30/12/2014

“Tell the people in Europe to get us out of here to help us get out of all this pollution.”

I met with local people who risked prison to speak out against the pollution, corruption and health impacts of the fishmeal industry in Chimbote, Peru. Struggling to survive, local fishermen had to sift through the filthy effluent to skim fat off the top of it, which can be used in cooking.

Fishing for direct human consumption has decreased dramatically in Chimbote. The fish are being extracted and sent abroad. It is an almost entirely industrial process.

Maria Elena Foronda Farro, Co-Founder of Natura, Chimbote risked a 20 year jail sentence for speaking out. She said: “It has polluted our city and never reinvests in the economic developments of our lives.”

Wilbur Tolley, a local government doctor, told me of the negative impact it is having on the locals’ health. He said: “The children are constantly exposed to the fumes and that is why they have dermatological problems.”

Sewage sludge everywhere; sheer desperation, hopelessness, destruction – watch my latest film to see the price of fishmeal being fed to factory farmed animals across the world.

For your copy of ‘Farmageddon: The true cost of cheap meat’, click here.