EL
SALVADOR:
A Battery of Charges
Over Lead Poisoning
By Raúl Gutiérrez
SITIO DEL NIÑO, El
Salvador, Oct 8 (IPS) -
Environmentalists and
residents of this
Salvadoran city are
demanding the closure of
a car battery factory
that has been
contaminating them with
lead for 12 years.
Two teenagers on a
protest march against
the company, Baterías de
El Salvador, carried a
placard reading "Justice
for the children
poisoned by Record," the
trademark name of the
company’s products.
The protesters accused
the government of
negligence. In Sitio del
Niño, which translates
as "Children’s Place",
ironically it is the
children who suffer most
from the pollution.
Tests carried out by the
Health Ministry in April
found high levels of
lead in their blood.
But adults as well as
children endure
headaches, bone pain,
diarrhoea, urinary and
respiratory infections,
kidney failure, and even
cancer.
Hugo González, 37, lives
400 metres away from the
factory, which is
located 31 km from the
capital city.
His voice breaks as he
tells IPS that his wife,
María Antonia, aged 30,
is eight months pregnant
and her doctor has told
her she has lead in her
blood. This means the
baby is also
contaminated and may
suffer complications.
And tests on their other
five-year-old son Hugo
found 16 micrograms of
lead per decilitre of
blood (mcg/dl).
The World Health
Organisation (WHO)
regards lead levels of
up to 10 mcg/dl in a
16-year-old as
"acceptable". Up to 12
mcg/dl represents a low
level of risk, while
levels between 12 and 20
mcg/dl represent
significant risk.
When the level of lead
in blood is over 20
mcg/dl, it can cause
irreversible
neurological damage and
disability for life.
Lorena de González told
IPS that when Dr. Blanca
Estela Aguilar from the
Health Ministry carried
out a census of the
community, the doctor
told de González that
her lead contamination
was her fault, "because
of the kind of pots I
use and my tiled
floors."
"We have visited the
factory, and it’s not a
source of pollution,"
the doctor said,
according to de González.
"We may be poor, but we
know where the
contamination is coming
from," said de González.
Eva Peñate, a teacher at
the Sitio del Niño Rural
Community School Centre,
lives less than 200
metres from the factory.
She said that the
children’s academic
performance has fallen
considerably in recent
years. At least 25
percent of the students
do not attend classes
regularly because of
health problems.
"Their attention span in
the classroom has
dropped, they fall
asleep, they complain of
eye pain, and many have
to repeat a school year
several times" because
their intellectual
capacity has diminished,
the teacher said. She
herself is affected too:
she finds it hard to get
her ideas together, and
she will soon go blind.
Baterías de El Salvador,
which employs about 350
workers, is owned by the
family of Miguel Lacayo,
a former economy
minister, and produces
and recycles over 20,000
batteries a day.
Although it was
established in Sitio del
Niño 12 years ago, a
sign identifying it was
only put up three years
ago.
"The Record", as the
factory is known
locally, has been a
focus of controversy
ever since. Two months
ago, the issue heated up
when a newspaper article
reported a confrontation
between the health and
environment ministries,
which were each trying
to pass the buck for
responsibility in the
case.
Some weeks ago Health
Minister Guillermo Maza
told the people they
should leave the area in
order to avoid further
toxic effects.
On Sept. 24 Maza ordered
the closure of the
factory. Residents
regard this as an
important measure, but
say it is not
sufficient: the order is
not definitive, and the
reason given is the lack
of "a current permit for
installation and
operation," without
making any mention of
the lead pollution.
The human rights
ombudsman, Oscar Luna,
urged Attorney General
Félix Safie to initiate
criminal proceedings
against the company, but
Safie said that he
cannot act until he has
evidence that local
residents are being
poisoned.
Carlos Mejía of the
non-governmental
anti-lead poisoning
organisation Movimiento
Sin Plomo (MSP) accused
the government of
behaving irresponsibly,
since the problem has
been known about for
years.
Mejía pointed out that
the U.S. Centres for
Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) in
Atlanta, Georgia carried
out blood tests on 370
workers of the company
in 2005.
"They found lead levels
of 40 mcg/dl of blood in
128 workers, 52 mcg/dl
in 59 workers, and so on
up to results of 70
mcg/dl in 36 workers,"
said Mejía, an
anthropologist in charge
of the museum in the
city of Santa Tecla.
The CDC reported the
case of Angelita Ester
Gámez. When she was 11
years old, her analysis
results showed she had
nearly 12 mcg/dl of lead
in her blood. Her most
recent results found the
concentration of lead to
be 72 mcg/dl.
Mejía has lived in the
local area for three
years. He has a list of
85 children with lead
poisoning, including
Geovany, a 14-month-old
baby with a blood level
of 22 mcg/dl.
The list includes
Mejía’s own children,
six-year-old Yale and
10-year-old Gamaliel,
who "wake up at dawn
crying, vomiting and
with bone pain," he
said.
"This is indiscriminate
contamination," Mejía
said.
Sitio del Niño, in the
northwest of El
Salvador, is part of a
vast plain that the
government has been
promoting for years as
an agricultural and
livestock rearing area.
The Zapotitán irrigation
project was established
here, as was the
National School for
Agriculture, where
vegetables, sugarcane,
flowers and maize are
grown. Large herds of
cattle can be seen on
both sides of the
highway.
According to
environmentalists, lead
from The Record does not
only endanger local
people. The pollution
radius may be up to 10
kilometres, affecting
the health of at least
20,000 people.
Lead may also have
contaminated much of the
agricultural production
in the area, although
concrete proof is
lacking. Many local
crops are sold in the
capital,
environmentalists point
out.
Josseline Acevedo, a
nine-year-old girl
living 150 metres from
the factory, suffers
from bone pain and
fever. She became a
symbol for the press
when she took part in a
march organised by the
MSP in mid-September,
from Sitio del Niño to
the presidential palace
in San Salvador.
Josseline refused
several offers of a lift
because, she said, "I
want to show the
president," Antonio Saca,
"what I’m going
through."
Raquel Cruz, a lawyer
with the Centre for
Appropriate Technology (CESTA),
told IPS that CESTA
would go on demanding
"the permanent closure
of the company, a
clean-up of the area,
medical treatment for
the children and
compensation for the
victims."
"If Saca has a ‘sense of
humanity’," a phrase
often used in official
publicity about the
president, "then he
should close the
factory," said a
resident of this
community. "The truth
is, it’s killing us." |
