International

Health or jobs: Peruvian mining town at a crossroads

Photo: Ernesto Benavides / AFP

| By AFP | Carlos Mandujano |

The Peruvian mining city of La Oroya, one of the most polluted places in the world, is seeking to reopen a heavy metal smelter that poisoned residents for almost a century.

The Andean city, situated in a high-altitude valley at 3 750 meters (12 300 feet), is a grey, desolate place.

Small houses and shops — many abandoned — cluster around towering black chimneys, surrounded by ashen mountain slopes corroded by heavy metals and long devoid of vegetation.

In 2009, the gigantic smelter that was the economic heartbeat of La Oroya went bankrupt, forcing residents to leave in droves and bringing local commerce to its knees.

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Since 1922, the plant processed copper, zinc, lead, gold, selenium, and other minerals from nearby mines.

If the metallurgical complex reopens, as announced by its new owners in October, it could breathe life back into the economy.

“The large majority of the population is eager and has waited a long time for this to start up again, because it is the source of life, the economic source,” said 48-year-old taxi driver Hugo Enrique.

But at what cost?

A lifetime of disease

In 2011, La Oroya was listed as the second-most polluted city on Earth, falling into fifth place two years later, according to the Blacksmith Institute, an NGO which works on pollution issues.

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It was in insalubrious company, rubbing shoulders with Ukraine’s nuclear-sullied Chernobyl and Russia’s Dzerzhinsk, the site of Cold War-era factories producing chemical weapons.

According to the International Federation for Human Rights, in 2013, 97 percent of La Oroya children between six months and six years of age, and 98 percent between age seven and 12, had elevated levels of lead in their blood.

Manuel Enrique Apolinario, 68, a teacher who lives opposite the foundry, told AFP his body has high levels of lead, arsenic, and cadmium.

Residents had “gotten used to the way of life, surrounded by smoke and toxic gases,” he said.

“Those of us who have lived here for a lifetime have been ill with flu and bronchitis, especially respiratory infections.”

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Another 100 years?

The foundry was opened in 1922, nationalized in 1974, and later privatized in 1997 when US natural resources firm Doe Run took it over.

In June 2009, Doe Run halted work after failing to comply with an environmental protection program and declared itself insolvent.

Now, despite years of residents accusing Lima and Doe Run of turning a blind eye to the harmful effects, some 1 270 former employees want to reopen the smelter next March — with the vow not to pollute.

Luis Mantari, one of the new owners, who is in charge of logistics, said the plant would operate “with social and environmental responsibility.”

“We want this unique complex to last another 100 years,” added human resources boss Jose Aguilar.

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The company has stockpiled 14 million tonnes of copper and lead slag waste waiting to be converted into zinc.

“Those of us who fought against pollution have never opposed to the company working. Let it reopen with an environmental plan,” said Pablo Fabian Martinez, 67, who also lives near the site.

For many, though, the decision comes down to pure pocketbook issues.

“I want it to reopen because, without the company, La Oroya lost its entire economy,” added Rosa Vilchez, a 30-year-old businesswoman. Her husband left to work in another city after the closure.

Respect health

In 2006, La Oroya residents sued the Peruvian government at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for allowing the company to pollute at will.

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Hearings began in October with the court sitting in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, and residents recounted how they struggled with burning throats and eyes, headaches, and difficulty breathing.

Others told of tumors, muscular problems, and infertility blamed on pollution from the smelters.

The commission found last year that the state had failed to regulate and oversee the behavior of the mining company and “compromised its obligation to guarantee human rights.”

“We are aware that the metallurgical complex is a source of employment. We don’t deny that,” said Yolanda Zurita, one of the litigants, who plants trees to counter the pollution.

“But it must respect the population’s health.”

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International

French Parliament Moves to Approve Social Media Age Limit for Minors

France’s Parliament is expected to approve legislation on Tuesday banning children under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms, following an agreement reached Monday between lawmakers on the mechanism to enforce the measure.

The initiative is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s broader effort to strengthen online protections for minors and regulate children’s screen time before the end of his second presidential term in May 2027.

“Tomorrow, France will become the first country in Europe to establish a digital age of majority to better protect our children online,” Digital Affairs Minister Anne Le Hénanff said Monday in a post on X.

If approved, the government plans to implement the restriction in September, when students return to school after the summer holidays.

The United Kingdom has already passed similar legislation restricting social media access for users under the age of 16, although that measure is scheduled to take effect in early 2027.

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Both the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, and the Senate are expected to hold final votes on the legislation Tuesday after a joint committee of seven senators and seven lawmakers reached an agreement on the bill’s final wording.

Under the proposed law, children under 15 years old would be prohibited from accessing online social media services, with limited exceptions for certain platforms, including online encyclopedias.

The legislation would make France the first member of the European Union to introduce a nationwide minimum digital age for access to social media platforms, reflecting a growing international movement to strengthen online safeguards for children and teenagers.

International

WHO to Hold New Round of Talks After Slow Progress on Pandemic Accord

Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) made limited progress during the seventh session of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) tasked with finalizing a key annex to the global pandemic agreement, prompting negotiators to schedule another round of talks in September.

The session, which opened on July 6 and concluded last week at WHO headquarters in Geneva, focused on drafting and negotiating the annex covering the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) System, a central component of the pandemic accord.

Without the completion of the PABS annex, the global pandemic agreement cannot enter into force.

The annex had originally been expected to be finalized before May 2026, but negotiations have progressed more slowly than anticipated.

In a statement, the WHO said member states “advanced negotiations” on the PABS system while acknowledging that additional discussions are required to complete a framework capable of supporting a faster, more effective and more equitable response to future pandemics.

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The organization announced that an eighth round of negotiations will take place on September 14.

Despite the limited progress, delegates succeeded in streamlining the draft text and concentrating discussions on several technical issues.

According to the WHO, negotiators focused on the contractual arrangements underpinning the PABS mechanism, the laboratory networks responsible for handling and sharing pathogens and their genetic sequence data, as well as the framework for distributing the benefits generated through the sharing of those pathogens.

The PABS system is considered one of the most important elements of the future pandemic agreement, as it aims to ensure timely access to pathogens for scientific research while establishing fair mechanisms for sharing the benefits derived from vaccines, diagnostics and other medical countermeasures developed during future global health emergencies.

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International

Iran Says It Is in “Full-Scale War” as U.S. Launches Ninth Consecutive Night of Airstrikes

Iran declared on Monday that it is facing a “full-scale war” against the United States after Washington carried out another wave of overnight airstrikes, including attacks near a city that hosts one of the country’s nuclear facilities.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country must prepare for the consequences of the ongoing conflict, describing the situation as a broad military confrontation.

“The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” Pezeshkian said in a statement released by the presidency. “We must be realistic and accept the natural consequences of this resistance.”

The latest U.S. strikes marked the ninth consecutive night of military operations, according to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which announced the attacks on X.

Since hostilities resumed on July 7, U.S. air operations have expanded well beyond southern Iran, reaching central and northwestern regions of the country, according to local sources.

Local authorities reported that one person was killed and several others injured in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, more than 1,000 kilometers from the Persian Gulf.

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Additional casualties were reported in the nearby city of Urmia, where several people were wounded during separate strikes.

Washington said the attacks targeted military installations. However, Iranian officials accused the United States of striking populated areas, including Bushehr, home to Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant.

Iran also reported that the Darkhovin nuclear facility, which is still under construction, was among the sites hit during the latest attacks.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the renewed military campaign was carried out in honor of American service members killed in recent days.

Two U.S. soldiers died on Friday during attacks on a military base in Jordan, while another service member was killed on Sunday during the controlled disposal of unexploded munitions from an Iranian drone in northern Iraq.

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According to U.S. figures, 17 American troops have been killed since the conflict began on February 28.

On the Iranian side, the latest official figures released on Friday reported 50 deaths and more than 500 injuries since fighting resumed earlier this month.

A memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States on June 17, which had been intended to pave the way for peace negotiations, collapsed after hostilities resumed over the strategic control of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes.