In Cerro de Pasco (Peru) air and water are poisoned with heavy metals. A huge Glencore mine is responsible for this. Especially for the children the lead poisoning has dramatic consequences: Anemia, disability, paralysis. Sign the protest letter now!
Author: Corporate Responsibility Initiative
"It started when he always got nosebleeds. At first we thought it was normal," says an affected mother. Then her 8-year-old son Benjamin got eye cancer. "He had one eye removed and has had a glass eye ever since." But the nosebleeds started bleeding again afterwards. "I went with him to the children's hospital in Lima, and there they finally told me that Benjamin had high levels of lead and arsenic in his blood."
70,000 people live in the Peruvian town of Cerro de Pasco. Glencore controls the Volcan mining company here, which is one of the world's largest producers of zinc, lead and silver.
The mine produces at the lowest cost in the industry. People pay the price with their health.
The mine leads to extreme environmental pollution by lead, arsenic and many other heavy metals. Everything is poisoned: the air, the soil, the water. The life expectancy of the inhabitants is five years lower, the infant mortality rate higher than in other Peruvian cities.
As children absorb significantly more lead in their bodies than adults with the same level of contamination of the environment, they are particularly affected.
The region is home to 2,000 children who have chronic heavy metal poisoning. This has dramatic consequences for them: Anemia, disability and paralysis. Benjamin's mother demands that the Glencore Society show responsibility and support the affected families with the treatment costs so that the children can recover. She says, "They have money and power, and they can help us."
A 39-year-old mother with two children shares the same fate. Her 13-year-old son Jan Francis is also ill. He has constant nosebleeds and headaches and aching limbs. The nosebleeds started when he was 7 years old and the doctors later diagnosed juvenile arthritis and an anxiety disorder. The mother demands"There must be no more pollution here to make our children sick."
Centro Labor is a local organization in Cerro de Pasco and has been working against pollution for years. Director Wilmar Cosme emphasizes that the local people are left in the dark: "We have no information about the mine here, we don't even know where the underground tunnels under our houses run. Again and again there are cracks and even collapses. We would like to know what Volcan-Glencore intends to do with Cerro de Pasco, whether it will repair the environmental damage, whether it intends to continue mining here or not.»
Glencore denies responsibility
Until now, Glencore has always tried to shirk responsibility by claiming that the extreme pollution is historical and that the mine no longer violates environmental standards. But this is demonstrably false. The situation has not improved recently. On the contrary, a hair analysis of children shows that lead concentrations have continued to worsen in recent years.
Satellite images show more severe lead poisoning
Satellite images also show an increase in lead exposure between 2001 and 2018 in Cerro de Pasco.
