Two European emergencies ” “

Environment, work, health: the problems posed by Chernobyl and Porto Marghera. The Consultation held by the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE) in Venice from 23 to 26 May reviewed the various phases of the environmental disaster of the atomic power station in the Ukraine and the plight of workers at the Italian petrochemical complex at Porto Marghera, some of whom, according to the environmental associations, have allegedly lost their life as a result of prolonged exposure to harmful chemical agents in the plants of the area. Chernobyl. On 6 April 1986, in the early hours of the morning, a series of explosions ripped apart the atomic power station in the Ukraine. It was the beginning of one of the most serious nuclear disasters of all time. The explosions within the reactors produced radiations that still continue to cause serious health problems today”. The tragedy of Chernobyl was described by the Ukrainian theologian Volodymir Scheremeta at the 4th CCEE Consultation on work and responsibility for the creation in Venice. “The first victims were those who were living close to the power plant”, Scheremeta recalled, “but still today, 16 years later, analyses and studies demonstrate that it is still very difficult to establish the gravity of the consequences of the disaster both at the ecological level and at the level of health”. In fact, “high percentages of cancer, leukaemia and genetic malformations” are being registered in the country. “Also on the increase are the cases of mental disease with symptoms of depression and suicidal tendencies. Official government estimates speak of uncontainable healthcare costs”. Chernobyl, said the theologian, is a warning to us all that “the effects of ecological disasters continue to be felt in time and recall us to a profound responsibility for the environment”. The Chernobyl disaster has also had serious repercussions on neighbouring Belarus, whose natural resources still feel the effects of the radiations. According to Tatiana Novikova, former editor of the paper “Belarussian Climate”, Chernobyl represents “a challenge to the society of this country”. In the view of the journalist, “attention to environmental problems in Belarus arouses less interest that it did six years ago. The cause is to be sought in the lack of positive effects produced by the post-Chernobyl environmental policies and in the psychological weakness of the population, by now tired of hearing people speak about environmental disasters”. Porto Marghera. “It’s an open wound in the civic fabric of Venice. In solving the case of the petrochemicals plants of Porto Marghera account needs to be taken of the people who work there, and who are not in the least ‘obsolete'”. The problems of the huge Italian petrochemicals complex were brought to the attention of the 4th Consultation of the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe in Venice by Father Fabio Longoni, of the social and labour pastoral office of the diocese of Venice. “The key to the problem of the petrochemicals complex at Porto Marghera – said don Fabio – consists in rendering the urban system and basic industry compatible. It’s not by a generalized decommissioning of the plants that a better situation of life is obtained”. According to don Fabio, “if the production cycle of Porto Marghera were to be interrupted and the city transformed into a tourist site, Venice would no longer be livable. Even becoming a tourist site exacts its price, as we are discovering to our cost. It’s enough to think of the introduction of entrance tickets to control the influx of visitors, otherwise insupportable without some form of regulating their number”. The problem can be solved “not just by removing the causes that produce damage to the environment, but also by giving new prospects to the people involved”. “Marghera – he added – has been reduced from a workforce of 40,000 to 12,000, and soon it will drop even further, perhaps to 7,000. We need to assume responsibility for these people, shoulder the cost of retraining them and relocating them in other jobs in the territory, perhaps in the services sector, or cultural activities or the new technologies”. “It would make no sense – concluded Father Longoni – to remove industries from here only to transfer them to other countries, perhaps to the Third World, where industry continues to pollute. The problem needs to be solved also by applying the safety standards recommended by the EU, which are aimed at safeguarding the dignity of workers and the environment”. Maria Chiara Biagioni and Daniele Rocchi SIR correspondents in Venice