Remember 'Something smells bad in the Campo de Gibraltar'?

On May 3rd we published Something smells bad about a national TV report on pollution in the Campo that was to go on air that night. On May 5th, we published Something smells very, very rotten in the Campo de Gibraltar, saying that the broadcast had been cancelled at the last minute and replaced. Well, it was finally aired last night (See it here). The programme, called Repor and originally cancelled as 'incomplete' after a phone call from CEPSA, owners of the refinery, comes up with a lot of information. Interviewed are not only representatives of the Junta, the Mayor of La Línea, a scientist specialising in air pollution, a local gynecologist of long standing and environmentalists in Gibraltar itself, among others, but also, significantly, a representative of a curious pressure group>called 'Initiative for the projection of a positive image of the Campo de Gibraltar' (about which we make full mention in the second item above).

 

There is mention not only of the high incidence of cancer in the Campo, particularly breast and bladder, but also of faetal malformation and mutation, apparently caused by heavy metals in the air. The number of abortions in La Línea, San Roque and Los Barrios, is way above the national average.

 

Polluted, too, are the waters in the area, naturally enough. La Colonia and Guadarranque were once fishing villages. The fishermen don't fish any more because 'there is nothing to catch', according to one of them. Another points to what looks like a spring coming straight out from behind one of the industries' fence and says, "If you see a seagull drinking here, you'll find it dead a day or so later, just along the beach here."

WE URGE YOU TO SEE IT. If your Spanish isn't up to it, try to see it with someone who can translate as it goes along. We can't promise a full translation ourselves, not even through our friends TheTranslationPeople - unless someone can come up with a transcript...