Expert fears carcinogenic molecules created in Rouen factory blaze
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An air quality expert has told Euronews that reactions between chemicals in the Rouen factory fire could have created carcinogenic particles.
More than 5,000 tonnes of 400 different substances were ignited in the accident at the Lubrizol plant a week ago.
A handout photo taken with a drone and made available by the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Service Departemental d’Incendie et de Secours, SDIS) of the Seine-Maritime, France on 02 October 2019 shows firefighters trying to extinguish a large fire that broke out during the night at the Lubrizol factory in the northern port city of Rouen, France. EPA-EFE/SDIS 76 HANDOUT
Olivier Blond, president of the air quality organisation Respire, told Euronews he’s very concerned:
“It’s like a major oil spill in a city of 100,000 people. This list has more than 400 chemicals. But that’s only the start; these chemicals change because of the fire and then combine one with the other which could be very toxic. We’re expecting endocrine disruptors and carcinogenic molecules (to have been created).
He added that the government says “don’t worry there is nothing dangerous”, but the government doesn’t know either”.
Blond said the polluting elements which have been spread all over the region and also up to Brussels and Belgium.
Around 2,000 people demonstrated in Rouen on Tuesday following the release of a list of 500 chemicals involved in the accident including fuel additives, anti-freeze and solvents,
