift 👍
They're making bank. Don't worry.
That opening shot with the mercury drizzling in someone's palm was so unexpected. RIP.
that's safe.
Not rip
That's very safe
Say sike right now
When I was a kid they sold these toys at the dollar store that had Quicksilver in it and I would take it out and play with it. I'm still here💪🏽
Always Great docs! But COLOR N FONT of subtitles diffclt to read.
Love Vice
5:00 Holy huge thumb nail, Batman!
The worst part is they sell the idea that they need murcury and that it's the only way to extract the most amount of gold.
Borax can do an equal or better job when used properly. Also, it's non toxic.
Tell that to the ants and rats that eat the peanut butter I put Borax in. Oh you can't they are dead.
@@pussyfilterincrediblehonke3079 wrong time but funny
20 Mule Team Borax Good Stuff Used it for years to Tan Bever Hides..
The gold miners talk about getting punished if they don't find gold. This is some dystopian stuff. I'm glad the smelter was using a respirator and air flow system and capture. I imagine a lot of smelters don't have such a set up.
he needs to shave better for the respirator to work correctly
I notice he didn't show any captured mercury
🚦SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE VICE NEWS
My brother and I had a little kid chemistry set or something like that from Germany. I swear it had mercury in it, but maybe (hopefully it wasn’t pure, or was something else). I used to sit on the kitchen floor pouring it from hand to hand thinking “oooh liquid metal!” How much exposure would you have to have to it on the skin to notice any ill effects?
As usual, great reporting! The captions were often hard to read though. Some darker background would help under the text.
Guyanese are some of the most determined and hardest working people on this planet.
🇬🇾
May God bless the GT people.
Chemist here: Cyanide actually decomposes relatively quick from soil and atmosphere. If it decomposes in soil, it usually fertilizes the soil in the process.
However, mercury fixes itself into fat tissue. This means that it travels up the food chain with no good way of getting out. This is why, per ounce, large fish like tuna have much more mercury than smaller fish like salmon.
Question, if one eats canned tuna here and there, should they be tested for their mercury level? I'm guessing it stays in the human body.
@@deadinside8781 there is no need to worry. The amount of tuna that would be required to cause harm to an adult is extremely large. Assuming that you are over the age of 25 and have a BMI less than 30, you should be perfectly fine. Children should limit their intake though since heavy metals like mercury can have a massive impact on brain development.
@@linusavogadro142 oh thanks a lot for responding, I'll keep that in mind✌️
I'm trying to make a gold magnet with copper and silver .will it work?
I'm trying to make a gold magnet with copper and silver
Will it work
Really enjoyed the narrators voice. He does his own thing and it sounds great.
I appreciate the subtitles
I’ve live in Guyana my whole life and never once heard of mercury smuggling.
criminal organizations in 2021 all over the world are very discreet now...my county in Mexico is going through war with cartels and it is very deep but not a lot of people know whats really going down..ever. Only the Government. Anywhere it is, the Government is always there as a Partner and giving out permissions.
i take it you're wealthy and live in a big city, Georgetown? ;-|
It's because you are not an investigative journalist..
@@techcafe0 lol no I live in #64 village next to the beach.
@@techcafe0 I've lived in the Country side of Guyana & never heard of mercury smuggling either 🤷🏾♂️
Never thought mercury can have this much effect outside a thermometer
It's bad stuff. It bioaccumulates up the food chain. Also sometime look up where the phrase "Mad as a hatter" comes from.
Its been found in the ocean fish for over 20 years. All fish in the oceans have it in their bodies.
They don't even use it in thermometers anymore .
@Albert S i learned that while being pregnant with my first child. I hardly ever ate any tune while pregnant especially not the first trimester
Bc you didn’t pay attention in science class
I clicked on this video and was surprised to see this was taking place in my country. Good to know
The guy doing smelting impresses me. It is unusual for an already working adult to accept new education, understand it, and take measures to immediately improve his situation.
Whether or not he should be wearing gloves is personal tolerance of risk levels.
This is great content. It’s the old school Vice I love
I like the vice where they document every gender discovered but this is good too
Mercury poisoning vs Starving. It's a hard choice to make but I see that most miners pick the former.
Anytime a human says "I'm doing this so my kids can go to school" you have to think something's not right with this world
After watching this. Now think of privileged pics complaining at universities about micro aggression that never happened as the white supremacist USA gave them scholarship to act like cundz
@@thisgame2 just because a country is developed, doesn’t mean it’s perfect. but whyre you comparing the two?
Starvation never produces afterlives though.
such beauty in these countries must be preserved... our earth is dying slowly.. how sad to see such a green forest become a "problem" now..
Wow....God bless them
Imagine i'm living in Guyana and didn't even know they does smuggle mercury damn.
@Rosco Pecouletrane Just came out lol
lol when I see stuff like this I think the same..and then I wake up again and go to work 🤦🏿♀️🤷🏿♀️😅
@Rosco Pecouletrane that is how Guyanese people speak
You know what's up with the flags that look like the german flag everywhere? Black red gold
Thats the power of the internet🤔
This is actually the first piece I've seen about everyday life in Guyana.
@Deporting Americans Back to Europe found the racist troll
@Deporting Americans Back to Europe no one cares, least of all you. You just looked for the first contrarian thing you could find in order to start arguments, trollface. So shut up and get drafted.
@Deporting Americans Back to Europe you need to get your phone taken away, kid.
@Deporting Americans Back to Europe go cry out in a prison shower, troll
As a Guyanese this is like the weirdest documentary I watched because most of the people I know who’s into the mining industry live longer than most people who live healthy I really wasn’t aware that mercury was illegal
“They gotta build a fence in the mf river” idk his tone and seriousness about the situation says alot