Fear precedes pulp mills in Argentina and Uruguay

Argentina Uruguay

the plants are two years away from opening and claims of contaminated fish are already starting to circulate...

Residents of the eastern Argentine province of Entre Ríos, a short distance away from the future site of two new pulp mills in Uruguay, maintain that the plants have already had an impact on local economic activity, despite the fact that they will not actually open for another two years.

"Families who depend on fishing for a living say that no one wants to buy the fish they catch out of fear that they're contaminated," María Elena Marchioli of the Gualeguaychú Citizens Environmental Assembly told IPS. Gualeguaychú is an Argentine tourist town near the Uruguay River, which forms part of the border between the two South American countries.

In reality, however, the fish cannot possibly be contaminated, at least not by pollution from the pulp mills in Uruguay, because work has barely begun on their construction. If anything is affecting the fishing industry today, it is fear and misinformation.

but is it any wonder...?

Pulp production is one of the most highly polluting industrial activities because it releases dioxins and furans, carcinogenic chemical substances that have also been shown to weaken the immune system and cause hormonal and neurological damage to humans. The northeastern region of Argentina, bordering on Uruguay and Brazil, is ideal for the installation of pulp mills given the accessibility of river transportation and large plantations of eucalyptus trees, a favoured raw material for pulp production.

ah... progress... ain't it great...?

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