In 1997 The american coorporation Doe Run established one of its metal smelting companies in a little town called La Oroya, located in the high sierras of Peru. La Oroya has been a metal smelting town since 1922 and has faced contamination for decades due to the heavy toxic gases pumped out daily through an enormous chimney that appears to dominate the city. Most Children in La Oroya have harmful levels of Lead, and other metals, in their blood and many of them face a high risk of developing lung cancer as well as other respiratory ailments, skin conditions, and digestive disorders. Other symptomes include growth deficiency, slow mental development and even death. According to La Oroya’s Health Ministry, 99% of the children have an average of lead in their blood that triples the maximum limit allowed by the World Health Organization. After being sued a number of times on a national and international level, Doe Run promised to meet peruvian standards on the emissions of lead, arsenic and particulate matter by 2006. However, no environmental progress was made and Doe Run asked for an extention until 2009. Meanwhile, the people in La Oroya continue to suffer form the polluted air and, though improvements may be in progress, the contamination has created and continues to create generations of sick people. Damian Ortega plays in his front patio which faces Doe Run’s Enormous Chimney. Him and his family are one of the many who live closest to the plant and, therefore, are more exposed to the gas.