Restore Health in Cerro de Pasco

Thanks to our work that demonstrate the health effect of massive pollution in Cerro de Pasco, and thanks to the continuous pressure of the local civil society, finally the government is taking some actions to protect the health of the children of Cerro de Pasco.

Last week two children of 11 and 13 years of age, from Cerro de Pasco were urgently hospitalized in Lima for a sever intoxication by heavy metals. According to local news (here the link) the pollution date back to a spill that occurred in 2016 but because nobody cleaned the area the kids are still suffering from it.

Since the beginning of 2018 these are only the last two of more than 20 children who have received attention at a national hospital; most of them thanks to reports from Source International.

But still, this is not enough. According to our last studies there are 82 children on 82 samples who present heavy metals intoxications. This represent 100% of the analyzed children; therefore, we can assume that all the kids between 5 and 15 years in Cerro de Pasco are intoxicated with heavy metals.

In March we will have a meeting with the Minister of health and with the office of the Prime Minister in Lima and we will ask attention to all the children in Cerro de Pasco. There are more than 10.000 children affected and we will fight until we will have attention to all of them.

Continue to support our project and we will obtain medical attention to all the kids of Cerro de Pasco!

Short summary of our activities on the case of PASCO along this 2017

Just to remind you what has been done so far during this campaign thanks to you!

• We launched the #RestoreCerroDePasco crowdfunding campaign in february 2016.

Thanks to your help and support we began in August 2016 to collect environmental data about water quality in the territory sourrounding the mining city. The lab results have highlighted high levels of polluttants, many times over the national legal limit. This happened 8 years later our first environmetal study there. In two lagoons the concentration  of heavy metals increased a lot in these years.

During the first mission we focused also on children exposition to polluttants released into the environment (air, water, sediment, food) through children hair analysis. A new methodology to assess polluttants concentration on human body along the last months of human exposition.

We have already informed you about these results. We found 21 heavy metals (components that are toxic, carcinogenic and teratogenic) in children hair, that means in their body!

• We came back to Perù at the beginning of January 2017 to carry on a Human Rights Impacts Assessment with children focus. Something interesting came out by these focus groups questionnaires done by an italian lawyer:

* 70% children interviewed do not have drinking water in their schools

* 33% state that the water cames out yellow and turbid 

*70% affirm that their family has to boil water before using it

* 5% have access to running water 

* 79% do not have hot water at home

With these important data of the second mission we met the Health Minister in Lima informing, toghether with local communities, the sever situation of people in Cerro de Pasco, reiterating and reminding the concern about this dramatic situation of human rights violations at the international level.

• In June 2017, the Health Minister declared the territory of Cerro de Pasco in Emergency State, promoting some urgent actions as environmental restorative plans (mining landfill closing plan) and health care and monitoring children polluttants blood levels analysis.

After more than 4 months, these urgent actions have not been applied totally. 

• We returned to Lima at the beginning of November 2017 -for the third time- to participate at the National Forum about people affected by mining pollution, exposing our studies results of Pasco. But the Health Minister was not there. But anyway the Government, thanks to tv channel that shared the event and to the main national newspapers that reported the meeting, realized how big, complex and urgent is the case of Cerro de Pasco.

We are pressing the Government to respect its responsabilites to the affected people of Cerro de Pasco and we are working with local communities to propose solutions to this huge problem.

But it requires lot of time. We will work on the case for the next 2018 hoping in your costant help to create a REAL POSITIVE IMPACT on these lives.

We would like to thank everyone of you to share with us this big case!

If you feel to go ahead with this deal,you can donate to the project.

Now it's time for the #Year-End Campaign, so your donation is free of cost of transaction and we can be matched to win 10,000 $ if we reach 50 donors until the end of December!

Come on, join us!!!

Links:

• https://www.source-international.org/year-end-campaign-is-ready/?lang=en