Italy survey links poor health, low mortality to toxic dumps

A health survey mandated by the Italian Parliament has confirmed higher-than-normal incidents of death and cancer among residents in and around Naples, thanks to decades of toxic waste dumping by the local Camorra mob.

The report by the National Institute of Health said it was “critical’’ to address the rates of babies in the provinces of Naples and Caserta who are being hospitalized in the first year of life for ‘excessive’ instances of tumours, especially brain tumours.

The report, which updated an initial one in 2014, blamed the higher-than-usual rates on suspected exposure to environmental contaminants from illegal hazardous waste dump sites.

Residents have long complained about adverse health effects from the dumping, which has poisoned the underground wells that irrigate the farmland which provides vegetables for much of Italy’s center and south. Over the years, police have sequestered dozens of fields because of high content of arsenic and tetrachloride. 

Authorities say the contamination is due to the Camorra’s multibillion-dollar racket in disposing of toxic waste, mainly from industries in Italy’s wealthy north.. In recent years, former Camorra employees have revealed how the mafia racket works, directing police to specific sites where toxic garbage was dumped.

The new report, released December 30 with little fanfare, confirmed what residents have long known, an area priest, the Rev. Maurizio Patriciello, wrote Saturday in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference which has long advocated on behalf of the area’s residents. 

“Can we claim victory? Absolutely not," he wrote. "In this shameful, sad and painful story, we have lost everything. The government above all."