A/HRC/21/48 higher lung cancer mortality rate than surface miners, as well as elevated oesophageal cancer and pneumoconiosis.21 27. The right to health and the right to life are guaranteed in several core international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and obliges States to improve “all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene.” The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has dedicated its general comment No. 14 to the realization of this right, while the Human Rights Committee in its general comment No. 6 (1982) underscores the need for States parties to adopt positive measures to address health risks and increase life expectancy in order to promote the right to life. Impact of hazardous substances from extractive industries on children 28. There is evidence that children are uniquely vulnerable to the effects of mercury.22 Bioaccumulation of methylmercury in fish consumed by pregnant women could lead to neurodevelopmental problems in the developing foetus; and children eating contaminated fish can develop other complications. Trans-placental exposure to such substances is the most dangerous, as the fetal brain is very sensitive. Neurological symptoms include mental retardation, seizures, vision and hearing loss, delayed development, language disorders, reduced IQ and memory loss. One fifth of the children covered by an International Labour Organization (ILO) survey reported having a health problem since they took up gold mining, primarily aches in limbs and backbone, kidney and urinary tract diseases and exhaustion.23 In one country, over 400 children under the age of five reportedly died due to lead poisoning associated with gold miners grinding lead-containing rock at home in order to extract the gold, and leaving lead dust on the floors where children crawl. Mercury intoxication has been called an epidemic among children working in gold mines, and acrodynia, a disease characterized by red and painful extremities, has also been reported as a result of chronic mercury exposure.24 Furthermore, health risks related to exposure to hazardous substances is exacerbated by children’s inclinations to more hand-to-mouth behaviour as well as the fact that personal protective equipment (PPE) is invariably made in adult sizes. 29. The ILO estimates that one million children worldwide are involved in mining and quarrying, and often with little or no pay; UNEP estimates put that number at between one million and two million. Children as young as 3 years work in dangerous conditions which expose them to hazardous substances, including mercury, lead and cyanide. The mines are often too remote to have regular labour inspections, and they do not have unionized workers, resulting in the so-called “frontier communities” where traditional social structures of society and ethical value systems have broken down. 21 22 23 24 See Michael D. Attfield and others, “The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: A Cohort Mortality Study with Emphasis on Lung Cancer,” Journal of National Cancer Institute, vol. 104, No. 11 (2012). See Susan L. Cutter, “The Forgotten Casualties: Women, Children and Environmental Change,” Global Environmental Change, vol. 5, No. 1 (1995), pp. 181-194 (discussing children’s unique vulnerability to toxic substances due to their body size, weight, and development). International Labour Organization, Informal Gold Mining in Mongolia: A Baseline Survey Report covering Bornuur and Zaamar Soums, Tuv Aimag, (Bangkok, 2006). See WHO, Children’s Exposure to Mercury Compounds (Geneva, 2010), pp. 51- 55. 9