About 600 Citizens of Biaroza Sign against Neighboring Chemical Plant
On 20 July the first line of Frandesa factory for production of herbicides, pesticides and insecticides was opened in Biaroza. The founding capital comes from Israel. At present the factory produces only Shkval herbicide, but soon five more kinds of chemicals, elaborated by the Academy of Sciences, will be produced there. The factory also plans to export the chemicals.
At the same time, public activists gather signatures against a dangerous neighbor. One of the action’s initiators, Tamara Shchapiotkina, said that the factory is just two kilometers (abut 1,3 miles) away from private houses and, according to preliminary information, its wastes would be dumped to the town sewerage.
‘We worry about the filtering system and the extent to which it can guarantee the safety of the population and the environment’, Shchapiotkina said. ‘Besides, we should take into consideration the human factor which manifested during Chernobyl accident, for instance. Biaroza district is already a zone of ecologic disaster: fish dies in the local rivers and we have the greatest percent of cancer illnesses in Brest region. A new harmful enterprise will not improve the ecological situation in the location and will not make 34 000 of Biaroza citizens healthier,’ she commented.
