57% of Yerevan’s population lives in contaminated conditions Dr. Armen Saghatelyan, who heads the RA National Academy of Sciences’ Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies, stated today that mining in Armenia has been disastrous for Armenia in terms of public health and the environment.

“Mining production during the past few decades has taken place without proper monitoring. By law, mine operators must neutralize all dangerous contaminants, but this hasn’t happened due to a variety of objective and subjective reasons. Today, the ground has sucked in those pollutants like a sponge.” According to Saghatelyan, a Doctor of Geo-Mineralogical Sciences, these pollutant pass from the ground to agricultural produce and then to humans. The organisms of children, in particular, cannot cope with these contaminants. Lilit Sahakyan, Head of Center’s Environmental Geochemistry Laboratory, claims that 57% of Yerevan’s population lives in contaminated conditions due to ground pollution. Sahakyan added that the country’s rural fields were being irrigated with water flowing from contaminated sources due to mining operations. “In all our study regions, Kapan, Kajaran, Alaverdi, Akhtala, we’ve discovered that all types of farm produce are laden with heavy metals, including mercury arsenic and cadmium,” Sahakyan stated.