More Buyat residents to have blood test in Jakarta

More Buyat residents to have blood test in Jakarta

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ten more residents of Buyat Pantai village in North Sulawesi are
scheduled to fly to Jakarta next week to undergo a blood test to
provide evidence of mercury poisoning, allegedly caused by
tailings of a gold mining company in the province.

Albert Panggabean, the non-litigation division head of the
Health Legal Aid Institute, said it was the villagers, who live
near Buyat Bay, who had insisted on having a test in Jakarta to
prove that the bay had been contaminated with metal waste.

"As some people still doubt that there is metal contamination
in the bay, they insist on coming to Jakarta to have their blood
tested to support the finding that mercury was found in the blood
of their neighbors," Albert said on Saturday.

He was referring to the result of a laboratory test by the
School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MIPA) at the
University of Indonesia.

The test revealed mercury levels in the blood of Sri Fika,
Jukria, Masnah and Rasyid Rahmat of between 9.51 to 23.90 microns
per liter (u/L), or above the tolerable limit of 8 u/L.

According to Albert, the Buyat residents were disappointed
with the statements of several high-ranking officials, including
environment minister Nabiel Makarim and health minister Achmad
Sujudi, who dismissed possible metal contamination in Buyat Bay.

"The officials might issue such statements as they do not
suffer from the contamination. The people have eaten fish from
Buyat Bay and been exposed to the water for years," he said.

Albert suggested that instead of denying the accusations, the
government officials should take the incident as an early warning
sign to prevent worse cases from occurring in the future.

"The Minamata disease could occur in the future because Buyat
residents have eaten fish that contains mercury for years. The
substance accumulates and could reach a level that can cause
Minamata," he said.

Minamata occurs if mercury level in the blood reaches between
200 and 500 u/L.

Separately in Yogyakarta, Nabiel insisted that no metal
contamination had been detected in Buyat Bay according to an
examination by his office.

"If they want to file a report against me with the police,
just go ahead. My statements are based on scientific tests," he
told reporters after a meeting with Yogyakarta governor Sultan
Hamengkubuwono X.

Nabiel has been criticized for asserting that the mercury
level in Buyat Bay was safe and that the people who claimed to be
suffering from Minamata disease actually had common skin
diseases.

However, during a visit to the bay on Thursday he refused to
eat fish that had a lump and secreted a foul-smelling black
liquid.

Meanwhile, Palmer Situmorang, a lawyer representing gold
mining firm PT Newmont Minahasa Raya, said the company would wait
for the result of the investigation into the case now being
conducted by a government team.

"We have been operating in the country in compliance with the
law. So, we will wait for the result of the team's examination,"
he said.