September 14, 2024 | 13.04
READING TIME: 3 minutes
The Sarno River is “a time bomb“. The levels of contamination of its waters and drainage sludge “are at a point of no return”, with “concrete risks for the health of the ecosystem and of humans”. They are “shocking results”the mirror of “an alarming situation”, those put down in black and white by an analysis conducted pro bono by the oncologist of the Land of Fires Antonio Giordano, commissioned by the mayor of Sacafati (Salerno) Pasquale Aliberti who this morning filed “an detailed technical-scientific report to the competent authorities and bodies: Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Health, Prefect of Salerno, Prefect of Naples, Prefect of Avellino, Public Prosecutor’s Office of Nocera Inferiore, President of the Campania Region”, informs Giordano, an Italian scientist working in the USA where he directs the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, and in Italy he leads the Department of Medical Biotechnology at the University of Siena.
What does he say or study?
Based on the analysis of the reports of Geoconsultlab, a company commissioned by the Consortium for the Reclamation of Agro-Nocerino-Sarnese on behalf of the Campania Region to analyze the waters, Giordano fears “repercussions on the health of citizens caused by the sediments present in the Rio Sguazzatorio”. His technical-scientific report on the contamination of the dredging mud of the watercourse that passes through Scafati indicates that, “despite the removal of the HP7 classification from the updated report, the concentrations of contaminants detected, including antimony, arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, mercury, selenium, tin and thallium, have remained unchanged. Their presence in detectable concentrations is worrying for the toxic effects even at low doses – warns the oncologist – for the mechanisms of bioaccumulation and chronic toxicity”. Furthermore, adds Giordano, “their persistence in the environment can determine the contamination of soil and water resources, with repercussions on the ecosystem and human health”.
“The depth of sampling – the scientist explains – is a determining factor in understanding the chronology of contamination. Surface sampling can indicate recent contamination, while deeper sampling could reveal the presence of long-term accumulations of pollutants, which could be linked to historical sources of contamination. Epidemiological studies show that prolonged exposure to low doses of heavy metals is associated with an increased risk of developing serious pathologies, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, kidney dysfunction and metabolic diseases. The samples were taken in an urban area subject to frequent flooding, a factor that could make contamination more problematic”, specifies Giordano.
“Faced with the superficiality of the Region on the ‘Sarno River’ issue, we could not wait – says Mayor Aliberti – I asked Giordano, an internationally renowned scientist, for help in the battle for truth that we are waging. The data on the degree of danger reported by the Region in the reports commissioned by the Land Reclamation Consortium to the Geoconsultlab company in April 2023 and November 2023 are falsified”, he denounces: “After a few months they are different and discordant, with a downgrading of the danger of the metals present in the waters justified as a mere typing error. Governor De Luca should not look the other way”, is the appeal of the mayor of Scafati.
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