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Article

17 Jan 2007

Author:
David Shukman, BBC News

The most polluted town in Europe [Romania]

Within minutes of arriving in Copsa Mica, a small industrial town deep in a valley in Transylvania, I could feel the pollution in my eyes and nose...Ahead of me was a factory built in the late 1930s to process heavy metals, a giant smelting works that over the following decades belched out contaminants on a terrifying scale...Mytilineos Holdings, has recently installed new filters to bring emissions into line with European standards. But there's a poisonous legacy...Prof Doru Banaduc, of the University of Sibiu, told me the whole food chain was contaminated. "The town is really a dangerous place to live - everything you touch, everything you eat, the air you breathe is serious for your health."