Vast tracts of Thai farmland have been poisoned by chemicals linked to mining in Myanmar,
With toxins carried into Thailand by at least six transboundary rivers.
A Mongabay investigation has found more than 50 companies in Thailand importing minerals from Myanmar’s polluting mines. Antimony, copper, lead, manganese, tin, tungsten and other critical minerals worth millions of dollars are imported from Myanmar to Thailand
And mostly sold on to China.
Few Thai companies know where in Myanmar the minerals come from, If the mines are legal, whether they’ve contributed to river pollution or if the minerals imported are even what’s listed on paper.
Thai, Burmese and Chinese companies are all profiting from mines that have contaminated rivers, leaving downstream communities with no clean water, food security or livelihoods as a public health crisis unfolds.
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This story first appeared on Mongabay
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