#LindaNO: “the biggest environmental and pollutant chemical disaster in Europe”

This post is also available in: Spanish

This entry is a sad but necessary review I want it to remain recorded in this blog, as repository of one of the most serious environmental disasters happened in Europe in the latest times. Some say it is the most serious disaster only behind Chernobyl. In fact, some people calls it “the chemical Chernobyl”[1] and happened in my homeland, Aragón, and the villages along the river Gállego and their inhabitants were the main victims.

It is all about the “lindane” pollution caused by the Inquinosa´s pesticide factory in Sabiñánigo (Huesca), since its establishment in 1975.

“Lindane is a persistent organochlorinated pesticide that accumulates in the fat tissue and magnifies throughout the food chain in such a way that, from animals to human, increases its concentration and accumulates definitively in the fat tissue of the exposed people”

“Lindane is associated with breast cancer and malformations in the genitourinary-organ system of the child, a disease known as cryptorchidism. In the worldwide literature, it is associated with certain sort of cancer called lymphoma, associated to infertility problems. That is, it is a well known endocrine disruptor” [2] 

The poor manufacturing and storage conditions of the toxic product carried out by the company, started soon to have an impact on the environment. That was the cause of a series of lawsuits claimed for years against the company and its responsible staff by a number of stakeholders. Of course, the company “contaminated, but did not pay”.

Tha Inquinosa´s factory was closed in the mid 1990´s, but the source of contamination remained in the waste landfills, real poison dispensers throughout the ground and, above all, the river Gállego, in practice, a pollutant carrier reaching an unknown range, but with some discouraging signs.

Then, the irresponsible and poor management of the problem by the public administrations made -and is still making- the rest: poisoned soil and water and, as a consequence, an environmental and people´s health damage that only time will tell.

“The responsibility is shared: those who did and those who let others do” [1]

I talk about “poor” management in the widest sense of the term: the poor technical and ethical actions of the relevant public administrations: Diputación General de Aragón (General Council of Aragon) y Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro (Water Confederation of the river Ebro). Not just the current administrations, but also those for more than 40 years.

“[…] this a very serious problem that needs many technical knowledge and I don´t know if Aragon meets the capacity to deal with with problem” [3]

“People don´t trust” [3]

The last chapter of the documentary “El escarabajo verde” (the green beetle) -video (in Spanish) at the bottom of this post- goes in depth into this issue. A story of real criminals against the environment and the public health in the form of unscrupulous business owners, incompetent public bodies, liar and prevaricator politicians and, in some cases, accomplice media.

“Welcome to one of the sources of the biggest environmental and pollutant chemical disaster in the world” [1]

References:
[1] POLANCO, MARIANO. 15 Apr 2015. El escarabajo verde: lindano maldito. http://www.rtve.es/television/20150414/lindano-maldito/1129547.shtml. Consulted 22 Apr 2015.
[2] OLEA, NICOLÁS. 15 Apr 2015. El escarabajo verde: lindano maldito. http://www.rtve.es/television/20150414/lindano-maldito/1129547.shtml. Consulted 20 Apr 2015.
[3] DEWULF, INÉS. 15 Apr 2015. El escarabajo verde: lindano maldito. http://www.rtve.es/television/20150414/lindano-maldito/1129547.shtml. Consulted 20 Apr 2015.