Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office is suing the giant mining company Vale, the Brazilian government and the Amazon state of Para over heavy metal contamination in the bodies of Xikrin Indigenous people.
A study by the Federal University of Para, conducted last spring in villages in the Xikrin do Cateté Indigenous Territory, found dangerously high levels of heavy metals, including lead, mercury and nickel, in the hair of virtually all the 720 people surveyed.
It also calls on the state of Para, which granted the environmental license, and the federal government, which oversees Indigenous public health policies, to provide technical and administrative support and ensure proper environmental oversight.
The civil lawsuit, filed Friday and disclosed this week, alleges contamination from Vale's nickel mining at the Onca-Puma site, with the Catete River carrying mine pollution into Indigenous territory.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office, responsible for protecting Indigenous rights, is demanding that Vale establish a permanent health monitoring program for the community.
