NAPLES – Despite heavy rain, between 30,000 and 100,000 protesters filled the roads in a long day of banner-filled marches calling for an end to camorra and pollution. Many protesters carried large photographs of their children and other relatives who had died, according to them, from cancer caused by the toxic pollution.
Among the marchers was the mayor of Naples, Luigi de Magistris: “We come together under the banner of protest to say that the polluted areas must be cleaned up, but we do need more resources to achieve the clean-up. Yes, indeed, our anger is evident but we are full of ideas”. The protest movement is calling for national funds for the decontamination of polluted lands and waters, and blaming the mafia for creating hundreds of illegal dumps in the area around Naples.
The environmental organization Legambiente said that in 22 years some 440 businesses located in Central and Northern Italy have buried up to 10 million tons of industrial waste in the area.
Locals call the zone between Naples and Caserta the “Land of Fires” or “Triangle of Death” due to the toxic fumes produced by burning waste. This area also has contaminated water, with dangerous traces of uranium and heavy metals, and poisonous gas that rise up from the ground. Almost a million people are at risk of illness and death from cancer and lymphoma.
The US Navy recently completed a detailed two-year, thirty million dollar study to assess the dangers of living in Campania for American soldiers and their families. From 2009 to 2011, the study analyzed air, water, and soil in an area of over a thousand square kilometers that includes 543 houses and ten military bases, to search for 214 harmful substances. The findings were made public months ago, and recently republished by the weekly L’Espresso, but have been substantially ignored by the Italian authorities.
The American experts have marked places considered “unacceptable health risks” across the two provinces of Naples and Caserta, and even in the center of Naples. They include three “red zones”: Casal di Principe, Villa Literno, Marcianise, Casoria e Arzano. These are also the heart of the camorra system.
The combined effect of all the toxic substances found in the area, estimated the American experts, places Neapolitans at a risk of tumors and other illnesses that is five times greater than inhabitants of New York or Los Angeles.
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