December 23, 2002 - 22:48 AMT
THIS TIME BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN OIL PIPELINE WILL UNDERGO BACTERIOLOGIC EXPERTISE
Georgian scientists again exaggerate the subject of possible damage of laying the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. This time, as reported by Georgian sources, ecologists point out the threat of outburst of severe infectious diseases saying that a large number of animal mass burial places are situated along the oil pipeline building route. In the words of president of Agricultural-Ecological Society of Georgia, professor Tamaz Turmanidze, the oil pipeline is planned to be laid through Gardabani, Tetri Tskaro, Tsalka stock-raising regions. The presence of cattle burials is an officially registered fact and the building of the pipeline without holding relevant monitoring is inadmissible: the risk of outburst of epidemics of anthrax, tuberculosis, brucellosis and foot-and-mouth disease is too high. Taking into account that the pipeline route in Azerbaijan also passes mainly through territories of cattle-breeding regions, where cattle burial territories are also situated, newspapers write, a question inevitably raises: is the problem foreseen in "Estimate of impact on natural and social environment" national document?