Filenews 1 February 2022 - by Marios Demetriou
A dark mural of environmental pollution in Cyprus, aggravating for health and often deadly for many of our fellow citizens, painted experts doctors, academics, parliamentarians, but also victims of this pollution in yesterday's session of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, on "the human right to live in a healthy environment", following the recommendation of the President of the Committee of a member of AKEL, Irene Charalambidou who co-chaired the session was the president and mp of the Movement of Ecologists, Charalambos Theopemptou.
The presence and interventions in the discussion of the cancer patient Ionas Kkailis and Chrysanthos Pafitis, residents of Latsia, two men who lost their wives to cancer, a disease directly linked and documented by a decision of the District Court of Nicosia with the operation of the Astrasol factory, due to the emission from its furnaces of the carcinogenic substance "dichloromethane" from 1976 until 2009 when it was closed, was shocking. "They are not chickens that died because of the factory, but 67 people with cancer and another 47 sufferers," Mr. Kkailis said, among others, while Chr. Pafitis told reporters that "what happened in the Astrasol region is a small Chernobyl and it is a crime that has been going on there since 1975 and there is no precedent in the world."
Moreover, the hygienist- epidemiologist, Dr. Michalis Voniatis, stated clearly that "we presented in the session a number of examples where the pollution of the environment had an impact on the citizens and with the study we did with the professor of the CUT, Konstantinos Makris, in the case of the Astrasol plant, we proved that the pollution from dichloromethane caused brain tumours to the residents who lived very close to the factory. Our study shows for the first time that factories that use dichloromethane and operate within the community, can also cause brain cancer in a population living near the factory –and not only in workers."
In his own intervention in the session, Dr. Constantinos Makris, associate professor of Environmental Health at the CUT and director of the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health, referred to "indicative examples of degraded Cypriot environments that led to a documented burden on the public health of local communities: Firstly, it is the Astrasol plant, the foundry and the chemicals in the village of Ergastan, the battery plant and lead problem in K. Lakatamia, the mixture of arsenic-containing water sources in Mammari that residents drank for years. I mention, for example, he added, some other degraded environments that may have led to a burden on public health, such as the explosion at the camp with ammunition and chemicals in Mari, but also various rural communities that take from drilling drinking water increased in microbial load and possibly in some chemicals."
In a statement, Irene Charalambidou stressed that "in Cyprus we need strong legislation based on supervision, the strict granting of factory operating licenses, the control of pollutants because the health of citizens is not negotiable, it is a human right to live in a healthy environment".
A more optimistic note was conveyed by the MP of DISY, Rita Superman, who said that "the lack of legislation has been identified over time, but it is positive that today the industrial zones are located where there is no residential development and we were pleased to hear that the movement of asphalt in Dali will begin to be implemented next month".
The session was also attended by the pulmonologist Haris Armeftis, the Commissioners for Administration Maria Lottidis and the Environment Klelia Vassiliou, the former MP of Ecologists, George Perdikis, from the Ministry of Health the officer Ioanna Gregoriou, from the Department of Environment Irene Constantinou, from the state chemical laboratory Maria Aletrari, from the Pancyprian Bar Association Achilleas Dimitriadis and the president of the National Committee of Cyprus "Environment and Health of the Child" Stella Michaelidou.
