Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502030074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
A state-funded report released Thursday said that bacteria render three-fourths of Russia's water undrinkable and dangerous waste saturates 14 percent of the land - an area that is home to more than a quarter of Russia's 148 million people.
``There's no way to choose the worst environmental problem in Russia,'' said the study's director, Alexei Yablokov, an expert with the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russia's most prominent environmentalist. ``It's a nightmare.''
The study, funded by the government's Security Council and conducted by scientists around the country, covers 14 subjects, including soil erosion, radioactive waste, chemical-weapons destruction and the effect of space research on the Earth's environment.
It is the most scathing state-sanctioned research on Russia's environment yet, and was commended by environmental activists from Greenpeace, who long have clamored for international attention to Russia's environmental problems.
``Our birth rates are dropping; infant mortality is up; people are dying younger,'' Yablokov said at a news conference Thursday. ``Something must be done.''
In addition to the widespread danger of bad drinking water, poor safety at aging nuclear facilities and leaking oil pipelines were mentioned.
There were two accidents at nuclear plants in the former Soviet Union in the past week alone, and there are at least 700 major leaks in oil pipelines per year, Yablokov said.
by CNB