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Pollution forces Peru police officers to wear masks

LivinginPeru.com
Israel Ruiz

Motorists on Lima's busiest streets noticed a change in the uniforms Peru's police officers now wear.

After it was detected that police officers had lead in their blood, the National Police has made it a requirement to wear masks that will help protect them against pollution.

Directing traffic for six hours per day does not only put officers in harm's way but exposes them to the poisonous air and pollution emitted by vehicles that should be scrap metal, reported El Comercio daily.

While the National Police's decision has been recognized as a good one, many have stated it should have been done a long time ago.

An air pollution study done in Lima over one year ago showed that pollution in some of the city's areas was over four times higher than standards set by the World Health Organization.

For nine months, human rights organizations have been recommending that the national police take measures to keep their officers from being exposed to pollution for extended periods.

It was at the beginning of this month that Peruvian watchdog group Defensoría del Pueblo requested that police officers be given masks and sun block to protect them.

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# mericorps says :
27 March, 2009 [ 08:22 ]

Mexico City again should be studied as ways to get a handle on this problem.

what about the shoe-shine boys, street vendors and all the other people who spend the day outside in the most polluted areas?

Also, will the masks be fresh daily?  Are they of the grade/quality needed to protect the police, or is this a bell and whistle?

# TA Pimp says :
27 March, 2009 [ 09:46 ]

Great photos for tourism!  Come to Lima and cough up some money and blood.

# Rachel in Peru says :
27 March, 2009 [ 11:13 ]

Bogota is just as bad. It smells like a gas station as soon as you arrive.

Milan smells like an open sewer and makes one want to put on a mask as well.

People in large Chinese and Japanese cities also wear masks.

I don't really see how this will hurt tourism. I mean it's not like Peru is a first world country, so what do they expect?

# noname says :
27 March, 2009 [ 13:48 ]

Rachel... the fact that Peru is now a third world country does not mean that it always has to be a third world country... we all hope that things will improve (slowly or quickly) some day, I read your comments most times and I'd say you are fair enough with your assesments, but I think your last lines on this particular comment sounded a little harsh.

And I do agree with TA... this does not look good at all for turism... come on! can't they be a little more creative? why don't they have those masks camuflaged with the bottom half of a face picture, that way it won't be so noticeable.

Lastly, I trully hope that whoever is behind this idea, really mean wellness for the officers and not to his/her own pocket, I can only imagine the amount of money someone could be putting in their pockets with this kind of "governmental contracting" ... to me this seems like one of those APRA "vivesas" very tipical of them.

PLEASE CHANGE THE COLOR OF THOSE MASKS!!!  we are not going through a bioquemical war in Peru yet.

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