Press release
2002


GREENPEACE SURVEYS LEVEL OF A 100-YEAR FLOOD AT SPOLANA AND WARNS FOR LIKELY FLOODING OF DIOXINS INTO ELBE RIVER !

Praha/Neratovice, 24th January 02 -- Greenpeace activists from the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Austria, the Netherlands and Finland have today surveyed the level of a 100-year flood with a circular laser operated by a professional surveyor in front of the Spolana chemical plant in Neratovice, Czech Republic. Greenpeace also warns that water could flood two buildings heavily contaminated with extremely toxic dioxins and wash them down the stream of the Elbe river (1). A recently produced study has revealed that Spolana is one of the most dioxin contaminated spots in the world and leakage of these dioxines into the environment would have serious environmental consequences.

"To withhold information about the risk to the public is highly irresponsible," said Dr.Miroslav Suta, Greenpeace toxic campaigner. The management of Spolana denies the possibility of dioxins being washed into the river by a flood and tries to play down the whole problem.

Spolana has been refusing Greenpeace's demands for open information to the public for almost a year now. The management also ignored repeated demands to safeguard contaminated buildings from possible floods. Even Spolana's own study, carried out by the consultancy firm Aquatest confirms that a flood could wash down dioxins into Elbe and threaten the environment and human health. (2).

According to recent information from the Czech Environment Inspection Authority, already in the case of a once-in-a-50-year flood water levels would reach up to 50cm above the floor level of one of the buildings contaminated with dioxins (building A 1030) (3). The concentration of dioxins on the floor reaches up to 1255ng TEQ/g, which is 125 times more than the limit of dioxins in toxic waste. The total quantity of dioxins contained inside these two Spolana buildings is estimated to be 28 to 276 gramms, according to chemical analyses. For comparison: a single 1 gramm of dioxins contaminating chicken feed in Belgium caused a well known scandal and damages amounting to USD 1.3 billion. Belgian scientists also forecast that hundreds of people will suffer from cancer due to this dioxin contamination. The two Spolana buildings involved show cracks and corrosion threatens one of the roof structures.

"Already an extremely small quantity of dioxins can cause cancer, fertility disorders and damage to the immune and hormone system," warned Dr.Suta and added that human intake of dioxins goes mainly over food and air. However, dioxins also easily penetrate the skin during the contact with contaminated objects. This could represent a serious risk especially in cases of contamination of buildings, roads, fields and meadows alongside Elbe river in case of a flood (4).

"We do not understand how the management of Spolana dares to tell people that dioxins will not endanger them during floods when they know very well that already a 50-year flood could wash down dioxins into Elbe," said Suta (5). "If Spolana misleads also the Ministry of Environment in Saxony (Germany) and the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River, it can damage the reputation of the Czech Republic in Germany, which is also an important export market for Spolana.," stressed Suta.

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) The dioxin pollution in Spolana Neratovice occured between 1965 and 1968 when the firm produced the chlorine herbicid 2.4.5-T, one of the components of Agent Orange used by the American army in Vietnam. The production had to be stopped in 1968, when some 80 employees suffered serious health problems. A concrete sarcophagus was made over one of the contaminated buildings in 1998. The remaining two buildings still wait for decontamination.

(2) Aquatest: Spolana a.s. Neratovice - Contamination of buildings A 1420 and A 1030 with dioxins - Risk analyses - report, January 2001

(3) Report of the Czech Environment Inspection Authority for Greenpeace from January 21, 2002

(4) Doc.ing.Pavel Kalac, CSc: Polychlorine dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in the environment, Cesky ekologicky ustav and Ministry of Environment CR, 1995

(5) "Spolana employees proved that not even a 100 year flood will put a threat to the buldings." Zdenek Joska: Dioxins will not endanger the public even during floods! - Spolana's press release from December 20, 2001