Justice and Human Rights Peru Project #23520

Restore Health in Cerro de Pasco

by Source International

Project Report | Dec 1, 2017
Third Mission to Cerro De Pasco

By Laura Grassi | Project Manager

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

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Oct 9, 2017
Next steps for #RestoreCerroDePasco

By Laura Grassi | Project Manager

Quiulacocha lake - Excelsior waste mining disposal

Updates about our next steps through our important project #RestoreCerroDePasco.

Last months have been full of meetings between Cerro de Pasco's communities leaders, local NGOs and national Institutions.

The Minister of Energy and Mines, Cayetana Aljovín, exposed in the Congress, in front of the Commission of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, Environment and Ecology, the situation about the remediation of environmental liabilities and pointed out that a budget has been assigned to close the waste mining disposal "Excelsior" near Quiulacocha lake.

Another study, promoted by local NGO Red Muqui, alerts on high risk of exposure and chronic intoxication by heavy metals in La Oroya and Cerro de Pasco.

Menwhile these efforts and advances, at the same time the Central Government has promoted during its first year lots of laws that represent criminal attacks against environment and human rights.

The Decree 003-2017-MINAM was approved in June and It lowers the environmental standards for air quality. It represents a setback of at least 15 years in the country's environmental policies.

One of the last incostitutional action carried forward by the Government of Perù is the Ministerial Resolution 276 of the Ministry of the Environment that allows mining project in vulnerable areas as water basins, primary forests, protected lands, protected natural areas, groundwater and springs.

According to these news, it is very important for us to sustain and support the Cerro de Pasco Project.

We need to abandon the mining dependence of the economic model that does not generate employment and is leaving us without strategic resources due to the environmental damages it generates.

So, what are we going to do?

SOURCE International is going to came back to Perù soon (between October or November 2017) to expose the results of our last study to the National Congress in Lima.

Moreover we will move to Cerro de Pasco to meet local communities and partners to show the final ouputs of the environmental and health study.

Here a video explaining our study and main results.

We are working hard to obtain big changes for local people and for the protection of the environment. We let you know quite soon which are the next actions for Cerro de Pasco!

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Jul 12, 2017
Biomonitoring children exposition to heavy metals

By Laura Grassi | Project Manager

Campaign #Restore Cerro de Pasco

Here a short summary about physical and mental health situation in Cerro de Pasco after Source International hair lab results interpretation.

The heavy metals concentration in children's hair in the area is quite alarming:

100% of children who lived in Paraghsa, the community closed to the mine, have LEAD in their hair;
97% of them have MANGANESE too;
96% report ALUMINIUM above the reference standard (*German reference standard used for this investigation);
heavy metals concentration in children of Paraghsa is higher than children in Carhuamayo (control sample) and extremely above of the German standard.

Furthermore 34% of Paraghsa children report low concentrations of essential elements such as selenium, chromium and especially zinc, that highlights malnutrition symptom that causes an increase of toxic metals absorption.

As part of the health investigation we compared mortality, morbility and mental health of local situation with national and regional level. According to the data provided by the Hospital of Cerro de Pasco, local population report high rate of diseases related to maternal reproductive health; moreover the first cause of mortality is fetal death. These are clear evidences of how high concentrations of toxic metals are responsible for damaging the fetus, as a lot of scientific publications report.

Within Simon Bolivar district, Paraghsa is the community with the highest percentage of registered cases of diseases; furthermore it presents numerous cases of diseases of the digestive system, respiratory and numerous cases of trauma and poisoning, which leads to the relationship between human exposure to toxic contaminants and the development of specific morbilities.

In the last 4 years there was an increase of mental disorders in Paraghsa’s population, particularly in relation to family violence (87% of the population) and depression (11%). According to the literature it is known that high blood levels of mercuryand lead are the basis of many psycho-physical health problems, associated with depression, anxiety, and increased cases of suicide!

The project is still open and we are working constantly on it, supporting also local NGOs and community.

If you are interested to donate more to this huge case study, you can click direclty here: http://bit.ly/2g2BGvD

We hope you can support this big effort to help people&environment!

Thank you so much to be part of this!

Source International

Mental Health

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