Amapa state

But not only mercury is released by mining. Mn ore mining activities taking place in the Brazilian Amazon basin as open pits (for instance in the Serra do Navio, Amapa State), represent a potential source of associated ferrous metals (such as Ni, Cr, Cu, As). Acid mine drainage contains dissolved and particulate metals in toxic concentrations, affects the pH of streams and mobilizes metals. Moreover, wind dispersal of material from unstable spoil heaps can result in local or regional atmospheric contamination. Despite the likely importance of this source in the environment, it is currently not possible to estimate the quantities of trace... 

The Amazon Indians Waiapi living in the West of Amapa State of Brazil, treat malaria with an inhalation of vapor obtained from leaves of Viola surinamensis. The antimalarial activity of the aromatic volatile plant extracts from leaves, showed that nerolidol (an acyclic oxygenated sesquiterpene) was identified as one of the active principles (36). Another recent study suggested the presence of an active isoprenoid pathway for biosynthesis of isoprenic chains of coenzyme Q in P. falciparum (37), parasites treated with nerolidol showed decreased ability to synthesize coenzyme Q in all intraerythrocytic stages. A challenge would be to now identify which African medicinal plants contain similar chemistry. 

FIGURE 3.1 Brazilian map and states that registered acute Chagas disease foodborne outbreaks Amapa (AP), Amazonas (AM), Bahia (BA), Ceara (CE), Para (PA), Paraiba (PB), Rio Grande do Sul (RS), and Santa Catarina (SC). 

The demand for some hundreds of tons of fruit from Carapa guianensis, expected shortly to exceed the natural supply, is stimulating replanting of this species in the states of Amapa and Para where it had been decimated by the timber trade as a substitute for mahogany. Propagation studies already made with this species and with Quassia amara and Lonchocarpus urucu (by EMBRAPA) would make industrial production of these natural insecticides and repellents a short term undertaking. 

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