Seveso disaster was turning point for EU environmental safety awareness - Mattarella

The Seveso disaster was a turning

point for EU environmental safety awareness, President Sergio

Mattarella said on the 50th anniversary of the calamitous dioxin

industrial plant contamination near Monza Friday.

"What happened in Seveso became a turning point in the Italian

and European consciousness for the culture of safety and

prevention, which the Seveso emergency significantly and duly

accelerated," said Mattarella, in Seveso at the official

ceremony marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Icmesa

environmental disaster of July 10, 1976, when a toxic cloud of

dioxin was released following an explosion at the industrial

plant.

" What happened was unacceptable, and the regulations

subsequently developed on a continental scale had historic value

because they were based on the protection of people's lives, the

protection of communities, and the environment as a primary

human right," he said.

Mattarella went on to say that there were serious "reticences"

and cover-ups at Seveso, adding that "the intolerable

irresponsibility of company management is still evident today.

"The intolerable irresponsibility of company management is still

evident today, fifty years later, with their culpable delay in

providing information about the gravity of what was happening.

"The presence of dioxin in the air was thus first silenced,

covered up, and then downplayed.

"Equally disconcerting is the fact that only the disaster

revealed that the highly dangerous trichlorophenol was being

produced at the plant.

"(There were) extremely serious reticences and cover-ups."

"The response to the disaster caused by the toxic cloud, and the

resumption of social and economic life, bears the hallmarks of a

civil resurgence that went beyond cleanup and reconstruction."

"The Icmesa tragedy became a sad paradigm of what should not be

done, inspiring the launch of a European project that has given

rise to stringent regulations—including in Italy—such as

Environmental Impact Assessments and Integrated Environmental

Authorizations, to protect citizens. These regulations are

especially aimed at protecting against risks posed by industries

with potentially harmful processes. This is a path that must be

pursued with determination."

"Technological progress must serve humanity and communities. Any

view that cynically plans a trade-off between human costs and

economic benefits must be firmly rejected. Europe must be able

to offer a balanced response to the world. A community grows,

produces, and lives while ensuring its future if it embraces the

value of sustainable environmental resources and the

consolidation of social cohesion."

"We owe a grateful thought to the foresight and commitment of

the then Mayor of Seveso, Francesco Rocca, the President of the

Regional Council, Cesare Golfari, and those who supported them,

such as the extraordinary commissioners Antonio Spallino and

Luigi Noè.

"The Republic remembers their work. Life and the future are back

in your hands. It was a challenging, arduous journey. Full of

sacrifices, when pain alternated with hope. With everyone's

commitment, hope and life prevailed."

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