Parents say sub-station emissions four times above limit

TESTS at the Limassol kindergarten shut down by parents because they said an electrical sub-station had caused leukaemia to four pupils, have shown electromagnetic emissions to be seven times the accepted levels, Parents’ Association Spokesman Michalis Michail said yesterday.

Angry parents closed the 15th Public and Community kindergarten in Polemidia on Monday after repeated but vain pleas to the Education Ministry to move the school.

Four pupils at the school have contracted leukaemia. Two died, a third is fighting for his life in London, and the fourth is understood to be now clear of the disease.

Yesterday, Michail claimed the tests they had conducted at various times showed the electromagnetic levels to be seven times higher than accepted levels.

He said the parents had presented the findings to the Electricity Authority (EAC), which dismissed them as being wrong.

On Monday, EAC Spokesman Tassos Roussos said the EAC had carried out its own extensive tests to sub-stations and found emissions to be below the suggested limits.

Michail said the school was not supposed to be permanently housed there.

"The association had rented the building temporarily, until a more suitable one was found," he said.

That was 14 years ago.

In the meantime, the EAC bought the land for the sub-station because the school was supposed to leave.

But after yesterday’s closure, the parents seem to have found a friendly ear at the Education Ministry.

"Until now we had no response. We talked last night (on Monday), and they saw the issue in a positive light," Michail said.

Director of Elementary Education at the Education Ministry, Michalis Stavrides said the ministry was doing all it could to solve the problem.

"We need co-operation and not fighting," Stavrides said.

Speaking about the greater Polemidia area, Health Minister Frixos Savvides said a study of health complaints in the suburb would be completed soon.

The research was commissioned by the ministry after complaints by residents that high-power electricity cables passing overhead caused cancer.

"We will have the first findings in two to three weeks," Savvides said.

He disclosed that the committee would also be looking into the ground in the area, suggesting it may have been contaminated by toxic materials many years ago.

Concerning the school, Savvides said it would be easier to move the kindergarten than the sub-station.

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