On the basis of an examination of the colonial mercury and silver production processes and related labor systems, Mercury, Mining, and Empire explores the effects of mercury pollution in colonial ...Huancavelica, Peru, and Potosí, in present-day Bolivia. The book presents a multifaceted and interwoven tale of what colonial exploitation of indigenous peoples and resources left in its wake. It is a socio-ecological history that explores the toxic interrelationships between mercury and silver production, urban environments, and the people who lived and worked in them. Nicholas A. Robins tells the story of how native peoples in the region were conscripted into the noxious ranks of foot soldiers of proto-globalism, and how their fate, and that of their communities, was-and still is-chained to it.
Background: Colonial cinnabar mining and refining began in Huancavelica, Peru, in 1564. With a local source of mercury, the amalgamation process was adopted to refine silver in Potosí, Bolivia, in ...the early 1570s. As a result, large quantities of mercury were released into the environment. Objectives: We used archival, primary, and secondary sources to develop the first estimate of mercury emissions from cinnabar refining in Huancavelica and tó revise previous estimates of emissions from silver refining in Potosí during the colonial period (1564-1810). Discussion: Although other estimates of historical mercury emissions have recognized Potosí as a significant source, Huancavelica has been overlooked. In addition, previous estimates of mercury emissions from silver refining underestimated emissions because of unrecorded (contraband) production and volatilization of mercury during processing and recovery. Archival descriptions document behavioral and health issues during the colonial period that are consistent with known effects of mercury intoxication. Conclusions: According to our calculations, between 1564 and 1810, an estimated 17,000 metric tons of mercury vapor were emitted from cinnabar smelting in Huancavelica, and an estimated 39,000 metric tons were released as vapor during silver refining operations in Potosí. Huancavelica and Potosí combined contributed > 25% of the 196,000 metric tons of mercury vapor emissions in all of Latin America between 1500 and 1800. The historical record is laden with evidence of mercury intoxication consistent with effects recognized today. Our estimates serve as the foundation of investigations of present-day contamination in Huancavelica and Potosí resulting from historical emissions of mercury.
Policies concerning marriage, morality, and intimacy were central to the efforts of the Spanish monarchy to maintain social control in colonial Charcas. The Bourbon Crown depended on the patriarchal, ...caste-based social system on which its colonial enterprise was built to maintain control over a vast region that today encompasses Bolivia and parts of Peru, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina. Intimacy became a fulcrum of social control contested by individuals, families, the state, and the Catholic Church, and deeply personal emotions and experiences were unwillingly transformed into social, political, and moral challenges.
InOf Love and Loathing, Nicholas A. Robins examines the application of late-colonial Bourbon policies concerning marriage, morality, and intimacy. Robins examines how such policies and the means by which they were enforced highlight the moral, racial, and patriarchal ideals of the time, and, more important, the degree to which the policies were evaded. Not only did free unions, illegitimate children, and de facto divorces abound, but women also had significantly more agency regarding resources, relationships, and movement than has previously been recognized. A surprising image of society emerges from Robins's analysis, one with considerably more moral latitude than can be found from the perspectives of religious doctrine and regal edicts.
The objective of this phase II single-arm study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pazopanib, a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor ...(VEGFR)-1, -2, and -3, platelet-derived growth factor receptor- and - , and c-Kit, in recurrent glioblastoma. Patients with ≤2 relapses and no prior anti-VEGF/VEGFR therapy were treated with pazopanib 800 mg daily on 4-week cycles without planned interruptions. Brain magnetic resonance imaging and clinical reassessment were made every 8 weeks. The primary endpoint was efficacy as measured by 6-month progression-free survival (PFS6). Thirty-five GBM patients with a median age of 53 years and median Karnofsky performance scale of 90 were accrued. Grade 3/4 toxicities included leukopenia (n = 1), lymphopenia (n = 2), thrombocytopenia (n = 1), ALT elevation (n = 3), AST elevation (n = 1), CNS hemorrhage (n = 1), fatigue (n = 1), and thrombotic/embolic events (n = 3); 8 patients required dose reduction. Two patients had a partial radiographic response by standard bidimensional measurements, whereas 9 patients (6 at the 8-week point and 3 only within the first month of treatment) had decreased contrast enhancement, vasogenic edema, and mass effect but <50% reduction in tumor. The median PFS was 12 weeks (95% confidence interval CI: 8-14 weeks) and only 1 patient had a PFS time ≥6 months (PFS6 = 3%). Thirty patients (86%) had died and median survival was 35 weeks (95% CI: 24-47 weeks). Pazopanib was reasonably well tolerated with a spectrum of toxicities similar to other anti-VEGF/VEGFR agents. Single-agent pazopanib did not prolong PFS in this patient population but showed in situ biological activity as demonstrated by radiographic responses. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00459381.
Huancavelica, Peru Robins, Nicholas A.
Genocide studies international,
10/2017, Letnik:
11, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This essay discusses the work of an American NGO, the Environmental Health Council, in documenting and remediating mercury and other heavy metal contamination in Huancavelica, Peru. The nearby Santa ...Bárbara and Challacatana hills are among the most extensive cinnabar deposits in the world. Mercury distilled in Huancavelica during the Spanish colonial period was dispatched throughout the Andean region and was a requisite input for the production of silver through the amalgamation process. While this stimulated the rise of modern globalism, it has left extensive contamination in its wake with which contemporary residents contend.
In the last two decades, the field of comparative genocide studies has
produced an increasingly rich literature on the targeting of various groups for
extermination and other atrocities, throughout ...history and around the contemporary
world. However, the phenomenon of genocides by the oppressed, that is, retributive
genocidal actions carried out by subaltern actors, has received almost no attention.
The prominence in such genocides of non-state actors, combined with the perceived
moral ambiguities of retributive genocide that arise in analyzing genocidal acts
from below, have so far eluded serious investigation. Genocides by the Oppressed
addresses this oversight, opening the subject of subaltern genocide for exploration
by scholars of genocide, ethnic conflict, and human rights. Focusing on case studies
of such genocide, the contributors explore its sociological, anthropological,
psychological, symbolic, and normative dimensions.
This book investigates three Indian revolts in the Americas: the 1680
uprising of the Pueblo Indians against the Spanish; the Great Rebellion in Bolivia,
1780--82; and the Caste War of Yucatan that ...began in 1849 and was not finally
crushed until 1903. Nicholas A. Robins examines their causes, course, nature,
leadership, and goals. He finds common features: they were revitalization movements
that were both millenarian and exterminatory in their means and objectives; they
sought to restore native rule and traditions to their societies; and they were
movements born of despair and oppression that were sustained by the belief that they
would witness the dawning of a new age. His work underscores the link that may be
found, but is not inherent, between genocide, millennialism, and revitalization
movements in Latin America during the colonial and early national periods.
Potosí, Bolivia, is the site of centuries of historic and present-day mining of the Cerro Rico, a mountain known for its rich polymetallic deposits, and was the site of large-scale Colonial era ...silver refining operations. In this study, the concentrations of several metal and metalloid elements were quantified in adobe brick, dirt floor, and surface dust samples from 49 houses in Potosí. Median concentrations of total mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As) were significantly greater than concentrations measured in Sucre, Bolivia, a non-mining town, and exceeded US-based soil screening levels. Adobe brick samples were further analyzed for bioaccessible concentrations of trace elements using a simulated gastric fluid (GF) extraction. Median GF extractable concentrations of Hg, As, and Pb were 0.085, 13.9, and 32.2% of the total element concentration, respectively. Total and GF extractable concentrations of Hg, As, and Pb were used to estimate exposure and potential health risks to children following incidental ingestion of adobe brick particles. Risks were assessed using a range of potential ingestion rates (50–1000mg/day). Overall, the results of the risk assessment show that the majority of households sampled contained concentrations of bioaccessible Pb and As, but not Hg, that represent a potential health risk. Even at the lowest ingestion rate considered, the majority of households exceeded the risk threshold for Pb, indicating that the concentrations of this metal are of particular concern. To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify key trace elements in building materials in adobe brick houses and the results indicate that these houses are a potential source of exposure to metals and metalloids in South American mining communities. Additional studies are needed to fully characterize personal exposure and to understand potential adverse health outcomes within the community.
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•Potosí, Bolivia has been a center of silver mining activity since the 16th century.•Measured total trace elements in residential samples from Potosí were elevated.•A simulated gastric fluid extraction was used to measure bioaccessibility.•Hg, As, and Pb in adobe particles may represent a health risk for children.•Adobe brick houses are a potential source of exposure to metals/metalloids.
Detailed Spanish records of cinnabar mining and mercury production during the colonial period in Huancavelica, Peru were examined to estimate historical health risks to the community from exposure to ...elemental mercury (Hg) vapor resulting from cinnabar refining operations. Between 1564 and 1810, nearly 17,000metrictons of Hg were released to the atmosphere in Huancavelica from Hg production. AERMOD was used with estimated emissions and source characteristics to approximate historic atmospheric concentrations of mercury vapor. Modeled 1-hour and long-term concentrations were compared with present-day inhalation reference values for elemental Hg. Estimated 1-hour maximum concentrations for the entire community exceeded present-day occupational inhalation reference values, while some areas closest to the smelters exceeded present-day emergency response guideline levels. Estimated long-term maximum concentrations for the entire community exceeded the EPA Reference Concentration (RfC) by a factor of 30 to 100, with areas closest to the smelters exceeding the RfC by a factor of 300 to 1000. Based on the estimated historical concentrations of Hg vapor in the community, the study also measured the extent of present-day contamination throughout the community through soil sampling and analysis. Total Hg in soils sampled from 20 locations ranged from 1.75 to 698mg/kg and three adobe brick samples ranging from 47.4 to 284mg/kg, consistent with other sites of mercury mining and use. The results of the soil sampling indicate that the present-day population of Huancavelica is exposed to levels of mercury from legacy contamination which is currently among the highest worldwide, consequently placing them at potential risk of adverse health outcomes.
► Huancavelica, Peru was one of the largest historical cinnabar mines in the world. ► We model colonial era mercury vapor emissions from cinnabar refining in Huancavelica. ► We estimate colonial era health risks from exposure to elemental mercury vapor. ► We measure present-day soil concentrations of total mercury in Huancavelica. ► Present-day soil concentrations of mercury are among the highest in the world.
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