NICOSIA, Cyprus – A lawyer says a Cyprus court has for the first time found the government negligent for allowing a factory to emit for years a chemical that it said caused cancer in nearby residents.
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Loukis Loucaides told The Associated Press Thursday that in its ruling last week, the court also held the owners of the Astrasol factory responsible over the dichloromethane emissions. The emissions were found to cause a variety of cancers to the Nicosia suburb’s residents, including a three-year-old child.
Loucaides, who represented the victims, said it’s the first time a court accepts that the solvent caused cancers like brain and prostate cancer, Hodgkin’s and leukemia.
He said over 80 cancer cases appeared within a 500 meter radius of the factory when it was operating between 1976 and 2009.
