chemistryworld.com
50 years since the Seveso disaster
Early in the afternoon on Saturday 10 July 1976, at a small chemical plant 20km north of Milan, disaster struck. Captured in one local newspaper headline a few days later: ‘Un forte boato a mezzogiorno, e poi s’alzo il bianco vapore’ – a loud boom at midday, then the white vapour rose. This white cloud would spread south from Meda, where the Icmesa facility was located, and across other closely connected urban areas: Cesano Maderno, Desio and the town with which this devastating event would become synonymous, Seveso. The vapour brought a foul smell to the air. But the residents in this increasingly industrialised area were used to strong odours emanating from the nearby factories. As the US biologist and environmentalist Barry Commoner wrote in a report after visiting the area: ‘For a while not much happened. People worked, as usual, in the local furniture-making shops; they tended the small orchards and gardens that filled most of the house yards and harvested ripening tomatoes and other vegetables; the local dairies continued to produce milk; youngsters played soccer in the fields of the sports centre just downwind of the chemical plant and swam in the outdoor swimming pool. Life went on...
