The Environmental Health Council is an international non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to identifying, evaluating, and remediating the effects of environmental toxins in affected communities. We work through a combination of scientific assessment, public engagement, advocacy, and collaboration with communities and authorities to advance environmental health and public health.
Mission
The mission of the Environmental Health Council is to work internationally with communities to identify, evaluate and remediate environmental contamination that affects their health and quality of life.
Methods
- Conducting field-based environmental health assessments
- Community outreach and education
- Preparing and disseminating reports and publications to inform public policy
- Developing demonstration projects that highlight solutions and drive policy change
- Media engagement and public awareness campaigns
- Liaising with relevant institutions
- Advocacy to compel environmental accountability
Focus
The Council is presently focusing on heavy metal contamination in the Andean region, primarily in Peru and Bolivia.
GOALS
- To identify communities that are highly exposed to environmental toxins.
- To identify the nature, levels and health consequences of such exposures.
- To educate affected individuals, communities and relevant organizations concerning the consequences of such exposures.
- To collaborate with individuals, communities, civil society organizations and governments, in developing, funding, and implementing feasible, comprehensive and culturally relevant strategies and programs to reduce their exposures to environmental toxins and improve the health and quality of life of affected communities.
in Huancavelica, Peru, and Potosí, Bolivia
The highland cities of Huancavelica, Peru, and Potosí, Bolivia, share more than a rich mining history. They are among the most mercury-contaminated urban areas in the world.
From 1564 to 1974, Huancavelica produced over 72,000 metric tons of mercury from cinnabar ore mined at nearby Santa Barbara Hill. Inefficient smelting released at least 25,000 tons of mercury vapor into the surrounding soil and waterways. Much of this mercury was shipped to Potosí, where it was used to refine silver through amalgamation—a process that, between 1574 and 1900, released an additional 30,000 tons of mercury vapor into the air.
While mercury production in Huancavelica ceased in the 1970s, today Huancavelica’s and Potosí’s residents live with this toxic legacy. Many homes sit directly atop or beside colonial-era smelting and refining sites, turning a centuries-old industrial process into an ongoing public health challenge.
In 2023, after years of inaction by authorities, Huancavelica residents and the Environmental Health Council won a landmark court ruling ordering Peru’s government to declare the city an environmental emergency and contaminated site, the largest in the country.
While this ruling marked a critical victory, implementation remains incomplete. EHC continues to push for full compliance and to ensure that the voices of affected communities are heard in decision-making processes.
Registry of Heavy Metal Contaminated Peruvian Schools
As part of our commitment to safeguarding children’s health, EHC is developing a registry of Peruvian schools whose grounds or buildings are contaminated with heavy metals. Remediation of such schools is urgent, given that mercury, lead, and arsenic pose a serious risk to the neurological and cognitive development of children, as well as harmful exposure to school staff.
This registry is based on our own fieldwork, publicly available government data, and research generated through the Huancavelica court case. Urgent remediation of contaminated schools is essential to protecting the next generation.
Publications, Presentations, Reports, and Media
EHC identifies, evaluates, and remediates the impacts of environmental toxins in communities. Bringing together experts from fields such as public health, geochemistry, medicine, anthropology, and law, we create integrated, culturally relevant strategies to reduce toxic exposures and improve health and quality of life. You can access resources
membership
Council members do not pay fees, serve in a volunteer capacity, and are appointed for a two-year term by the Executive Committee. The primary requirement of membership is a high degree of expertise in a specific area that will assist the Council in achieving its mission. The Executive Committee, in consultation with Council members and advisors, invites selected experts to become members of the Council.
If you are qualified and interested in becoming a member of the Environmental Health Council, please contact us.
