Saturday 21 April 2007

Dirty business

Reports have emerged of a massive toxic waste dump found in Abruzzo, one of Italy's loveliest and most unspoilt regions. The largest dump of its kind in Italy, and probably in Europe, it's the work, not of the Mafia, traditionally involved in illicit dumping, but of a nearby chemical plant.

Investigators know who's responsible, but may not be able to do very much about it. As Patrizia Fantilli, a legal expert with WWF, said:"Italy's laws on ecological crime are too weak." She might have gone on to say that the government that passed the law decriminalising activities of this type by businesses was the work of polluter extraordinaire, Silvio Berlusconi.

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