Mercury Contamination Expert Available: Wake Forest University

Newswise — In response to the news that Peru’s government has declared an state of emergency across a broad region in the Amazon because of mercury contamination, Wake Forest University offers tropical ecologist Luis Fernandez, the principle investigator of the mercury studies that spurred the Peruvian Government to action. Fernandez can discuss the impact of this decree and what it means to Peru and greater Amazon region. Fernandez is the executive director of Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation, a newly established research center from Wake Forest University that aims to combat environmental destruction and improve human health in the Amazonian province of Madre de Dios, one of the world's of Biodiversity Hotspots. He is also the Director of the Carnegie Amazon Mercury Ecosystem Project (CAMEP), a multi-institution research initiative that examines the impacts of artisanal gold mining, mercury contamination and deforestation on natural and human ecosystems in the Amazonian region.