They have a fish diet, they eat meat,
they have a lot of peanuts in their like a peanut type of foods in their diet.
And so our our kind of hypothesis is that they are getting very low
chronic exposure to mercury because they eat fish but
it is not at a high level that would, set off alarms.
>> Right.
>> But it is a high enough level that it prevents absorption of iron.
>> Of iron.
>> And that very simple low exposure can cause massive effects as they grow older.
>> Mm-hm. >> So,
if they're anemic they eventually, they will have cognitive impairments.
>> Sure.
>> They will probably eventually become stunted as they hit their teen years.
>> Of course, right.
>> When they reach their full potential.
And it just, it, it puts a handicap on a population.
>> Sure, sure, sure.
And I would say also, especially with girls as well.
As they grow up, there are so, so
many issues with anemia among women, in many parts of the world, as well.
I wonder if some of the implications of your work would be to
look in other parts of the world for their, a lot of issues with, you know,
industry, manufacturing, or other things where there might be a lot of mercury and
see if they have women and children, in particular women were anemic at,
where there's more anemic, in those in those areas surrounding as well.
So it's interesting how this could translate.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Eventually from one area to, to, to, to the other as well.
>> I mean the, the gold mining example and the merc, merc gold mining to mercury is,
is probably isolated to areas that there is a lot of natural resource extraction.
>> Mm-hm huh.
>> I would say a more general example especially in
developing countries is agricultural production.
>> huh. >> So a lot of,
the theory of population environment deals with this idea that
you start out as a subsistence farmer.
>> Mm-hm. >> And
this is a household that is a nuclear household, husband, wife.
>> Right.
>> They might have a child.
>> Mm-hm.
>> In almost all situations the man is the one that is the head of household.
>> Right. >> The woman more than
likely does not have more than a primary education.
>> Mm-hm.
>> And because they are subsistence farmers usually what
happens is they don't have access to a large labor pool.
>> Right.
>> To help survive on the farm.
>> Sure. >> So
the only way to get labor is to have more children.
>> Ah-ha.
>> And if the woman is put pressure to have more
children that means she will have less opportunity to get education.
>> Right. >> Less opportunity to get other kinds of
technical skills that might also contribute to families.
>> Sure.
>> [CROSSTALK] This vicious cycle where she's reproducing and
having lots of children and she never quite gets herself out of
poverty because most of the evidence suggests that once families make this
decision of having more children, they, they don't break out of poverty.
>> Right.
>> It actually puts them into deeper poverty and so
we really need to work on this idea that or, or
kind of erase this idea that more children are better for someone.
>> Right. >> you, you really need to just invest in
the children that you have, invest in female education and, and
make sure that you know, the other sex in humans.
>> Right. >> Is actually as empowered as males are.
>> Sure, sure, sure and I guess that, that is going to be an increasing issue.
>> Huge issue. >> In the world yes, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And it's interesting that, you know, in class we talk a lot about,
determines health proximal and we talked about the web of causation and
how all, so many determinates, interact in multiple ways.
It seems to me that, your work which ranges from,
looking at toxicological, right, all the way to issues of,
of education and gender inequity, or a really good, good, good example of that.
Now do you see that is I mean as we know is with the issues of climate change.
We're going to see not only humans having an impact on, on the, the world but
the world's going to start looking different as well.
And what role do you think that climate change is
going to have on health and just on movement and how populations work?