They gardened on radioactive waste (Swiss Press Text 2015, by Dominik Balmer) - Swiss Press Award

Le Matin Dimanche

Dominik Balmer

Article about the discovery of radioactive material at a highway construction site in the city of Biel. The authorities (Federal Office of Public Health/municipalities) withheld this discovery from the public for months, even though the groundwater in the neighboring neighborhood, for example, had to be tested for radioactivity. The radioactive material was small glass bottles that were formerly used to store radium-containing fluorescent paints from the watchmaking industry. The area of ​​the highway construction site in Biel was used as a landfill until the 1960s. Later, the city established allotment gardens there. Even the owners of the allotment gardens were not informed about the discovery of the radioactive material.