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Case File: Helping a Doctor Help 35,000 Lead-Poisoned People Around the Lead Smelter at La Oroya in Peru - How GLASS Works

by Elizabeth O’Brien, Manager, Global Lead Advice and Support Service (GLASS) 24/3/06

On Jan 11th 2006, a doctor working for the Health Ministry in Peru, Dr Godofredo Arauzo, used the form on our website to write: “In Oroya City near Huancayo is a smelter that is eliminating 2500 tons every day to lead and the children have in average 350% more lead in them blood that is permitted and the mother in one research have 200 µg/100gr to placenta and the newborn in average 200% lead in them blood. Could you do a research about to this genocide contamination and send me literature about hazard to lead to health.”

I immediately emailed the Doe Run lead smelter owners asking for fact sheets and to work with them to help Dr Arauzo help the people of La Oroya but received no reply so wrote again and I await a reply. I also found in our calls database a reference in the Global Lead Network egroup to a US-funded La Oroya lead smelter environmental health assessment team and contacted the lead researcher, Dr David Sterling (previously a client of ours). The report of their 2005 research in Peru had only been drafted in Spanish and was awaiting publication but Dr Sterling agreed to supply the draft to our Spanish-speaking client. Once he obtained the latest air, dust, soil, water and blood lead data and knew that likely all 35,000 local residents were lead poisoned, Dr Arauzo requested a DVD of our web-published slide show for doctors, written by Dr Ben Balzer of the GLASS Technical Advisory Board (TAB). Because the Peruvian doctor’s ministry-provided hotmail account could not handle attachments he also requested a hard copy of our 28 newsletters and all general information about lead health effects and nutritional intervention. We posted a 2 kg package for $27 by sea mail and invited him to join our relevant egroups as well as referring him to the Global Lead Network egroup. Extremely grateful* and now more informed, Dr Arauzo requested further information on the reference list in the slide show and after I spoke to Dr Balzer, Dr Balzer put him in touch with the most important author (also a GLASS referral/expert), Dr Bruce Lanphear who further connected him with the world best-practicing clinician in pediatric lead poisoning – Dr Michael Shannon (now a new expert added to our database). We airmailed for $60 a 1.6kg parcel comprising the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) case management guidebooks and twenty journal articles including two I had to purchase for our library for $54 and several by Professor Brian Gulson, head of GLASS TAB.

Meanwhile, a newspaper article was emailed to GLASS by the National Toxics Network in Australia, about the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding pediatric environmental health units in Argentina and other South American countries. I contacted the journalist for an email contact in the Argentinean health department and put our client in contact with the people receiving the US EPA funding so that he could request a unit for La Oroya.

The development/seeking out and provision of information and referrals required for this one client could have been more quickly and efficiently achieved, but for the time over-head in training and administering the large numbers of volunteers who operate GLASS. Wages funding will provide continuous staffing, co-ordination of volunteers and a more productive service.

Update as at 12/11/08: after providing GLASS with a fact sheet in Spanish (currently being translated by a volunteer), Dr Arauzo agreed to join The LEAD Group’s Technical Advisory Board, becoming our first Board member in South America.

English PDF: La_Oroya_Peru_English.PDF
Chinese PDF: La Oroya Chinese.PDF html: Fact Sheet 41 Chinese.html
Spanish version PDF: La_Oroya_Peru_Espańol.PDF
html: Fact Sheet 41  

The LEAD Group Inc. Fact Sheet Index

NSW Lead Reference Centre and NSW Government Publications On this site

  1. About the Global Lead Advice and Support Service (GLASS)

  2. Main Sources of Lead

  3. How Would You Know If You or Your Child Was lead poisoned?

  4. Lead aware housekeeping

  5. Ceiling dust & lead poisoning

  6. Is your yard lead safe?
    你的院子是铅安全的吗

  7. Health Impacts of lead poisoning

  8. Rotary Questionnaire

  9. Lead poisoned Pets and Your Family

  10. Childhood Lead Poisoning Risk Factor Questionnaire

  11. Is Your Child Safe From Lead? - What Can You Do About Lead?

  12. Lead in Drinking Water in Australia

  13. Have We Really Resolved The Lead Issue?

  14. The Importance of the Availability of "Spot Tests" for Lead in Paint

  15. Pregnant or Planning a Pregnancy

  16. Breastfeeding and Lead

  17. Lead in breast milk

  18. Beware The Lead In Lead Lighting

  19. Renting and Lead

  20. What to do if you have too much lead in your tank water

  21. Lead Contamination in Stormwater

  22. Contamination At Shooting Ranges

  23. Banned: Leaded Wick Candles

  24. Lead, Ageing and Death
    铅,衰老和死亡

  25. Metal miniatures: How to minimise the risks of lead poisoning and contamination

  26. 7 Point Plan for the MANAGEMENT OF LEAD by Australian parents and carers

  27. Countries where Leaded Petrol is Possibly Still Sold for Road Use, As at 17th June 2011

  28. Lead Poisoning And The Brain - Cognitive Deficits And Mental Illness

  29. Facts and Firsts of Lead

  30. Lead mining royalties by state and territory

  31. Lead Mining Stewardship - Grey Lead and the Role of The LEAD Group

  32. Preventative Strategies of The LEAD Group

  33. What do Doctors need to do about Lead?

  34. A Naturopath's Experience Of Lead & People With Diagnosed Mental Illness

  35. Case File: Helping Manage Australian Lead in Petrol - How GLASS Works

  36. Glass Web & Service-Users, Experts & Volunteers, by Country; Countries with Leaded Petrol for Road Use & Worst Pollution

  37. Lead in ceiling dust

  38. Lead paint & ceiling dust management - how to do it lead-safely

  39. Esperance parliamentary inquiry follow-up factsheet: Where to from Here??
    埃斯佩兰斯议会调查后续情况说明书:从这里去哪里??

  40. Broken Hill lead miners factsheet 1893 with Note 20081015

  41. Helping a Doctor Help 35,000 Lead-Poisoned People Around the Lead Smelter at La Oroya in Peru
    Ayuda a un doctor que ayuda 35,000 personas envenenadas por plomo alrededor de la fundidora de plomo en la Oroya-Peru
    案例档案:帮助一个医生救助在秘鲁的拉奥罗亚的铅冶炼厂周围的35000铅中毒的人民全球铅咨询和支持的服务机构是怎末工作的

  42. Fact sheet for Australian toy importers and traders

  43. Iron Nutrition & Lead Toxicity
    Informe de Acciones – Hierro y Plomo en la Nutrición
    情况说明书铁的营养和铅的毒性

  44. Sanitarium-Are You getting Enough Iron

  45. Do-It-Yourself-Lead-Safe-Test-Kits-flyer

  46. Blood lead testing: who to test, when, and how to respond to the result

  47. Dangers of a blood lead level above 2 µg/dL and below 10 µg/dL to both adults and children
    血铅水平高于
    2微克/分升和低于10微克/分升对予成人和儿童的危险。

  48. Lead Exposure & Alzheimer’s Disease: Is There A Link?

  49. In CHINA - Blood lead testing: who to test, when, and how to respond to the result
    在中国血铅测试:谁应该去检查,什么时候,如何对待不同的测试结果

  50. Why you should have your ceiling dust removed before you take advantage of the Australian government's Energy Efficient Homes Package: Insulation Program

  51. Alperstein et al Lead Alert - A Guide For Health Professionals 1994

  52. Ceiling Dust WorkCover Guide Lee Schreiber Final Nov 1999

  53. What can I do about climate change AND lead?

  54. The Need for Expert Clinical Assessments in Diagnosis Of Heavy Metal Poisoning

  55. Why you should have your ceiling dust removed before you have insulation installed

  56. Thirty Thought-Starters on Ceiling Void Dust in Homes

  57. Pectin: Panacea for both lead poisoning and lead contamination

  58. Nutrients that reduce lead poisoning June 2010

  59. Lead poisoning and menopause

  60. Fact sheet For Schoolkids From Professor Knowlead About Lead

  61. Prevention of Exposure to Lead at Work in Indonesia

  62. Mencegah kontak dengan timbal di tempat kerja di Indonesia

  63. How to Protect Your Family from Lead in Indonesia

  64. Bagaimana melindungi keluargamu dari timbal di Indonesia

  65. Cigarette Smoking & Lead Toxicity
     صحيفة معلومات: التدخين والتسمم بالرصاص

  66. Medical Evaluation Questionnaire For Occupational Lead Exposure

  67. Dangers of a blood lead level above 2 µg/dL and below 10 µg/dL to children

  68. Dangers of a blood lead level above 2 µg/dL and below 10 µg/dL to adults

  69. Biosolids used as fertilizer in China and other countries
    在中国和其他国家生物固体作肥料

  70. What are the lead poisoning risks of a lead pellet, bullet or shot lodged in the body?

  71. Alcohol’s link to higher lead and iron levels

  72. USA Case Definition of Adult (including Occupational) & Child Elevated Blood Lead Levels (EBLL)

  73. Low Level Lead Exposure Harms Children - A Renewed Call for Primary Prevention

  74. Occupational Health & Safety Fact Sheet Dangers of lead for roofers

  75. Let’s Make Leaded Petrol History - Let’s Make Leaded Gasoline History

  76. Lead, Your Health & the Environment. Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, Korean, Macedonian, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese 

  77. Lead Safe Housekeeping

  78. Old Lead Paint

  79. Working safely with lead

  80. A Renovator's Guide To The Dangers Of Lead (Brochure 30 pages)

  81. A Guide For Health Care Professionals (Brochure 34 pages)

  82. A Guide To Keeping Your Family Safe From Lead (Brochure 20 pages)

  83. Lead Hazard Management In Children's Services (Brochure 15 pages)

  84. A Guide To Dealing With Soil That Might Be Lead-Contaminated

  85. Exposure Assessment: Lead Neurotoxicity - Is the Center for Disease Control's goal to reduce lead below 10 µg/dl blood in all children younger than 72 months by 2010, good enough?

About Us | bell system lead poisoning | Contact Us | Council LEAD Project | egroups | Library - Fact Sheets | Home Page | Media Releases
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