Mercury alert! A Valais scandal (Swiss Press Video 2015, by Varuna Seligmann) - Swiss Press Award

RTSun

Varuna Seligmann

Upper Valais is in shock. In February 2014, unprecedented mercury pollution was discovered on the highway construction site, partly involving the Lonza factory, one of the region's largest employers. Mercury concentrations had never been seen before in Switzerland, and in some places, were among the highest in the world! The contamination also affected private gardens and sports fields. What impact did it have on health? How did it get to this point? And what did the Valais authorities know about the scale of this disaster, which had been predicted for decades?