Plan to bury Turkey's 'cancer city'

A village that has become known as Turkey's 'cancer city' could be knocked down and buried under 13 feet of dirt in an attempt to halt high rates of mesothelioma, lung problems and cancer among residents of the region.

Published: 7:00AM BST 18 Oct 2010

Anatolia, Turkey: Tuzkoy village in central Anatolia has become known as Turkey's cancer city Photo: PHOTOLIBRARY

 

Tuzkoy village in central Anatolia, Turkey, is surrounded by large deposits of erionite, a fibrous mineral found in volcanic rocks.

The main cause of mesothelioma, a painful lung cancer, is erionite dust.

Murat Tuncer, chair of the unit for the fight against cancer in the health ministry, told the Harriyet Daily News & Economic Review that 46 people from the village had developed the disease this year, compared to a total of 65 in the country as a whole.

The death rate of people with mesothelioma was 700 to 800 per cent higher in Tuzkoy compared to rates throughout the world, he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/8070136/Plan-to-bury-Turkeys-cancer-city.html