Teaching artisanal miners about mercury pollution using songs

This article argues that poor policies are heavily responsible for the mercury pollution problem in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector. It condemns governments and the futile regulations in place to ban mercury in the sector. The emphasis should rather be on implementing educational initiatives capable of highlighting a better way forward for miners and other community members. In addition, permanent technical assistance is crucially needed to foster sustainable implementation of clean processing techniques. Humor is an effective way to engage miners, including parodies stressing the health impacts of mercury. The article shares some of these parodies.