Those affected by oil spills in the Peruvian Amazon have heavy metals in their bodies

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Almost 400 communities in the Peruvian Amazon affected since 2014 by frequent oil spills suffer from high levels of poverty (from 45% to 59%), chronic malnutrition and lack of access to health and education services. In March 2015, the Government of Peru undertook to carry out a toxicological study of the po[CENSORED]tion and three years later preliminary results were known: the inhabitants of four basins of the northern forest have lead, cadmium, mercury and other metals in the body heavy. In a forum held last Tuesday, the apus (leaders of indigenous organizations) demanded the State urgent health care, since their sources of food are also contaminated.

"My papaya and cocona harvests are no longer good. Products such as plantain and cassava remain half-grown and die; from the root they rot. As my crops die, perhaps my children will die without knowing the development: oil brings development to the governments, not to the communities, "said Ermilda Tapuy, representative of the Kichwa ethnic group of the Tigre river basin, in the region of Loreto

The spills originate in the Norperuano Pipeline, an infrastructure 48 years old and more than 800 kilometers long of the state PetroPerú, with maintenance deficiencies, according to the authorities. According to a report drawn up in May by regulator Osinergmin for the Ombudsman's Office, half of the 51 oil leaks that occurred between 1997 and last March are the responsibility of third parties, 16% originate in corrosion processes and 2%, in operative failures of the oil company.

The toxicological study conducted by the National Center for Occupational Health and Environmental Protection for Health (Censopas), under the Peruvian Ministry of Health, is based on blood and urine samples from 1,168 people in 39 communities of the Corrientes river basins , Marañón, Pastaza and Tigre. In addition, with the collaboration of the four indigenous federations and families and the support of a United Nations agency, the specialists collected samples of air, agricultural land, household soils, drinking water, fish and food.

Taking international standards as a reference, 57% of people have levels above the allowed level of blood lead (less than 5 micrograms per deciliter); however, the Peruvian norm is more permissive and its reference is 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter for children and 20 micrograms for adults.

Therefore, when applying the national parameter the figures change, 22% of children under 12 years old and 10% of the po[CENSORED]tion of the basins affected by the crude live with unacceptable levels for health. Tamy Okamoto, adviser to the leaders of the four basins, said that the reference values of Peru "are not accepted by the scientific community."

In addition, 26% of adults and 22% of children have mercury in the blood in values higher than allowed, according to the Peruvian standard of 5 micrograms of mercury per gram of excreted creatinine. Mercury contamination has consequences in the central nervous system, especially in children and pregnant women.

"The strong smell (of oil) affected our heads, we suffered because our heads were spinning. Those who have been worse have been children, are currently with liver pain, "explains in a documentary a woman of the Awajún ethnic group in the town of Chiriaco, Amazonas region, where there was a spill of more than 7,000 barrels of crude at the beginning of 2016, caused by corrosion and lack of maintenance, according to the Office of Evaluation and Environmental Enforcement. The video was presented in the same forum. More than half of the children in the sample taken in the four basins have levels above the acceptable levels of arsenic in the urine, Okamoto added.