Volgograd residents poisoned by emissions of castor factory undergo medical examination

Residents of the settlement named Vishnevaya Balka, Krasnooktiabrskiy District of Volgograd, are taking their free-of-charge medical examination in the mobile medical centre. The aim of the study is to reveal the hazardous effect of emissions of the castor factory on human health.

"The city administration has initiated this medical action aimed at early diagnostics and prophylactics of most widespread diseases," Tatiana Ermilova from the press service of the Mayoralty of Volgograd told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

She said that the action of the free-of-charge medical examination of the population of Volgograd was launched in early summer. Since then, residents of the settlements Maxim Gorky, Yablochny and Gornaya Polyana have already checked their health condition. On August 20, the mobile medical centre will continue its work in settlement Gumrak.

Svetlana Timofeeva told the story of local residents' struggle with the castor factory. The dispute burst out because of the size of the sanitary-protective zone (SPZ). The regional "Rospotebnadzor" (Federal Service for Supervising Consumer Products) reduced the SPZ from 300 down to 150 meters, while the public demanded to increase it up to 1000 meters. For six years the dispute was considered by three district courts and the arbitration court of Kazan. For two times the courts cancelled the decision of the "Rospotebnadzor". And both times the managers of the LLC "Castorservice" ignored their decisions. The factory continued working as before.

"In 2009, the castor factory gave us hell," Ms Timofeeva said. "We couldn't open a window - neither in the afternoon, nor at night. The stench was unbearable!"

According to her story, residents of the houses adjoining the castor factory for five years "are running round doctors: some with headache, some with suffocating cough, some with cardiac pains. And all have terrible allergy." Svetlana has added that Volgograd polyclinics, where the victims address, have no methods of defining allergens to castor-oil plants, protein and ricin contained in factory's emissions.

Ecologist Elena Vasilieva, director of the Information Centre "Volgograd-Ecopress", told the correspondent that the castor factory is an enterprise of hazard II category.

"I don't understand the position of the Mayoralty in this situation," said Ms Vasilieva. "I've never seen a representative of the department for the environment of the city administration at litigations."