Mining activities have environmental impacts due to sediment movement and contamination of areas and may also pose risks to people’s food security. In Brazil, the majority of coal mining activities are in the south, in the Santa Catarina carboniferous region. In this region, previously mined areas contaminated with heavy metals frequently occur nearby inhabited zones. Mining is part of the daily lives of local communities, and its environmental impacts are visible in the landscape; however, plants with medicinal and food use from these areas can be still consumed. Heavy metals are contaminants that do not have odor, color, or taste, and are therefore difficult to detect. We aimed to verify whether people use plants from contaminated mine areas, and understand which factors can influence the use of these resources, even from areas visibly impacted. We conducted 195 semi-structured interviews with residents from 14 areas nearby abandoned mines in the main municipalities of the Santa Catarina carboniferous region. We asked each interviewee about the length of time they lived in the region, their perception of the quality of the environment, and what plant species were used and for what purpose. We constructed generalized multivariate linear models to verify which variables can affect the group of species mentioned and generalized linear models to verify which variables can affect the total number of citations. We estimated the frequency of citing species collected using the Smith index. From all interviewees, 127 (65%) reported collecting plants for medicinal and food use, directly from contaminated mine areas. Long-term residents, as well as those who noticed more environmental changes (positive and negative), cited more plants used and had more detailed knowledge of plant use in their communities. When asked if they were aware of the possible contamination of mined areas, 85% said they knew about it. However, only 10% associated negative health effects with the use of plant species collected in contaminated mined areas. Our study demonstrates that people living nearby contaminated areas use and consume locally sourced plants, e.g., people know little about the danger of this contamination in their food and the risk of these contaminants to their health. These results also reveal a lack of information about contamination, as well as a lack of actions that include local communities in contaminated area restoration strategies. This situation poses a risk to the food security of the people living nearby former coal mining areas.

中文翻译：

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巴西南部圣卡塔琳娜州的前煤矿区的无形污染物和粮食安全。

采矿活动由于沉积物的移动和区域的污染而对环境造成影响，也可能对人们的粮食安全构成威胁。在巴西，大多数煤炭开采活动都在南部的圣卡塔琳娜州石炭纪地区。在该地区，先前的重金属污染的矿区经常出现在居民区附近。采矿是当地社区日常生活的一部分，其环境影响在景观中可见。但是，仍然可以食用这些地区的药用和食品植物。重金属是没有气味，颜色或味道的污染物，因此很难检测。我们旨在验证人们是否使用受污染矿区的植物，并了解哪些因素甚至在受到明显影响的地区也会影响这些资源的使用。我们对圣卡塔琳娜州石炭纪地区主要城市附近废弃矿井附近14个地区的居民进行了195次半结构化访谈。我们向每位受访者询问他们在该地区生活的时间长短，他们对环境质量的看法以及使用的植物种类和目的。我们构建了广义多元线性模型以验证哪些变量可以影响所提及物种的类别，并构建广义线性模型以验证哪些变量可以影响引用总数。我们使用史密斯指数估计了被引用物种的收集频率。在所有受访者中，有127名（65％）报告称直接从受污染的矿区中收集用于药用和食品的植物。长期居民 以及那些注意到更多环境变化（正面和负面）的人，列举了更多使用过的植物，并对社区中的植物使用有了更详细的了解。当被问及是否知道雷区可能受到污染时，有85％的人表示知道。但是，只有10％的不良健康影响与在受污染的雷区收集的植物物种的使用有关。我们的研究表明，居住在受污染地区附近的人们使用和食用本地采购的植物，例如，人们对食品中这种污染的危害以及这些污染物对健康的危害知之甚少。这些结果还表明，缺乏有关污染的信息，也缺乏包括受污染地区恢复战略中的当地社区在内的行动。