Herculaneum
It was almost midnight on a hot August night. Dave Mosby, who worked for the state, was walking along the streets of the small town of Herculaneum, Missouri. As he walked, he could see the black dust he had come to take samples of. It lay in thick piles in the gutters of the streets. Under a streetlight, Mr. Mosby could see that the dust had a metallic shine. Carefully he scooped up some of the dust. He would send it off to a laboratory to be tested.
When the laboratory results came back, Mr. Mosby could hardly believe what he was reading. The dust he had sampled was 30 percent pure lead! For years, Mr. Mosby knew, the Doe Run smelter had been operating near the town. Many people who lived there needed the jobs the plant offered. But for a long time, fumes from the plant had filled the air. When people hung clothing on their clotheslines to dry, it often got covered with soot from the plant. Sometimes an acid plume from the plant would float over the streets, and the paint on cars was damaged.
But something worse was happening than dirty clothes or damaged paint. When children come in contact with lead , it can cause serious health problems. They can get high blood pressure or anemia or develop behavior problems. Even worse, their nervous systems can be damaged. They may never be as smart or develop as well as other children.
When the children of Herculaneum were tested in 2002, more than half of them who lived close to the lead smelter had very high levels of lead in their blood.
La Oroya
Meanwhile, far away in Peru, the Doe Run Company bought another smelter. Another American company built this smelter in 1922. People in those days got used to covering their mouths and noses with a handkerchief to block out the fumes. The copper-colored river that runs through the town is the Mantaro River. People often call it the dead river because plants and fish cannot live in its water.
By 2005. this plant was making almost four times as much money as the plant in Missouri had made. But it was also spewing 31 times as much toxic lead into the air. People could see pink and yellow smoke coming from the smelter, and the trees and bushes of the town were covered with dust, When Doe Run bought the plant, they agreed to a ten-year clean up plan. Some things did get better. But after Doe Run took over the plant, tests showed that lead, sulfur dioxide and arsenic in the air increased.
La Oroya is a town in the Andes Mountains. It sits on a riverbank across from the Doe Run Plant. Lead and other substances come from the plant, making it very hard to breathe. People living close to the plant must wipe toxic dust off their furniture and windows all the time.
Around four thousand people work for the Doe Run plant. The company runs a soup kitchen and gives away toys to the children at Christmas. Many people depend on the plant to make a living. Many people worry that if the plant closes down, they will lose their jobs. How would they feed their families then?
But children under the age of 7 who live in La Oroya have very high blood-levels of lead. Experts say that the lead in the children's blood is more than three times higher than it should be. Many children under the 5 of five have mental problems or trouble walking and running.
A copper colored river, pink and yellow smoke, thick brown dust. Instead of blue sky, white fluffy clouds, and green grass and trees, the people of La Oroya live in a town colored by the poisonous colors of the toxic dust put off by the Doe Run Plant. Even if Doe Run finishes cleaning up the town as it has promised, the houses and streets of La Oroya may not be safe for children for a long time.
Pray for the children of Herculaneum and of La Oroya who have been poisoned by lead.
Back to kids 4 being healthy