bild

In this photo taken Sept. 15, 2009, Melissa de la Sota, 26, second from right, poses with her three children in her home in the mining town of Cerro de Pasco. Sota's home sits beside the open-pit mine in an empty neighborhood purchased by the Volcan mining company to expand the mine. Peru's congress passed a bill in 2008 to condemn and relocate Cerro de Pasco, based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control studies that found soil, homes and water saturated with toxic levels of lead. Nine of 10 children have elevated blood levels of one of 14 heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, and arsenic, according to the CDC. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)