Arsenic, cad­mi­um and lead are among the many pol­lu­tants present in La Oroya, a min­ing town. These con­t­a­m­i­nants are present in much high­er lev­els than the WHO con­sid­ers safe. Blood lead lev­els in the city’s pop­u­la­tion have been found to be fright­en­ing­ly high, and many are report­ed to be suf­fer­ing from res­pi­ra­to­ry prob­lems.