SERBIA: Residents of Pancevo await clean-up in country's most polluted town

Record ID: 216870

  • Title: SERBIA: Residents of Pancevo await clean-up in country's most polluted town
  • Date: 7th December 2009
  • Summary: PANCEVO, SERBIA (FILE - APRIL 1999) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OIL REFINERY BURNING AFTER BEING HIT BY NATO BOMBS (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 22nd December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Serbia
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA1WAUV2S2Z4K1HMHRG66A8N7FS
  • Story Text: Pancevo is Serbia's most polluted town. It's situated next to the country's biggest oil refinery, currently owned by Russia's Gazprom.
    For more then fifty days across the first 11 months of 2009, the people of Pancevo heard the siren blaring that warned them not lo leave their homes because the air was so polluted that venturing out would cause eye and throat irritation.
    Because of this situation Serbia's Environment Minister Oliver Dulic recently held an emergency meeting with Pancevo officials. The town's mayor Vesna Martinovic explained the problem.
    "You know some children, some mothers, some older people who live here are very ill. The majority of my friends cannot live normally, without using an inhaler device," she said..
    There are a mixture of reasons for Pancevo's high pollution.
    Like others in the Cold War-era Eastern Europe, the now defunct socialist Yugoslavia focused on industrial growth, paying little attention to green issues like Western countries. But its environment standards were still higher than in the Soviet bloc.
    During the Milosevic era, when Serbia plunged into poverty, the overriding priority for many Serbs was staying alive, not keeping their rivers and forests clean.
    And during a NATO bombing campaign ten years ago the oil refinery and a nearby petrochemical plant were hit, sending a huge black cloud into the sky and releasing more than 2,000 tonnes of noxious chemicals.
    Another factor is the continued release of toxic materials from the refinery which still uses communist-era dirty technologies.
    The town's 127,000 residents are keenly awaiting a clean-up of the refinery, including the installation of air filters, however this all requires significant investment which so far has not been forthcoming.
    Pancevo's pollution woes make it clear that the reformers who ousted Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 have their work cut out for them to improve environmental standards, which under the Milosevic regime were largely ignored.
    But Serbia faces a tricky balancing act with conflicting priorities. Most factories would have to close if strict environmental standards were introduced overnight, this is simply not politically viable in a country with an unemployment rate of at least 30 percent.
    Citizens of Pancevo have become accustomed to sirens going off, warning that they should stay inside. The most recent occurrence was two weeks ago.
    "It was like dense fog, you could literally move it with your hand, I felt my lung rip apart. It was difficult to ride a bike, I couldn't see anything and I was afraid that a car would hit me. Visibility was very low," said Tibor Schmit.
    "We have pollution all the time, I read jokes on the internet about Pancevo, they say that we glow in the dark. I know it's bad for our lungs, but we are used to it, we have to live with it,'' added fellow student Marko Tulic.
    The consequences of this pollution are far from amusing. More then 5000 children in Pancevo suffer from bronchitis and the incidence of cancer is higher than the Serbian average.
    Another problem pollutant in this area is Benzene, a colourless component used in petrol and diesel. Benzene levels can also be high at times, and exposure to it has serious health effects.
    Another threat comes from sooty smog, especially during winter. Smog in Pancevo is produced by burring fossil fuels and is mostly caused by industry as most houses in the area are heated by gas.
    At times the smog is so thick that Pancevo becomes invisible from beyond the city's border.
    "This means that for almost two months the citizens of Pancevo suffered from small particles which endanger their health. Because of these particles some other products fall from the air causing reactions and consequences which we cannot yet predict. Some particles deposit on the particles' core, and that's how they get into the body," said Mica Saric-Tanaskovic the Head of Pancevo Centre for Public Health.
    In order to track pollution levels, four specially equipped vans are parked around town. Doctors from the Institute for Public Health check the air pollution on a daily basis. If the data rises above healthy levels the sirens ring out.
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