Press release |
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2002 |
Greenpeace requests for the help by International Commission for protection
of Elbe:
Dioxines from Spolana Neratovice must not be spread out by floods!
Praha/Dresden,
November 27, 2001 - Greenpeace has appealed today in Dresden to
president of International Commission for protection of Elbe river to
help eliminate risks from heavily dioxins polluted Spolana Neratovice
(1). Former production halls which are reportedly worst world’s polluted
spots are located directly in floods zone of Elbe. Management of Spolana
has been until today ignoring all calls to secure these premises against
possible floods (2).
The
dioxins pollution comes from sixties when Spolana produced dangerous
herbicides 2,4,5 - T. This was used for production of Agent Orange defoliant
which American army used in Vietnam. Two production halls have been
shut down and deserted for more than 30 years now because of extremely
high concentration of dioxins (3).
Greenpeace
has recently got hold of an expert study describing catastrophic conditions
of deteriorating buildings which are not able to prevent dioxins from
being spread around. Polluted buildings are situated on the banks of
Elbe river. Fifty year flood could spread dioxins down the river. That
would cause ecology disaster with unforseeable consequences not only
in Czech Republic but also in Germany.
Greenpeace
has today informed about dioxin problem in Spolana also representatives
of Czech and German NGOs engaged in protection of Elbe during a meeting
in Dresden.
„We
believe that increased pressure by Czech and German public will make
Spolana not ignore the problem any more. Dioxins along the Elbe is a
time bomb.Spolana must secure collapsing buildings until the pollution
is safely decontaminated,“ stressed MUDr. Miroslav Suta Greenpeace toxic
campaigner.
Dioxines
are extremely toxic chemicals which persist in the environment for very
long period. Already small dosage could cause cancer and disrupt hormonal
and imune system. Therefore in May 2002 a world agreement was concluded
in Stockholm, the aim of which is to reduce and gradually prevent dioxins
from coming into being (4).
Další
informace:
Dr. Miroslav Suta, coordinator toxics campaign mobile: +420.603.443
140 (Czech and English),
e-mail: miroslav.suta@cz.greenpeace.org
Vaclav Vasku, press spokes person, mobile: +420.603.414 739 (Czech
and English)
Jan Haverkamp, campaign director, mobile: +420.603.569 243 (English
and German),
e-mail: jan.haverkamp@cz.greenpeace.org
internet: http://www.greenpeace.cz/agentorange
Notes
for the editor:
(1)
President of International Commission for protection of Elbe Dr. Ruchay
has received information about polluted buildings at Spolana from Greenpeace
and was asked to personally intervene into securing of the contaminated
halls against floods.
(2)
Risks analyses made up for Spolana by Aquatest company in January 2001.
(3)
Dioxins formed at Spolana as undesirable byproduct during production
of chlororganic herbicides, especially 2,4,5 T. The high concentrations
of dioxins were monitored in the air inside as well as outside of polluted
premises, in the soil and ground water. The highest concentration (over
24 000 ng TEQ/g) was detected in the chemical remains from production.
(4)
Stockholm POPs treaty bans production and uses of PCB, ten most dangerous
chlororganic pesticides (e.g. DDT, endrin, diendrin, lindan, etc.) and
highest possible reduction of dioxin production. More than 90 members
of Convention among them also the Czech republic commit to clean up
of such polluted spots like Spolana.
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