Romania Struggles Against Pollution
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But environmentalists say it is going to be a long battle |
COPSA MICA, Romania: Deep in the fertile valleys and wooded slopes of Transylvania lies this village that looks like an ink blot on the landscape. It is Romania's worst ecological disaster in this agriculturally rich region.
Copsa Mica, two years ago called the most polluted place in Europe, may have been partially cleaned up but it will still take the environment 100 years to recover, experts say.
There are two factories here. One produces carbosin, a black powder used in the manufacture of rubber. The other processes nonferrous metals — zinc, lead, copper and cadmium.
After widespread international media interest following the collapse of Communism in December 1989, two of the five sections of the carbosin plant were closed. It no longer brings black rain to make the city look like the inside of a chimney and smudge the 6,000 locals.
But what already had been stained black remains that way. An indelible black stain coats tree trunks for 10 miles around.
Disease
Local inhabitants claim the changes are cosmetic. People are dying from pollution they say, and there is neither the money nor the will from the government to change things.
Dr Alexandreu Balog, 38, has been working at the health clinic for 10 years. His first child was stillborn.
"There is a whole litany of diseases affecting the community. Workers suffer from lead poisoning, respiratory problems and tuberculosis. All drinking water is unfit and alcoholism is way above average," Balog said.
Statistics bear testimony to the poor health of the community. The infant mortality rate is 25 in 1,000, two-and-a-half times higher than in the nearby town of Medias.
The premature birth rate is even higher. Life expectancy is 10 to 20 per cent down on the national average of 63 years for both men and women.
The health risk from the metal factory is considered so high by the government that the retirement age is 45, compared to 62 years nationally.
Stained
Anna Stoian, who works at the health clinic has lives in Copsa Mica all of her 35 years. She remembers when the surrounding hills were covered with fruit trees, corn and woods.
Twenty years ago — seven years after the factory was opened — all that disappeared.
Now the hills are stained black. There is barely a tree standing, and much of the grass has been eaten away by the corrosive cocktail of pollutants.
Horses, once common to the region, have disappeared. Only sheep, their coats a dingy grey, can survive the harsh environment "and man, the most stupid of animals," the local inhabitants joke wryly.
According to Balog, the problems have a ripple effect.
"Better skilled workers move away from the region. Those that remain are depressed, and many of them drink. Not a night goes by without someone being admitted to the clinic for drink-related problems," he said.
But workers in the area, while recognizing the problems are serious, say that it would be an economic disaster to close the factories, which provide work for 3,500 people.— AP
Source : The Malay Mail, June 4, 1992
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