USA Owned Smelter in Peru Brought Before OAS

USA Owned Smelter in Peru Brought Before OAS



March 2007 - The Peruvian government has 
done too little to halt contamination from a multi-metal 
smelter that is The Peruvian government has done too little to 
halt contamination from a multi-metal smelter that is causing 
health problems in La Oroya, a mining town in the Peruvian 
Andes, according to four public health and environmental 
organizations in Peru, Argentina and the United States. 
The organizations have filed a petition with the Human Rights 
Division of the Organization of American States in Washington, 
DC seeking a recommendation that "the Peruvian government 
implement urgent measures to halt the grave violations against 
the health and lives of the citizens of La Oroya." 
The filing was announced at a news conference Wednesday in 
Lima by attorney Carlos Chirinos of the Peruvian Society for 
Environmental Law, Astrid Puentes of the Interamerican 
Association for Environmental Defense, AIDA, Earthjustice, and 
the Center for Human Rights and Environment. 
The petition claims the Peruvian government failed to place 
pollution controls on the smelter that operates in La Oroya, a 
situation that they say "tramples on the human rights of the 
town's citizens." About 35,000 people live in the town. 
Doe Run Peru, a subsidiary of Doe Run Company of St. Louis, 
Missouri, owns the 80 year old complex, about 175 kilometers 
northeast of Lima, which the company purchased in 1997. 
The environmental and human rights groups point out that 
recent monitoring of air quality performed by Doe Run itself 
shows that daily average sulfur dioxide levels are between 80 
and 300 times the maximum level permitted by the World Health 
Organization, the public health and environmental groups say. 
The Doe Run Peru multi-metals smelter in La Oroya, Peru. 

The area is also contaminated by lead, copper, zinc, arsenic, 
and cadmium. The Doe Run facility is a "tremendous source of 
heavy metal and sulfur dioxide emissions, and is to blame for 
severe public health problems," according to AIDA. 
"Respiratory problems caused by sulfur dioxide contamination 
and lead poisoning are particularly widespread. In fact, 
according to a 1999 study by the Ministry of Health, 99.1 
percent of the children in La Oroya suffered from lead 
poisoning while nearly 20 percent needed urgent 
hospitalization," AIDA says. 
After seeing these results in 1999, the Peruvian Ministry of 
Health took no action to treat the children of La Oroya, limit 
exposure, or educate the public about the health risks. 
Little medical care is available, says AIDA, and because lead 
inhibits neurological development in children, the thousands 
of children poisoned by the smelter will be impaired for life. 

Other U.S. organizations have helped the people of La Oroya. 
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, E-LAW, an organization 
of environmental lawyers based in Eugene, Oregon, worked with 
the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law and the Civil 
Association Labor to conduct soil sampling and help the 
community take steps to make its voice heard and protect 
public health. "The community, health officials, and the 
company are now working together to develop a plan to reduce 
emissions and clean up La Oroya," said E-LAW in 2003. 
For its part, Doe Run says the company prides itself on its 
excellent environmental performance. 
On August 24, 2006 the company announced that for the first 
time, Doe Run Peru’s La Oroya plant attained the ISO 14001: 
2004 environmental standard, earning a Certificate of 
Recognition from the third-party environmental auditing firm 
SRI International. 
"Since December 2005, we have been working diligently on this 
certification process, which represents an internationally 
recognized standard for environmental performance and 
systems,” said Jose Mogrovejo, vice president of environmental 
affairs at Doe Run Peru. 
A La Oroya school playground adjacent to the smelter 
"We are very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish as a 
team, and ISO 14001: 2004 certification is a significant 
milestone in delivering on our commitments to our communities, 
our employees and the environment," Mogrovejo said. 
ISO 14001: 2004 is an internationally recognized environmental 
management system standard set by the International Standards 
Organization, concerning what an organization does to minimize 
harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities 
and achieving continual improvement of its environmental 
performance. 
The five major elements of the ISO 14001: 2004 are 
environmental policy, planning, implementation and operations, 
checking and corrective action, and management review. 
Not only is certification a tangible demonstration of Doe Run 
Peru’s pledge to improve environmental performance, but 
Mogrovejo said certification resulted from the company’s 
structured Environmental Management System, which Doe Run Peru 
began implementing upon its arrival in 1997 to prevent, reduce 
or eliminate the environmental impact of its activities, 
products and services. 
The Doe Run Peru management says the company plans additional 
environmental improvements. 
But in October 2006, the Blacksmith Institute listed the La 
Oroya smelter as one of the world's 10 worst polluted places. 
The environmental action group based in New York City said the 
Peruvian government acknowledges the problems in La Oroya. 
"Peru's Clean Air Act cites La Oroya in a list of Peruvian 
towns suffering critical levels of air pollution, but action 
to clean up and curtail this pollution has been delayed for 
the 35,000 inhabitants," the Blacksmith Institute states. "In 
2004, Doe Run Corporation asked the government for a four year 
extension to the plants environmental management plan." 
In June 2006, Peru's Supreme Court gave the Ministry of Health 
30 days to declare a health emergency in La Oroya, and to put 
in place an emergency health plan for the city. The ruling 
came in a case brought by the Peruvian Society for 
Environmental Law. An initial victory in the lower court was 
appealed by Peru's Health Ministry, forcing the plaintiffs to 
bring the suit to the Supreme Court. 
A related request to protect health by issuing precautionary 
measures for La Oroya is still pending before the 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. This case was 
brought by the Chirinos, the Interamerican Association for 
Environmental Defense, Earthjustice, and the Center for Human 
Rights and Environment. 





 

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