The risk of chemical pollutants from regional hostilities reaching Cyprus through dust episodes is negligible, the head of the Air Quality Branch of the Department of Labour Inspection said on Wednesday.
Chrysanthos Savvides said scientific data and analyses conducted during two previous episodes of hostilities — in Syria and Israel — found no concentrations of substances associated with chemical weapons use. Even where a minimal presence of such substances might exist, he said, levels fall below the detection threshold of monitoring instruments, meaning any trace concentration in dust does not affect the atmosphere.
The reason, Savvides said, was “simple and scientifically substantiated”: the chemical substances in question have very short atmospheric lifespans and cannot travel over such large distances. He added that this applies even more so in the case of Iran, which is further from Cyprus than either Syria or Israel.
For Cyprus to be at risk at all, he said, two conditions would need to occur simultaneously: hostilities would have to be taking place near desert areas, and a dust episode would have to be moving from that area towards Cyprus at the same time.
The Department collects atmospheric dust samples and sends them to the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, which tests for approximately 40 chemical substances known to be associated with chemical weapons. Dust episodes are monitored as a meteorological phenomenon by the Department of Meteorology using specialised models, with the Department of Labour Inspection working closely alongside it. Air quality monitoring stations are positioned approximately 1.5 to 2 metres above ground, at the level at which people breathe.
Savvides said there was currently no dust in the atmosphere, and that no impact from any such episode had been recorded in recent days. A potential dust episode at the end of last week did not affect Cyprus, he added, with rainfall having had a positive effect — “washing” the atmosphere clean — and no relevant pollutant recorded by monitoring instruments.
(information from CNA)