VICENZA – “The boys know very little, or nothing, of what the Pfasthe substances that are poisoning our waters and our bodies. This is why for five years we have been going to high school to explain what the public authorities do not say ”. Donata Albieroformer head teacher and spokesperson for the ecological association CiLLSA, Citizens for Work, Legality, Health and the Environmenttakes stock of a school project that has so far led volunteers to meet almost 6 thousand students in high schools in the provinces of Vicenza, Padua and Verona, affected by the serious pollution. The perfluoroalkyl substanceswhich attach themselves to the organism and are poorly soluble, have polluted the second largest aquifer in Europe which is located in the subsoil of the Veneto and affects tens of thousands of people. The chemical company Miteni di Trissino is indicated as the source of the spillsremained uncontrolled for decades, which led to the celebration of an ongoing trial in Vicenza with 13 managers accused of poisoning of waters and aggravated unnamed disaster.
“The problem is that the story, despite the trial, is very little known and people don’t know how to protect their health. This is why we called the project ‘Health in the land of the Pfas‘”, Explains Donata Albiero. It is a bottom-up initiative, thanks to Zero Pfas Educational Group, to the sensitivity of some school educators and without the help of the institutions. “Our first goal is to change the cultural paradigm and put the health of young people first on the scale of values, against the logic of the market and profit at any cost. We want to awaken the critical conscience of girls and boys through a dialogue without censure. Only in this way will they be able to contribute to the construction of a new civil society, more active and responsible, capable of encouraging those political, economic and social changes consistent with sustainable human development ”.
In the classes entered experts of Democratic Medicine e Legambienteteachers, Mamme no Pfas, parents who have contaminated children, associations and groups of citizens who defend their territory. “There are many voices that identify themselves in a single choral, the voice of the No Pfas movement of the Veneto that has prevailed and prevails over the authoritarian attempts to silence consciences and to censor the evidence of the facts “. It was not easy to enter the schools. They could not stop us neither circularreceived by the Paduan institutes which reminded the principals how, in the name of neutrality, scientificity and competence, the delicate issues relating to Pfas would be better addressed with the institutions who take care of it. We also met with the distrust of many school managers and teachers who did not want to ‘take risks’ with our presence “.
In short, it is a practice of active citizenship, like that of Mothers No Pfas who complain about the absence of the authorities in a work of dissemination and information in schools and for families. “We have concluded an extraordinary two-year period 2021/2022, with the start of the Miteni elworldwide attention of the UN on pollution in place in Veneto, with a mission directed by Mark Orellama, which dealt with Pfas and human rights. – concludes Professor Albiero – The concept of a ‘reactive approach’ has emerged, necessary in situations where ‘prevention’ is no longer sufficient in the face of a social and environmental disaster that is already underway “.
Giuseppe Pietrobelli