"Pastures contaminated and off-limits to shepherds in the Teulada military range? Clearly, soldiers' lives are worth less than sheep's, given that Army personnel must continue to work in a polluted area, and certainly not just today."
Mariella Cao, an activist with the "Gettiamo le basi" committee who has been at the forefront of the fight against the closure of firing ranges in Sardinia for 25 years, weighs in on the issue that's causing concern to many in Teulada and the surrounding area.
The prefect of Cagliari has imposed a ban on livestock grazing on the lands of the firing range, jointly assigned to 23 local companies, because chemical analyses of soil samples in some areas revealed that legal limits for substances hazardous to health, such as cadmium, lead, and thallium, were exceeded.
"It's certainly the effect of simulated wars," Cao continues. "For 25 years, we've been denouncing the environmental disaster, confirmed by the parliamentary commission of inquiry into depleted uranium and the investigations of the Cagliari prosecutor's office. The time has come to close that military camp that brought cancer and poverty to Teulada, and to begin the cleanup."
The full article by Paolo Carta in L'Unione Sarda, available on newsstands today and on the Digital App.
abbonati.unionesarda.it/Edicola
