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GUESTS: Atossa Soltani, Director of Amazon Watch, Marco Simon, Legal Director of Earth Rights International and one of the authors of the report on Oxy

A report released yesterday accuses the LA-based oil corporation, Occidental Petroleum of deliberately allowing environmental pollution of indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon. The corporation has been drilling for oil in the Amazon region for decades. The report was published by Earth Rights International (ERI), Racimos de Ungurahui, and Amazon Watch (AW). It was released to coincide with Occidental’s annual general meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica this morning. The report’s main finding is that indigenous children from five Achuar communities in the Corrientes River basin of the Peruvian Amazon have unusually high concentrations of lead and cadmium in their blood – at levels known to cause developmental problems. The report’s authors contend that the corporation deliberately ignored industry standards and employed out-of-date practices for 30 years which has now led to this level of poisoning. This morning members of the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes River will be joined by others in holding a sidewalk rally and press conference at 9:45 am in Santa Monica before the Occidental Petroleum General meeting starts.

Download the report, A Legacy of Harm – Report into Oxy’s Toxic Dumping in the Amazon, here: http://www.amazonwatch.org/amazon/PE/block1ab/a_legacy_of_harm.pdf

More information is available at www.amazonwatch.org and www.earthrights.org.