Tyre-burning villages blamed for high cancer level

By Martin Hellicar

HIGH CANCER levels in a Nicosia District village have more to do with tyre-burning natives than a local foundry that residents are pointing the finger at, Labour Minister Andreas Moushioutas claimed yesterday.

Moushioutas said his ministry did not question the findings of a epidemiologist’s report commissioned by Ergates villagers. But, the minister added, the study did not prove the foundry was to blame.

Epidemiologist Michalis Voniatis found alarmingly high levels of lung, brain, kidney and pancreas cancers and breathing problems in the village. He linked this to a local foundry which, as the House Environment Committee heard on Tuesday, was emitting heavy metals at six times the levels permitted in the EU.

Moushioutas said there were other factories in the area, implying the foundry was not the only possible polluter. He added that locals were guilty of burning tyres and other wastes near the village by night, polluting the atmosphere.

Moushioutas said the ministry had asked for the help of the village authority to track down the tyre-burning culprits.

The ministry has already stated that the Marios and Eleni metal works is not violating emissions limits set down in law.

Ergates residents insist the metal works is poisoning their environment with lead and cadmium, and that it is to blame for the high levels of cancers and breathing problems in their locality.

The villagers claim the government is not doing enough to protect their health. The environment committee wants the foundry closed down until it can limit heavy metal emissions.

The Green party yesterday called on the cabinet to intervene and close down the metal works immediately.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.