Furthermore, Mercury, which is used to separate the gold from soil and rock, was then dumped in the rivers chaotically. Mercury bio-accumulated and wreaked havoc on the entire ecosystem. The effects of mercury poisoning reached the surrounding trees, some of which rely on birds and fish to disperse their seeds. The mercury as well made an impact on the Yanomami in the form of a neurotoxin that especially affects child development. This resulted in child mortality rates to skyrocket while birth rates declined. All this is a result of the arrival of miners. Not only did the arrival of miners impact the environment that the Yanomami heavily rely on, but they also weakened their way of life. .
The influence of the miners goes well beyond physical health. They introduced alcohol outside of ritual, which enlarged existing rivalries and lead to increased violence. Weakened by illness and unable to produce and hunt enough food, the Yanomami are reduced to begging and most recently trading sex for food. For the Yanomami what was once an intricate social system patterned on trading and bartering goods and food amongst themselves has become a game of deadly high stakes where they are trading their culture for their very existence. The arrival of miners, technology and diseases led to the Yanomami's beliefs and cultural systems to plummet. The Yanomami are not being integrated into Western society; instead begging, prostitution and drunkenness are being introduced into theirs. By 1989, some 50,000 miners had set up operations across the central region of the Yanomami territory in Brazil and crossing the frontier into Venezuela. This was the beginning of a road to destruction. .
Before the 1970s, the Yanomami Indians were an insulated, self-contained community. Except for occasional border skirmishes with rubber-latex extractors, piassava, nut gatherers, and hunters, the Yanomami existed peacefully.
