Peruvian town again among most contaminated

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The Andean smelter town of La Oroya, Peru, is the only site in the Americas named on the latest list of the world’s top 10 most polluted places compiled by the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based environmental advocacy group. It also made the list last year.

Blood tests on children and others living near the La Oroya smelter complex have shown high levels of lead and other toxic substances, as The Times reported in June.

The smelter works are affiliated with Doe Run Co. of St. Louis.

The other nine ‘killer communities’ are in the former Soviet Union, Asia and Africa.

The environmental group’s report also includes a larger list of the ‘Dirty 30’ polluted spots, including five other Latin American sites: Mexico City (air pollution); Haina, Dominican Republic (lead contamination); Ecuador’s Oriente rain forest (oil industry toxins); Huancavelica, Peru (mercury); and Argentina’s Matanza-Riachuelo river basin (industrial wastes).

Posted by Patrick J. McDonnell in Buenos Aires