Life is Sacred and Deserves to be Protected
Children from La Oroya, Peru, standing in front of the smelter that causes such environmental damage
Photo Credit: Jed Koball
Your signature as an international friend and partner is important in that it will show the authorities in question that the world is watching and that our global partners in Peru are relevant and credible leaders in the movement to protect life in La Oroya. Please read, sign, and share!
The struggle to protect life in La Oroya, Peru has reached a new critical stage. Last month, the Peruvian State authorized a return to more permissive air quality standards until the year 2030 in La Oroya in the interest of finding a new buyer for the metallurgical smelter that was purchased by New York based The Renco Group, Inc. in 1997. Already considered one of the ten most contaminated cities in the world where 97% of the children ages 6-12 have been shown to have blood-lead-levels far surpassing World Health Organization thresholds, this new State mandated measure puts at greater risk the health of the population and environment.
Our global partners, Red Uniendo Manos Peru, have been working tirelessly for fifteen years to secure specialized health attention for the population and environment and to insure that such tragedies not happen again in La Oroya or elsewhere. Towards this end, they helped organize and lead a movement to get a regional ordinance passed in 2012 in the Region of Junin (that includes La Oroya) that would establish a comprehensive and specialized human, public, and environmental health care program for La Oroya and surrounding areas. While the ordinance was passed unanimously by the Regional Council, a budget has yet to be approved in order to actually design and implement the program. With the new more permissive emissions standards authorized, the need for such comprehensive health care becomes all the more urgent.
This letter, addressed to the Prime Minister of Peru, the Regional Governor of Junin, and the Regional Council of Junin, calls for the regional government to adopt a budget for the design and implementation of the health care program including the monitoring, enforcement and revision of environmental standards that are at the heart of such health concerns.
We want to collect as many signatures as possible by September 30, when the Regional Council is scheduled to make a decision on a budget.
Please sign and share this letter! Thank you!
Jed Hawkes Koball
Presbyterian Mission Agency
Lima, PERU
Links,
