譯/李京倫
印尼輸出汞 禍害無窮
Thousands of children with crippling birth defects. Half a million people poisoned. A toxic chemical found in the food supply. Accusations of a government cover-up and police officers on the take.
數以千計兒童有嚴重先天缺陷。50萬人中毒。在食物裡發現一種有毒化學物。政府被指包庇，員警被控貪贓枉法。
This is the legacy of Indonesia's mercury trade, a business intertwined with the lucrative and illegal production of gold.
這是印尼汞貿易遺留的後果。汞貿易與獲利豐厚卻違法的黃金生產業息息相關。
More than a hundred nations have joined a global campaign to reduce the international trade in mercury, an element so toxic there is "no known safe level of exposure," according to health experts.
根據公共衛生專家的說法，汞元素很毒，「沒有已知的安全暴露劑量」。已有一百多國加入全球削減國際汞貿易量的行動。
But that effort has backfired in Indonesia, where illicit backyard manufacturers have sprung up to supply wildcat miners and replace mercury that was previously imported from abroad. Now, Indonesia produces so much black-market mercury that it has become a major global supplier, surreptitiously shipping thousands of tons to other parts of the world.
不過這種努力在印尼出現反效果，非法的製汞業者在各地民房後院湧現，向不正規的採礦人供貨，取代先前從國外進口的汞。如今，印尼製造這麼多黑市汞，成了全球性供應大國，偷偷把數千噸汞運到世界其他地方。
Much of the mercury is destined for use in gold mining in Africa and Asia, passing through hubs such as Dubai and Singapore, according to court records — and the trade has deadly consequences.
法庭紀錄顯示，這些汞多半經過杜拜和新加坡等轉運樞紐，用於非洲和亞洲的採金業，這種貿易產生致命的後果。
"It is a public health crisis," said Yuyun Ismawati, a co-founder of an Indonesian environmental group, Nexus3 Foundation, and a recipient of the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize. She has called for a worldwide ban on using mercury in gold mining.
印尼環保團體「連接點3基金會」共同創辦人、2009年高曼環境獎得獎人尤雲說：「這是一場公共衛生危機。」她已呼籲全球禁止在開採金礦時使用汞。
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, stands out for its huge number of outlaw gold miners and for concerns that some law enforcement officials assigned to police the trade are instead profiting from it.
印尼是全球人口第四多的國家，非法的採金業者數量龐大，一些奉命監督汞貿易的執法官員反而從中牟利，這兩個現象都很嚴重。
As much as anyone, Cece Rifa'i, a former miner, is responsible for Indonesia's mercury boom and spreading the scourge of contamination across the country.
礦工出身的西西就跟別人一樣，要為印尼汞貿易的熱絡發展和汙染擴散到全國負責。
But he has no regrets.
但他不後悔。
"I don't feel guilty about anything," he said from the veranda of his two-story home on the island of Java.
西西在他位於爪哇島的兩層樓自家陽台上說：「我毫不愧疚。」
For years, Cece was a pioneer in a network of illegal mercury producers, traders and smugglers who supply gold miners across Indonesia with mercury, used to extract gold from crushed ore.
多年來，西西一直在非法製造、買賣和走私汞的網絡裡打頭陣，這個網絡向印尼各地採金人提供汞，讓他們從碎礦砂中提取黃金。
On a single day, operating a furnace he constructed in his backyard, he could produce a ton of black-market mercury worth more than $20,000, he said.
西西說他在自家後院設置的一個熔爐運轉一天，就能製造一噸黑市汞，值兩萬多美元。
For decades, Indonesia got most of its mercury legally from the United States and Europe. But recognizing the harm it was doing, Western countries began reducing mercury exports six years ago.
曾有數十年，印尼多數汞是從歐洲和美國合法進口，但西方國家認識到輸出汞的危害之後，六年前開始減少出口量。
Since 2013, 114 countries, including Indonesia, have signed on to the Minamata Convention, a treaty that took effect in 2017 and that requires participating nations to reduce the export and use of mercury in a variety of industries.
從2013年起，包括印尼在內共有114國簽署「關於汞的水俣公約」，公約2017年生效，要求締約國減少汞的出口量和在多種產業的使用量。
Nevertheless, United Nations trade data shows that Indonesia became a significant exporter of mercury from 2015 to 2017, peaking at more than 320 tons in 2016.
但聯合國貿易資料顯示，2015到2017年，印尼成了汞的重要出口國，2016年出口量最多，超過320噸。
※說文解字看新聞
這篇說的是印尼製造並輸出大量的汞，讓亞洲、非洲採金業得以從礦砂中提取黃金，但汞含劇毒，汙染環境，造成印尼公共衛生危機。
wildcat當名詞時是野貓，當形容詞時有幾種引申義。第一是「財務不可靠的」，如：wildcat banks，或「財務不可靠的機構發行的」，如：wildcat currency。美國有一本書wildcat currency（中譯「虛擬貨幣經濟學」），就是談虛擬貨幣，包括線上寶物、紅利點數、比特幣等。
第二是本文使用的意思「在合法範圍外的」，所以wildcat miners是「未經官方許可的採礦者 」。第三是「未經工會同意的」，如：wildcat strike。最後是「在未曾鑽探過油氣的地區鑽鑿的」，如：wildcat well，這是美國人早期在德州鑽井時的俚語。
illegal和illicit是同義詞，可以互換，不過illicit多了一個意思「社會不容的」，如：an illicit love affair。
