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LA OROYA, PERU
Potentially Affected People: 35,000
Type of Pollutants: Lead, copper, zinc, and sulfur dioxide.
Source of Pollution: Heavy metal mining and processing
The Problem:
Since 1922, adults and children in La Oroya, Peru - a mining town in the Peruvian Andes and the site of a poly-metallic smelter - have been exposed to the toxic emissions and wastes from the plant. Peru's Clean Air Act cites La Oroya in a list of Peruvian towns suffering from critical levels of air pollution, but action to clean up and curtail this pollution has been delayed for area's 35,000 inhabitants. Currently owned by the Missouri-based Doe Run Corporation, the plant has been largely responsible for the dangerously high lead levels found in children's blood.
Health Impacts:
Ninety-nine percent of children living in and around La Oroya have blood lead levels that exceed acceptable limits, according to studies carried out by the Director General of Environmental Health in Peru in 1999. Lead poisoning is known to be particularly harmful to the mental development of children. A survey conducted by the Peruvian Ministry of Health in 1999 revealed blood lead levels among local children to be dangerously high, averaging 33.6 µg/dL for children between the ages of 6 months to ten years, triple the WHO limit of 10 µg/dL. Neurologists at local hospitals state that even newborn children have high blood lead levels, inherited while still in the womb. Absurdly large rates of premature deaths are linked to noxious gasses from the smelter. Lung-related ailments are commonplace.
Sulfur dioxide concentrations also exceed the World Health Organization guidelines by a factor of ten. The vegetation in the surrounding area has been destroyed by acid rain due to high sulfur dioxide emissions. To date, the extent of soil contamination has not been studied and no plan for clean up has been prepared.
Numerous studies have been carried out to assess the levels and sources of lead and other metals still being deposited in La Oroya. Limited testing has revealed lead, arsenic and cadmium soil contamination throughout the town.
Status of Clean-Up Activity:
Doe Run Corporation asserts that an environmental management plan has been developed for the processing plant. However, the Corporation asked the government for a four-year extension to the plant's environmental management plan in 2004. A concerted NGO movement is now underway to pressure the company and the government to develop effective strategies for implementation of site remediation agreements and to provide health care for affected residents. Some sampling and testing has been done in the local communities and the areas outside the plant to determine the levels of pollutants.
In response to the listing of La Oroya in the 2006 Top Ten, Doe Run sent a letter to Blacksmith Institute on May 2, 2007 stating that it has curbed its toxic emissions and has invested approximately $1 million yearly in joint program with the Peruvian Ministry of Health designed to lower blood lead levels in the region. Doe Run states that it has made significant capital investments in emission control systems, water treatment plants and changing rooms. The company asserts that it has also introduced occupational and population health programs and has made its environmental improvement efforts more public. They report emission levels to have fallen since these health programs and investments were made in new technologies. Sanctions against Doe Run are still expected, mainly for sulphur dioxide emissions that it was required to reduce by this year. Doe Run is also investing in community development and poverty alleviation efforts by implementing various job-training programs. Doe Run is the main driver of the local economy and hence able to exercise control over the livelihood of the population.
The government's national environmental council approved a Contingency Plan for States of Alert (CONAM) on August 10th of this year. Its purpose will be to limit the exposure of the affected population by issuing red alerts to stay inside in response to highly toxic air quality and weather conditions that exacerbate pollution levels. The mayor of the city of La Oroya states that the alert programme will remain in effect until Doe Run fully complies with pollution reduction measures. If the contingency plan was already implemented, a state of emergency would have been declared 183 days so far this year.
Resources:
"Development of an integrated intervention plan to reduce exposure to lead and other contaminants in the mining center of La Oroya, Peru". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Environmental Health/ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services. (2005)
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/Docs/la_oroya_report.pdf
"Crisis Deepens in La Oroya" Oxfam America. (2004) December 20.
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/news_updates/archive2004/news_update.2004-12-20.4019587716
Additional Photos:
High levels of acid rain have disfigured the natural landscape.
Photo Credit: Anna Cederstav/Blacksmith Institute
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Many residences are located near stockpiles of industrial materials.
Photo Credit: Anna Cederstav/Blacksmith Institute
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Local children play near the plant's operations. In 1999, 99% of the children in La Oroya had high levels of lead in their blood.
Photo Credit: Anna Cederstav/Blacksmith Institute
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AsO3, a known carcinogen, have been found throughout La Oroya.
Photo Credit: Anna Cederstav/Blacksmith Institute
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Residues from mining operations at the Doe Run plant travel through the river desecrating rocks and soils along the edge. Surface water pollution also leaches into the water table contaminating wells.
Photo Credit: Anna Cederstav/Blacksmith Institute
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Pollution from the mining and processing operations of Doe Run Peru has led to dangerously high concentrations of lead in children's blood in La Oroya.
Photo Credit: Matthew Burpee/Blacksmith Institute
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Untreated waste tailings from mine and processing operations are kept in unlined pits where they contaminate the underground aquifers
Photo Credit: Matthew Burpee/Blacksmith Institute
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Processing operations at Doe Run Peru release toxic emissions throughout the night.
Photo Credit: Katty Galvez de Cordova/Blacksmith Institute
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