Crisis Deepens in La Oroya

Posted: 20 December 2004

by Chris Hufstader, Thea Gelbspan, Keith Slack

Government of Peru postpones required environmental remediation in severely polluted area.

The health and environmental crisis in La Oroya, Peru, reached a new stage in December, 2004, when the government stated its intention to allow a metal-processing plant to delay implementation of its environmental management plan for four years.

Owned by the Missouri-based Doe Run Corporation, the plant is largely responsible for the dangerously high blood lead levels found in the children of this community. Ninety-nine percent of children living in and around La Oroya have blood lead levels that exceed acceptable amounts, 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 2002 study entitled La Oroya Cannot Wait, by the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense and the Peruvian Environmental Law Society, characterized the situation as a “public health emergency…a severe problem that should be addressed immediately…we recommend that an emergency plan be developed and implemented in the short term.” The study attributed the dangerous blood lead levels to pollutants being discharged by the plant into the area’s waterways, lands, and—most importantly—the air.

Harmful emissions from the plant are not limited to lead. Sulfur dioxide emissions from the Doe Run plant sometimes reach 10 times the amount considered acceptable by the World Health Organization, and the annual mean concentration exceeds this level by a factor of two or three. Sulfur dioxide damages the respiratory system and is particularly harmful to children, the elderly, asthmatics, and people with heart problems.

Arsenic, cadmium, and zinc are other elements found in high concentrations in La Oroya that are causing major concern among health activists. As a result, people living in La Oroya face a high risk of developing lung cancer as well as other respiratory ailments, skin conditions, and digestive disorders.

The La Oroya Cannot Wait study concluded that insufficient monitoring and uncontrolled emissions continue to impede effective clean-up at the plant and promise to create future health and environmental difficulties for the population of La Oroya. Based on these observations, health activists have long pressed for the company to abide by its original agreement with the government, which called for major pollution controls by the year 2007.

The extension of the environmental-remediation plan is a setback for community members seeking to improve the quality of the environment in La Oroya. Doe Run reportedly told the government of Peru that it would have to close the smelter if it was not permitted more time to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. This pushed workers into a difficult decision: support the company and continue to live in a highly toxic environment, or lose their jobs. Many agreed with the company’s request for an extension, and some even demonstrated in the streets and blocked roads to show their support. Having now made La Oroya’s workers and their families choose between health and livelihoods, Doe Run and the government will be hard-pressed to deliver on the most basic standards of environmental protection and corporate responsibility.

Oxfam America is supporting the Movement for Health in La Oroya (MOSAO), a network of NGOs, churches, and community groups dedicated to public health and a clean environment. MOSAO conducts lobbying efforts aimed at generating action at the congressional level in protection of public health in La Oroya, and seeks to educate the Peruvian and international public about the pressing need for foreign investment with social responsibility.