Metals in Your Lungs
Photographer Stefano Sbrulli’s book “Donde los niños no sueñan”(Where Children don’t Sleep) is the soulful tale of a Peruvian community whose health and survival is plagued by a nearby mine.
Cerro de Pasco is an Andean community developed around El Tajo, an open pit quarry for the extraction of copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver, part of the 15% of Peruvian territory given in concession to foreign mining companies. Measuring two km in length and almost one km deep, the mine has made Cerro de Pasco one of the most polluted places on earth, with 100% of the population affected by the presence of heavy metals in their bodies.
With an emphasis on children’s experience, the photographer focuses on health and psychological consequences within a community where 33% of infant mortality is due to congenital malformations, and the incidence of cancer is four times the national average.
