High lead levels in some Peruvian children blamed on St. Louis based company

02:18 PM CST on Friday, February 11, 2005

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La Oroya, Peru (KMOV) -- Thousands of children living near a metal smelter in Peru have lead poisoning. A St. Louis company owns that plant.

KMOV

The Doe Run facility in La Oroya, Peru.

Two years ago, Craig Cheatham paid a surprise visit to the town of La Oroya. Recently, he returned to Peru and in his investigation he discovered many of the same problems.

They play on poisoned dirt, flipping marbles in dust filled with dangerous amounts of some of most toxic metals in the world.

Every day, nearly 1,000 tons of pollution; arsenic, lead, cadmium and sulfur dioxide pour out of the nearby metal smelter owned and operated by the St. Louis-based Doe Run Company.

Several Peruvian doctors blame the toxic smoke for high rates of cancer, miscarriages, asthma, bronchitis and brain damage.

Moises Galarza's blood has nearly six times the amount of lead considered safe. Virtually every child in town has lead poisoning, tests show one out of four children have so much lead in their blood they should be hospitalized immediately. Moises is one of them.

Even though the government tested him five years ago, local doctors say Moises and thousands of other La Oroya children have never received any direct medical care from the Peruvian government or Doe Run.

Doe Run insists children are much healthier since the company bought the smelter seven years ago. Doe Run Peru executives say the company has spent more than $140 million improving the smelter and has cut pollution by 25-percent.

Doe Run's explanations were never good enough for Maria Chappuis. Until two months ago, she was Peru’s director general of energy and mining. Chappuis fined Doe Run twice; one fined was settled for $5,000 the second $10,000 fine is being appealed. Sources say she was forced out of her job because she was too tough on the doe run company.

Chappuis says Doe Run has repeatedly violated pollution laws and has not reduced the amount of sulfur dioxide or lead in the air or the poison dumped directly into the Mantaro River. Peruvian sources say Chappuis is risking her career by speaking out against Doe Run.

“Wherever we are, in the U.S. or Peru, we follow the highest standard of ethics and laws,” says Doe Run Peru President Bruce Neil.

In Peru, where congressional investigators found Doe Run's own tests show it has repeatedly violated Peru’s environmental laws, the statements of company officials are ignored by the family of Moises Galarza, who are more interested in the shrinking promise that lies within their little boy.

The boy who has been ignored by government and company doctors is determined to become a doctor. It’s the kind of dream that is difficult to see in the smoke filled town of La Oroya.

Since our last visit two years ago, Doe Run has finished the easiest and least expensive pollution controls, but has not completed the ones that will dramatically reduce the most dangerous emissions, including lead and sulfur dioxide.

Peruvian government records from 2004 show Doe Run has only spent $42 million on reducing pollution at the smelter, not the $140 million the company claims.

Company executives promise to virtually eliminate lead pollution within the next two years, but right now production and profits are up and former Peruvian mining official Maria Chappuis says that could mean the most toxic type of pollution has also increased.

Just three months ago, the pollution was so bad in La Oroya that an aide to the mayor filed this complaint, claiming visibility was down to 100 feet.

Click here to watch Craig Cheatham’s report

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