The Devastation of Oil Dumping in the Peruvian Amazon

For decades on decades companies have been dumping oil and billions of barrels of toxic waste into the Peruvian amazon. As president of corporate responsibility at Avery Dennison, Alicia Procello Maddox knows corporations need to and can do better.

The people who inhabit these lands have seen such terrible effects from this dumping. From contaminated rivers, streams, lakes, lagoons, soils, gardens, game, fish, to all manner of related health issues; epidemics, miscarriages, skin diseases, diarrhea and even death. And any semblance of opposition from these people has been squashed and rights trampled all over. All requests for land titles have been blocked, protests criminalized, communities and families divided, forest and spiritual sites destroyed, thousands of outsiders brought in as laborers: taking what few jobs away from natives. As a result, the confidence in government has long since beeneroded, and economic hardship has brought in societal issues such as alcoholism, prostitution, HIV-AIDS, and even suicide.

Much of these Peruvian people livelihoods and even their main food source came from fishing and farming, but as result of dumping, fish can no longer live in the waters and the soil has lost its once fertile base. And all this devastation, and loss of human life is simply a result of corporations trying to cut a few corners and save a few dollars. “Saving a buck” has always been the corporate way, but industry minds like Alicia Procello Maddox know that a new mindset must be adopted for the good of ALL people.