Lausanne, the capital of Olympic sport overlooking Lake Geneva in Switzerland, is reeling after discovering that much of its soil is polluted with toxic compounds belched out by an old incinerator.
The situation, which has troubling implications for children and eating home-grown food, is unprecedented in the wealthy country, which prides itself on its pristine mountains, lakes and pastures.
A domestic waste incineration plant in the Alpine nation’s fourth-biggest city — closed in 2005 — is being blamed for the dioxin fallout.
Photo: AFP
Dioxins, which belong to the so-called “dirty dozen” dangerous chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants, have the potential to be highly toxic. They have been shown to affect several organs and systems.
The problem was discovered by sheer chance between January and May at a planned new ecological allotment in the city.
For years, pollution monitoring had focused on air and water.
“As we did not look for dioxins, we never found them,” said Natacha Litzistorf, the city councilor for the environment.
The discovery triggered soil analysis measurements at 126 sites across the city. Experts also looked at the risks associated with exposure to polluted soils.
This week, Lausanne announced that those studies found the dioxin levels, and the expanse of the affected area, were much worse than previously thought.
The city has issued a map showing four concentric rings, with zones containing concentrations in the soil of 20 to 50 nanograms (ng) per kilogram, 50 to 100ng, 100 to 200ng and then more than 200ng in the middle. A peak of 640ng per kilogram was recorded in the city center. The affected zone stretches 5.25km inland and measures about 3.6km across.
People have been instructed to wash fruit and vegetables grown in gardens and allotments and wash their hands after touching the soil.
Parents must also stop children under the age of four from ingesting soil, for example by touching their mouths after playing on the ground. Warning signs have been installed around the city’s parks and playgrounds.
“We quickly suspected the cause was linked to a former incinerator,” Litzistorf said.
The Vallon plant opened in 1958 and was initially welcomed as a way of dealing with the city’s garbage.
“At the time, it was thought much better to site waste incinerators in the city center to protect agriculture in the countryside,” Litzistorf said.
The dioxin pollution dates from 1958 to 1982, when the Vallon filters were upgraded to environmental norms.
Didier Burgi, who owns a vegetable garden plot, said the discovery has sparked questions among veteran home growers.
“We are not going to eat the squashes. We don’t have a lot of them, but there was specific information about them and we’re not going to tempt the devil,” he said.
The major Chatelard allotment, near the new soccer stadium on the edge of the city, heard on Thursday that it had readings under 20ng.
Plot holder Jose Torres compared his imperfect tomatoes to the flawless ones in supermarkets.
“Everything you buy is full of chemicals,” he said. “From my plot, I know what I’m eating.”
Jacqueline Felder, tilling her beans, spinach, lettuce and carrots in the afternoon sunshine, said: “I’ve been growing vegetables for 15 years. We are not worried.”
“People are afraid of everything these days,” she said. “The Earth is our mother. Respect it.”
The WHO says short-term exposure to high levels of dioxins can result in skin lesions and altered liver function.
Long-term exposure is linked to impairment of the immune system, the developing nervous system, the endocrine system and reproductive functions.
Litzistorf said she was not aware of anyone coming forward with physical conditions linked to dioxin pollution.
However, the question of potential liability remains unresolved, as does the issue of what to do next, as the dioxin hunt expands.
Whether the soil can be cleaned up, on such a wide scale, “is the question that everyone is asking,” said Litzistorf — along with who should do it, how, and how much it might cost.
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