A/HRC/21/48 since the early 1900s. Oil is another example of a desired, but hazardous substance; the toxic constituents of petroleum are frequently spilled, directly or indirectly, into surface water and groundwater, with deadly or otherwise devastating effects on human health.15 23. Communities in one country alleged that a foreign energy company had failed to notify them after numerous oil spills had occurred, and that children, women and men continued to bathe, fish and drink in their primary water source, which was contaminated with crude oil. A complaint was filed with the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman of the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) by the communities, alleging that the energy company had committed human rights abuses by forcing the members of the communities to clean up the oil spill without training or protective equipment.16 24. Transportation of hazardous substances used in extraction also carries potential risks. For example, there have been several transportation-related incidents resulting in serious injuries and deaths from exposure to cyanide.17 Documented effects of cyanide include loss of capacity by neurons to send signals throughout the body, including the brain (demyelination), lesions of the optic nerve, ataxia, hypertonia, Leber's optic atrophy, goitre, and depressed thyroid function. 25. Despite increasing global consensus of the dangers of mercury, the Special Rapporteur is concerned that miners and their families are still exposed to this hazardous substance and neurotoxin; miners in Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Indonesia, the Philippines, United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe having mercury levels of up to 50 times above the limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO).18 Inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal. Symptoms include tremors, insomnia, memory loss, neuromuscular effects, headaches, cognitive and motor dysfunction. Mild subclinical signs of central nervous system toxicity can be seen in workers exposed to an elemental mercury level in the air of 20μg/m3 or more, for several years. While there is no conclusive evidence linking mercury exposure to cancer, the rate of lung cancer mortality among gold miners is particularly high.19 26. A recent study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Cancer Institute of the United States of America shows a direct relationship between diesel exhaust and lung cancer.20 Underground miners are already exposed to over 100 times the background concentrations of diesel exhaust, and the use of diesel-fuelled equipment is growing in the mining community. Not surprisingly, the study found that underground miners, who have the greatest exposure to diesel exhaust, have a 15 16 17 18 19 20 8 UNEP, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland (Nairobi, 2011), pp. 37-40. Complaint to the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, by the Shibibo-Konibo indigenous villages of Canaán de Cachiyacu and Nuevo Sucre, Peru, dated April 6, 2010. Available at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/cases/document-links/ documents/MapleCAOComplaint_English_April2010.pdf. T.I. Mudder and M.M. Botz, “Cyanide and society: a critical review,” The European Journal of Mineral Processing and Environmental Protection, vol. 4, No. 1 (2004) p. 69. UNEP, Environment for development perspectives: Mercury use in ASGM, (Geneva, 2011). Armando Valenzuela and Kostas Fytas, “Mercury Management in Small-Scale Mining,” International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment, vol. 16, No. 2, (2002-03), p. 14. See National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), “Diesel Exhaust.” Available at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/topics/topicpage2.htm.