Published on 2006-10-26
In the November/December 2006 issue of Mother Jones, Sara Shipley Hiles and Marina Walker Guevara tell the story of two cities, some 3,000 miles apart, that are intimately linked by one company and one mineral unearthed from the ground. Both La Oroya, Peru and Herculaneum, Mo., are home to lead smelters operated by the Doe Run Co., one of the largest lead producers in the world. The St. Louis-based firm expanded its dirty operations abroad at a time when it was facing increasing scrutiny at home, milking money from its Peruvian operation while claiming it couldn't afford to finish its mandatory cleanup plan there. Meanwhile, 99 percent of La Oroya's children are lead-poisoned - a price some families think they have to pay to put food on the table.
Click here to view photos from La Oroya and Herculaneum
The article offers a moving profile of the plight of the people in La Oroya, who see living with contamination as the price they must pay to put food on the table.
Click here to read the full story on MotherJones.com.