According to a 2001 census, the population of Kajaran is 9,800. Mayor Vardan Gevorgyan, however, quotes different figures. "By my calculations, there are 12,000-12,500 residents in the city today. There is no emigration here. People leave the city for three reasons - to study, to serve in the army, or on business. But in all three cases, they come back and do not intend to leave for good. It's not like other cities; our young people come back, because the unemployment problem has solved in Kajaran," he said.

But residents say that the population is smaller, and maintain that nobody wants to stay in Kajaran.

"Slightly more than 7,000 people live in Kajaran. Many people have left because the ecological situation is so bad - people breathe polluted air and drink contaminated water. Besides that, the mortality rate has gone up noticeably," said 24-year old Arman. He left Kajaran himself, and now lives in Yerevan, with his wife and child, who is nearly a year old. The main reason they moved was the bad ecological condition of the area. When his wife Ani was pregnant, the pollution in the air and water were especially harmful to her. Concerned about the health of his wife and child, he moved his family to Yerevan. "When I was pregnant, I could not bear living in Kajaran at all; I felt suffocated, as if I couldn't breathe. Even in the winter, during the coldest of months, the air in the city felt dirty. The snow in Kajaran is always yellow," said 22-year old Ani.

25-year old Kristine is expecting her second child within a few months. "I already have a child, a two-year-old, and we're constantly in and out of hospitals; he has an intestinal disease, she said. “There isn't a single healthy person in the city - one person has a heart condition, the next has stomach problems or lung disease. Both children and the elderly are ill."

Residents of Kajaran joke about the ubiquitous cough that distinguishes them from other people. Over the last few years, there has been a significant increase in diseases of the reproductive organs and the cardiovascular system, including blood pressure problems, as well as oncological diseases of the lungs.

"Compared to other cities, we have jobs here, but the air is horrible. We breathe sulfur. Diseases of the reproductive system have increased both in men and women; many of them have tumors. But you can't talk about that in the city or you'll lose your job," said 50-year old Karine.

Looking through patient histories, Vardan Avagyan, Kajaran's head physician and director of the local medical center, spoke confidently about diseases throughout the city. "The city is an endemic zone - diseases of the thyroid gland, female reproductive organs and mammary glands are widespread. Pathologies during pregnancy are also very common. Miscarriages occur often. We've already had three or four miscarriages this year. But I can't be sure what this is due to. It's fair to say that the birth rate and death rate are equal," he said.

The number of live births and deaths in Kajaran from 1997-2005 are shown in the table below (stillbirths are not included)

Year	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005-first trimester
Live births	116	116	83	114	95	97	85	80	32
Deaths	45	58	75	53	51	53	53	87	21

 

There is a lot of talk in Kajaran about diseases of the male reproductive organs. This phenomenon was confirmed by Dr. Virab Manasyan, a urologist who has been working at the Kajaran medical center for a few months. Before that, the center had never required a urologist.

"There are many patients with urological problems, especially with cases of prostate adenoma. There are also many cases of young men with other diseases of the reproductive organs. Many of these are cases of infertility or tumors. In reality, some research should be conducted to establish the cause of these diseases. Another serious problem is that Armenian men are embarrassed by problems like this and don’t want to talk about them or go to a doctor," Manasyan explained.

Doctors note that they cannot talk about the causes of such diseases before reliable research is conducted.

"Even during Soviet times, cases of silicosis and diseases of the respiratory organs and blood were most common in Kajaran; these are occupational diseases linked to the breathing in the air of a mining zone. Workers at the plant are especially susceptible to these diseases. Diseases of the male reproductive organs are also very widespread. These are largely due to lead and molybdenum," said Emin Babayan, head of the Laboratory of Industrial Toxicology at the Armenian Institute of General Hygiene and Occupational Diseases.

The health of the population of Kajaran has declined significantly since 2000, when the molybdenum processing plant reopened. For the past four years, the factory chimneys have been spewing out sulfur dioxide 24 hours a day. "Essentially, the plant is a molybdenum smelting unit, which produces sulfur dioxide 24 hours a day. Droplets of this gas harm the respiratory organs, especially the lungs, and the hemoglobin in the blood. This leads to oxygen starvation. That’s why these people tire easily, and their systems get weaker. The polluted air harms children's mental development," noted Svetlana Hayrapetyan, a chemistry and biology teacher at Secondary School No. 2 in Kajaran.

Vladik Martirosyan, an engineer in the ecological department of the plant, agreed that the activity of the molybdenum processing plant is worrisome. "In the past, there were no chimneys and the sulfur would come down directly on the city. Now the chimney is 300-400 meters above the city. But the smell and dust of the sulfur in the air is still noticeable, “ he said. “I guess we can't completely neutralize the sulfur in the air. And sulfur, in the long run, is corrosive and cannot, of course, be harmless."

According to Maxim Hakobyan, the director of the plant, there are no serious health issues in the city. "Molybdenum smelting cannot cause great harm. It would be different if we were smelting copper. The emissions have to be neutralized, of course. The plant has conducted numerous studies into the effects of the emissions on the people's health here. I can say with certainty that there are no serious problems today," he said.

But according to Anahit Davtyan, a research doctor in the laboratory at the Yerevan Hygienic Epidemiological Monitoring Center, even pollutants in irrigation water can cause harmful effects on the health of the human population of the given area. "True, people don't drink that water, but dangerous particles pass on to the soil, then to plants, from plants to animals, and then to humans. This leads to numerous diseases in humans," she said. She explained that these particles lead to an increase in white blood cells, lower oxygen content, oxygen starvation, and high blood pressure. This causes damage to the lungs, blood, and nervous system.

"I don't know, maybe it's a coincidence, but, having studied mortality cases in the city, I have come to the conclusion that in a majority of the cases, vegetables grown on wastelands were used," said Mayor Gevorgyan.

Despite that, both the mayor and the director of the molybdenum plant insist the emissions from the plant do not harm the local population.

The Ministry of Health is not conducting any studies into the effects of the environment on the health of the population today. In response to our query, Health Minister Norayr Davidyan said, "No separate funds have been allocated for a national program for work in the area of environmental hygiene... The Health Ministry of the Republic of Armenia is currently not conducting any studies regarding the morbidity of the population in the Syunik Province."

Yet plant management appears to have some concern about the health of Kajaran’s residents. They have signed contracts with various hospitals in Yerevan, wherein the medical needs of the workers at the plant and their families will be tended to for free. But that does not please the residents themselves.

"You could say that a slow genocide is occurring in our city; people are falling ill and dying one after another. The plant is making people ill, then paying for them to be treated. They are swindling us, in a way. Meanwhile, the ordinary people who live here have no choice - either we keep quiet, or we'll be deprived of our livelihood,” 50-year old Seda told us. “ But even if we complain, it won't help. That's for sure.”

Photographer - Arthur Torosyan