Following an ecohealth approach, the whole study (Betancourt
et al. 2012; Garcia et al. 2012) explored three main
components: (i) the environmental component was aimed
at measuring the concentrations of Hg, Mn, Pb, and As in
water samples of the river as well as in particulate matter,
sediments, soils, and fish; (ii) the socio-political component
oriented to understand the position of the different social
actors in the region, as it relates to the environmental
contamination; and (iii) the impacts on human health. The
current paper is particularly focused on this latter aspect of
the larger research project.