Abstract

PIP: Since the mid-1980s, gold prospectors have poured into the lands of the Yanomami Indians of northwestern Brazil, bringing disease and destruction and threatening the existence of the planet's largest Stone Age tribe. The Yanomami number a little less than 10,000 people. For millennia they have lived in harmony with the Brazilian rain forest, one of the world's most fragile ecosystems by limiting their own population growth; e.g., women usually wait to have a 2nd child after the 1 child is 3 years old. Contact with the outside world had been limited until gold prospectors began penetrating Yanomami territory. In the past few years, some 1500 Yanomami have died of malaria, measles, tuberculosis, and other diseases brought by the prospectors. Malaria alone has infected 4 out of 10 Yanomami. In their search for gold, the outsiders have also destroyed the delicate ecosystem; e.g., the mercury used in the mining process has poisoned the rivers. In response to pressure from environmentalists and others concerned over the fate of the Yanomami, Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello established the Yanomami Indian reserve in November 1991. The move, however, has angered some powerful interests in Brazil. The military is concerned that the Yanomami might join forces with their brethren in Venezuela and try to establish an independent state. Large mining interests also oppose the reserve because the Yanomami lands are rich in gold, uranium, tin and other minerals. Enforcing the demarcation of the reserve may prove impossible for the Brazilian government because of the lack of resources to protect an area 3 times the size of Holland. In the meantime, the Brazilian Ministry of Health and other organizations have begun to send medical teams to treat those Yanomami sick with malaria.