Radesca S.A.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Radesca S.A. (also known as JUAN J. RADESCA S.A.[1]) is an electronics manufacturing company in Uruguay, in the neighborhood of Peñarol in Montevideo. The company is the only producer of lead-acid batteries in the country.[2] The factory was founded in 1935 and has been operated as a family business since.[3] As of 2013, they employed 43 people and were protected by the national government as part of maintenance of national industries, especially for national automotive parts.[4][5][6] They gained significant prominence during the Import substitution industrialization policy period during the 1960s.[7]
Their main manufacturing and smelting plant for lead in Montevideo is one of the main sources of lead contamination in the country.[2][7] During the 1960s, the plant employed a number of processes for lead-acid battery recycling that exposed both employees and the local communities to large levels of industrial contamination.[7] Workers would later describe active collusion between doctors, state agencies and the managers to hide the impact of lead on worker health.[2]
