Re: Komtor-Canada's poisoning of Issyk-Kul Lake
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 09:31:52 +0300 (EET DST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Komtor-Canada's poisoning of Issyk-Kul Lake
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Cecil Ballantine <[email protected]>
Re: Komtor-Canada's poisoning of Issyk-Kul Lake
Britt Elliott <[email protected]> wrote:
>Natalia Ablova's recent posting ("Seminar on conflict resolution in
>the area of water management") refers to the recent poisoning of the
>Issyk-Kul Lake by a Canadian firm, Komtor. I've only recently heard
>about this incident, and as far as I know, there has been no mention
>of it in the Canadian press. Could someone please send me some
>details? I would be glad to circulate the info as widely as possible.
Hi Britt
I picked up this item from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline on
3 June. I hope it gives you some indication of the Canadian element
in the incident.
Yrs
Cecil Ballantine
Cecil Ballantine
Amnesty International (UK Section)
World Regional Representative (Europe)
SURAN(former Soviet Union)/Baltic States Coordinator
24 Albany Rd
Cheltenham, Glos
GL50 2UL UK
phone/fax - 44 (0)1242 255518
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall,
one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
--------------------
(From the moderator: the item mentioned above can be found at
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2-tca.html. For those subscribers who
have difficulties with accessing the piece via Internet, the text
enclosed below.
Boris)
---------------------
WOMAN DIES FROM CYANIDE POISONING IN KYRGYZSTAN...
A woman on 3 June died in a hospital in the eastern town of Karakol
from cyanide poisoning, RFE/RL correspondents reported. She is the
first person to die as a result of the spill last month of 1.7 tons of
sodium cyanide into the Barskoon River, which flows into the southern
part of Lake Issyk-Kul. More than 1,000 people have received medical
treatment following the accident. The full extent of the damage is
still unknown. RFE/RL correspondents report that at the end of May,
tourists on the north shore of Issyk-Kul received little, if any
information, about the toxic spill and were still swimming in
Issyk-Kul. BP
..CAMECO PRESIDENT SAYS CONTAMINATION REPORTS EXAGGERATED
Michel Bernard, the president of Canada's CAMECO Corp., said on 3 June
that the spill into the Barskoon River does not pose a serious threat
to residents of the area or nearby Lake Issyk-Kul. CAMECO is the
foreign partner of Kyrgyzstan's Kumtor Gold Mining Company. Bernard
said reports in the Kyrgyz and CIS media have exaggerated the
seriousness of the spill. He argued that "well-respected experts" say
the leak will not endanger the Issyk-Kul environment as most of the
chemical has settled at the bottom of the river which feeds into
Issyk- Kul. A special government commission supported Bernard's claim,
saying the amount of sodium cyanide in the lake does not exceed the
norm. BP
.........
RFE/RL Newsline, June 3
--
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