Projects Overview

OK International makes small grants and provides technical assistance to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the developing world to address environmental disease linked to industrial pollution. The success of these projects has attracted significant financial resources for our partners to pursue their objectives. With additional support from OK International, these projects can be replicated to address the same harmful exposures in additional communities. Our work in India, Kosovo, Mozambique, and Peru has helped to build capacity to respond to these issues around the globe.

Heavy Metal Contamination From a U.S. Owned Smelter in Peru

Location: La Oroya, Peru
Partner Organization: Asociación Civil Labor

The town of La Oroya, Peru - the site of an American owned smelter - is suffering from decades of unregulated emissions from the plant which continue to this day. According to the Peruvian Ministry of Health, blood lead levels among local children are dangerously high averaging 33.6 micrograms/deciliter, triple the World Health Organization limit of 10 micrograms/deciliter, while the vegetation in the surrounding area has been destroyed by acid rain. Limited environmental sampling has revealed lead levels exceeding public health standards in almost 90 percent of the homes, extensive soil contamination, and excessive airborne emissions throughout the town.

Lead causes a range of health effects, but primarily effects neurological development in children resulting in reduced school performance, lower scores on standardized tests (such as IQ), mental retardation and can even cause death. A significant portion of those tested by the Ministry of health should have received immediate medical attention to remove lead from the body, but no follow-up was ever initiated.

To plan for remediation and to examine the potential for ongoing exposure from the lead and other metals already deposited in La Oroya, further testing of dust lead levels inside homes was required. We therefore brought the equipment and supplies and trained our partners at the Asociación Civil Labor to collect dust wipe samples. We then arranged for half the samples to be analyzed at a laboratory in the U.S. as a donated service. After obtaining the results, we worked with our Peruvian partners to prepare a report, and conduct education and outreach about the health risks associated with the exposure to lead and other pollutants.

Full report in PDF format: [English] [Spanish]

Reducing Health Hazards Among Stone Crusher Mill Workers

Location: India (Khurda District of Orissa)
Partner Organization: Jeevanrekha Parishad (JRP "Lifeline Council")

As construction and road building is booming in India, small scale stone crusher industries are proliferating throughout the country, often in violation of air pollution and zoning guidelines. Airborne silica generated from these stone crushing mills throughout the Khurda region of Orissa, India are suspected to be the cause of increased morbidity and mortality rates from silicosis, cancer, and other lung disease. Unprotected workers including children working without respirators, proper ventilation, and dust suppression systems are subject to considerable health risks. Dust from these operations is also known to affect local communities. Without adequate screening for early detection of lung disease (virtually none exists), these workers often reach late-stage conditions prior to receiving care, at which point medical treatment is ineffective.

To reduce widespread occupational health hazards, we provided our partners at Jeevanrekha Parishad (JRP "Lifeline Council") with donated equipment to evaluate airborne exposures to silica and instructed the organization's volunteers and staff to help. We then arranged for a U.S. based laboratory to donate the sample analysis after no suitable facility could be located in India for this very specialized testing. Our results showing that exposures averaged five times the regulatory level for the most dangerous respirable silica dust, is the only study of this type ever conducted in India.

With a measure of the problem, we have arranged funding and donated supplies for our partners to provide workers with respirators to reduce exposures, workplace training on safer work practices, health check-ups for workers and technical assistance to mill owners on methods to reduce dust emissions. During the next phase of the project, we have initiated a pilot test to demonstrate the effectiveness of various dust control technologies and plan to use this information to educate owners on the cost, maintenance and effectiveness of these control methods.

For additional information on the health effects of airborne silica from stone crushing operations in India see the Short Report on Health Survey of Lal Kuan Victims" (2006).

Responding to Environmental Lead Pollution: Training Local Health Officials

The World Health Organization (WHO) requested OK International to go to Kosovo in response to the human tragedy left behind by an old industrial site in the former Yugoslavia. Mitrovica, the site of the second largest smelter complex in Europe, produced lead, arsenic and cadmium from the 1930s until 2000 when it was shut down by foreign peacekeepers to stop additional pollution coming from the plant. A second complex South of the town producing lead batteries was also shut down. (See the photograph)

Around 2001 it became apparent that a large number of Roma (Gypsy) children, displaced during the war and relocated to a refugee community on top of the smelter tailings, were experiencing lead poisoning. Subsequently WHO got involved and conducted studies demonstrating extensive environmental pollution and human exposure. The organization continues to play a major role in cleaning up the legacy of the smelter in Mitrovica.

Although the Roma refugees were moved in 2004 to a near by location, their new homes were also located on top of extensively contaminated tailings. The newer structures are of better quality and provide some small help in keeping out lead contaminated dust and soil. But children and adults in this community and throughout other areas of Mitrovica are continuing to experience extremely high rates of lead poisoning. OK International conducted an in-depth training class for local health officials on how to test, characterize, and respond to lead hazards in the environment.

Reducing Mercury Contamination from Small Scale Gold Refining Operations

Location: Mozambique (Manica District)
Partner Organization: Associacao ABIODES

In the Manica District of Mozambique, more than 10,000 people are involved in gold refining activities in which mercury is used to extract gold from ore deposits. This practice has severe health hazards and has caused significant environmental contamination in the region. No effort has been made to identify cases of mercury poisoning or to assist that these small operators with technologies to reduce mercury contamination. Our efforts are helping our partners to measure the impact of mercury contamination upon the health of those in the community, and to provide training on the technology better collect mercury vapors in order to reduce exposures.

Preventing Silicosis and Eliminating Child Labor Among Stone Quarry Workers

Location: India, Tamil Naudu, Kancheepuram District
Partner Organization: Association for Community Development Services (ACDS)

Thousands of poor, often indigenous, people of South India are exposed to clouds of airborne silica from quarry and stone crushing operations. Many of the most highly exposed are children working and living next to these mills. There is also a high incidence of Tuberculosis among theses communities, compounding the health impacts of silica exposure.

The Association for Community Development Services (ACDS) educates the local population on environmental impacts of these conditions while also training child laborers to learn new skills. They work to prevent silicosis, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases through training programs for workers and employers in the area.

Along with technical support form OK International, ACDS is conducting the following:

• providing vocational training programs for safer employment;

• promoting employee training on health and safety in the mining and stone crusher industries;

• organizing health checkups and improving access to first aid supplies; and

• educating mill owners about the need for pollution control equipment.