Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000741/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Thomas Bajada (S&D)
Several studies carried out in Salto di Quirra, Sardinia, have raised concerns about environmental, food safety and human health risks. In 2010, a technical committee of experts in the Italian Senate (III Committee on Depleted Uranium, DU) suggested the potential presence of high levels of thorium, cadmium and lead in soil. The 2010 veterinary report by the Cagliari and Lanusei local health board warned that these substances might also have entered the local food chain. Additionally, the Senate’s III Committee on DU reported elevated levels of particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5 in the area and the presence of anthropogenic nanoparticles in human tissue.
In the light of the Ambient Air Quality Directives, the Environmental Liability Directive, the Environmental Crime Directive and the Industrial Emissions Directive:
- 1.Does the Commission believe that these substances, which may have entered the local food chain, represent a threat to human and animal health and pose a threat to the quality of EU food products?
- 2.Will the Commission investigate the potential correlation between the high number of leukemia and tumour cases reported in Quirra and the cited environmental contamination?
- 3.Does the Commission intend to address these concerns with the Italian authorities, invoking the precautionary principle set out in the cited reports?
Submitted: 18.2.2025