“Factory Kills Everything”. How the Lives of People in a Southern Italian Town Came to Be Threatened by One of Their Major Employers

Every day, Teresa Battista sweeps away the thick layers of dust that cover the graves in the San Brunone cemetery in Tamburi, a neighborhood in Taranto, separated from the factory only by a wire fence. Despite her best efforts, the maid, who has worked at the cemetery for 35 years, says she has been unable to prevent red marks from appearing on the marble graves due to toxic iron ore dust.

The steel plant has been emitting noxious gases since 1965, and thousands of people have died of cancer, meaning most of those in this cemetery, the quoted source notes. Two of those who lost their lives were Teresa Battista’s brothers.

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“Almost everyone here was young. This factory is killing everything,” says the woman.

After negotiations with global steelmaker ArcelorMittal, the plant’s majority owner, failed in 2018, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently appointed a special commissioner to temporarily take over the plant, better known by its former name, Ilva.

Vast areas of agricultural land and thousands of olive trees were destroyed to make way for the complex which is almost three times the size of Taranto itself.

For the first few decades, the factory prospered the town that had previously survived on fishing and agriculture. Workers came from the surrounding areas or returned home from abroad to work at the factory. At its peak, it produced over 10 million tonnes of steel per year, with a workforce of over 20,000 employees.

“I thought it was a gift from the fairies, when in fact it was poison”

And over time, the pollution from the red-and-white-striped smokestacks looming over the city became an accepted part of life. The children played with the dust, some finding it on their pillows in the morning when the windows were left open in the summer.

“It was like glitter. I thought it was a gift from the fairies, when in fact it was poison”, says Ignazio D’Andria, owner of a bar in Tamburi.

From the balcony of their home in Tamburi, Milena Cinto and Donato Vaccaro, whose son Francesco died in 2019 after a 14-year battle with a rare immune disorder, look out at two gigantic structures containing stockpiles of iron ore and coal. The buildings are covered with domes, a measure designed to prevent toxic dust from reaching homes and schools in the city.

But the situation has not changed, says Milena Cinto. “Every day I have to clean this dust,” she continued as she ran her finger along a window frame.

Vaccaro worked at the factory for 30 years.

“I worked like animals,” says the man, showing a photo of a colleague covered in soot. He often blames himself for his son’s death.

The couple would like to move, but the value of their house has fallen to €18,000 and is now unsellable.

Among the legal disputes involving the factory is a manslaughter case filed by Mauro Zaratta and his wife, Roberta, whose son, Lorenzo, died of a brain tumor at the age of five.

Following the autopsy, iron, steel, zinc, silicon and aluminum were found in Lorenzo’s brain. Judges must determine whether the toxins caused the cancer.

“Even though it’s aware of the risks of this plant, which continues to make people sick, the government seems to think it’s acceptable to keep it open,” said Zaratta, whose family now lives in Florence.

Studies have confirmed a link between emissions and cancer

The emissions – a mixture of minerals, metals and carcinogenic dioxins – seeped into the sea, destroying another source of the city’s economic life, the mussel fishery.

As recently as 2012, official figures showed that the cancer death rate in the area was 15% above the national average. More recent studies have confirmed a link between emissions and the prevalence of this disease, as well as a higher than average rate of respiratory, kidney and cardiovascular diseases.

A report by Sentieri, an epidemiological monitoring group, shows that between 2005 and 2012, 3,000 deaths were directly linked to “limited exposure to environmental pollutants,” and doctors say the cancer rate fluctuates with factory output.

Children were acutely affected: a 2019 study by Italy’s top health institute, ISS, found that in the seven years to 2012, Taranto had a rate of childhood lymphoma almost double the regional average, and a more recent study by Sentieri noted an excess of childhood cancer cases in the city compared to the rest of the Puglia region.

Earlier this year, local health professionals called on the government to prioritize health in its dealings with factory owners. Pediatrician Anna Maria Moschetti presented regional, national and European politicians with studies showing the effects that factory activity has on health.

“The plant, which emits substances that can be harmful to human health, such as carcinogens, was built near homes and in a windy area, which led to the exposure of the population to toxic substances, deaths and illnesses, such as it was documented by a prosecutor’s report,” Moschetti said.

“The greatest exposure is borne by the poorest population, people who live near the plants and do not have the financial resources to leave,” the doctor added.

The factory has more than 8,000 employees, most of them from outside the city

The plant currently has around 8,500 employees, most of whom commute to work from outside Taranto, which has caused deep divisions between those who work there and those who suffer its effects.

“People say they need the factory to feed their families, but in reality we were the ones who fed the factory and we paid for it through the damage to our health and the environment,” said Giuseppe Roberto, who worked at the factory for 30 years and is now organizing a class action against it.

Decarbonizing the factory and installing electric furnaces, an idea promoted by the former government led by Mario Draghi, would cost 3-4 billion euros, said Mimmo Mazza, director of regional newspaper Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno.

“Who would pay for that? Not only is it expensive, but it would mean less staff needed,” he adds.

“We have so many natural resources in Taranto, so to say that we cannot live without a factory is a mistake. It seems to be a choice between health and the interests of the state – in reality, the government doesn’t give a damn about the place or the people who get sick,” says Angelo, whose son, Giorgio, died at the age of 15. The image of the teenager appears in one of the murals on the walls in the city, along with other children, victims of cancer.

Photo: Hepta

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