Cardinal celebrates $150 million settlement for Peru lead poisoning victims

Cardinal Pedro Barreto described a $150 million settlement with Doe Run Company as a historic milestone for more than 1,300 Peruvians who were allegedly poisoned by lead emissions from the La Oroya smelter. The agreement, reached while Barreto was in Rome, provides each of the 1,373 plaintiffs with a minimum of $100,000, ending a 19-year legal battle that began with a handful of children’s cases in 2007. Barreto, former archbishop of Huancayo, endured death threats after exposing the plant’s toxic output, which the Blacksmith Institute once listed among the world’s most polluted sites.

U.S. lawyers praised the deal as a landmark in holding an American firm accountable for overseas environmental harm, even though Doe Run did not concede wrongdoing. The settlement concludes one of the longest civil suits against a multinational for cross-border pollution, and the company’s CEO said it will now focus on its core business.