At least 105 people have been poisoned since Monday by industrial contamination in the Chilean cities of Quintero and Puchuncaví, an area known as the “Chilean Chernobyl” that has been affected by the environmental crisis caused by heavy industry for decades.
In a statement, the Environmental Inspectorate (SMA) confirmed on Wednesday “a new chapter in Puchuncaví’s APS, with the enrollment of 105 people treated at Quintero Hospital, Quintero Primary Health Care (APS), affecting the health of the community in this area”.
On Monday, 75 people, including at least 50 students, were poisoned at the Quintero Air Quality Station with a high sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentration of 1,327 ug/m3, five times normal.
The two coastal towns of Quintero and Puchuncaví, with populations of about 50,000, are considered “environmental sacrifice zones” since the Chilean government decided in 1958 to hand over artisanal fishing and agriculture to turn the area into an industrial center that now houses four thermoelectric power stations. coal and oil and copper refineries.
Quintero’s Department of the Public launched an investigation after a complaint showed that adults and children were intoxicated on a large scale.
“An investigation order has been sent to Bidema (Public Health and Environmental Crimes Investigation Brigade) for a 30-day report,” said Luis Ventura, Quintero’s attorney general.
Local authorities declared an environmental emergency in the area, suspended classes and banned physical activities and sources of heating.
According to medical reports, patients experienced headache, itching in the eyes and throat, and nausea.
Environmental organization Greenpeace has described this area as “Chilean Chernobyl” after 2018, due to a serious contamination incident, about 600 people from Quinteros and Puchuncaví applied to medical centers with an atypical clinical condition such as vomiting blood, headache, nausea. , paralysis of the limbs, as well as skin wounds in children.
Environmental inspector Emanuel Ibarra on Wednesday ordered six companies operating in the region’s industrial park to take measures “to limit their productive activities without harming essential supply.”
“The new measures we have ordered are based on confirmation that today’s poisoning cases are related to the emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the industrial belt of Quintero and Puchuncaví,” he said.
Affected companies include Gasmar Quintero Plant, Enex Asphalt and Fuel Terminal, Copec’s Quintero Marine Terminal – Chile’s main fuel company -, Empresa Nacional de Petróleo’s (ENAP) Marine Terminal, Quintero LNG Marine Terminal and Oxiquim. Marine Terminal.
source: Noticias
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