"Patricia Silva lays out an array of medicines and doctors' letters on her kitchen table. She lives a few kilometres from a copper foundry operated by the British-headquartered mining company Anglo American in Catemu, a town in central Chile. Every morning and evening, she says, the air is filled with a faint blue smoke. It irritates your throat and makes you cough, Silva says, remembering a day when her son Cristian, then three years old, began to have convulsions."
"Allegations of environmental breaches by Anglo American are frequent in Chile, where areas near the company's operations are often called sacrifice zones by local communities because of human health problems, animal deaths and water shortages. The criticism is also based on conclusions by Chilean health authorities. In 2019, the government declared that particle pollutants in Catemu's air had exceeded permitted levels. It also warned of very high sulphur dioxide levels although within legal limits."
Residents near Anglo American's Chagres foundry in Catemu report daily blue smoke, throat irritation, coughing and serious respiratory problems in children. Health records and medicines on local tables document conditions such as asthma and respiratory allergies attributed to environmental exposure. Government monitoring found particulate pollution exceeded permitted levels between 2018 and 2020 and recorded very high sulphur dioxide readings. An environment ministry report identified the foundry as emitting more sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate pollution than any other local industry. A government decontamination plan was announced but has not been implemented.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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