Macedonia’s central town of Veles is suing the state for allowing 30 years of continuous pollution from the town's lead and zinc smelter…[T]he town demands damages for the pollution caused by the smelter, as well as guarantees that the smelter will remain closed…Non-governmental organisations have issued repeated warnings about the higher-than-average number of cancers, fetal deformities, and other diseases which they claim are a direct consequence of the factory's toxic emissions. The state has so far not acknowledged this.