Martun Sakanyan first had his lungs checked back in the Soviet years when he suffered breathing complaints and the Alaverdi Copper Smelting Plant referred him to a hospital. But Martun Sakanyan never found out what he was diagnosed with.

"The certificate they gave me had this part missing and they didn't send me anywhere else for treatment. Ever since then I've had trouble with my lungs, I can't catch my breath," said Sakanyan, a former employee of the Alaverdi Copper Smelting Plant, who suffers from stomach ulcers as well. He was exposed to sulphuric gas fumes throughout the 27 years in the plant's electrolysis department in Soviet times and. "But who can prove that I got sick at the plant?" wondered the now-retired Alaverdi native. Sakanyan's breathing gets worse when the smoke from the copper plant reaches the Sanahin-Sarahart district where he lives.

Alaverdi residents say that fumes from the factory spread throughout every district in the city, depending on how the wind is blowing. Although the district is located at a higher elevation and far from the plant, it is frequently covered with clouds of sulphuric gas. When it is, residents say, they can taste the sulphur in the air and have trouble breathing.

"I don't go out of doors when it's like that. When there's gas, I get out of breath, said Seda Simonyan, a 65-year-old resident of Sanahin-Sarahart. A guard at the plant left his job of twelve years when he developed pneumonia, and he has suffered from asthma in the seven years since then.

According to local doctors, pulmonary disease is widespread in Alaverdi. Susanna Mikoyan, who was a therapist at the copper plant from 1977 to1986, attests that almost all of the workers from the sulphuric department she saw died of tumors. Workers in the metallurgical department suffered from lung tumors; in the electrolysis department ulcers were common. And this was in the former, Soviet-era conditions, when the Alaverdi chemical giant operated with minimal pollution, when the plant was producing sulphuric acid as well, and 75-80 percent of the sulphuric gas now being emitted into the atmosphere was being absorbed. Today, the copper smelter which reopened in 1997 produces 5.5 times less copper. It no longer produces sulphuric acid, and so the entire volume of sulphuric gas generated during copper production is emitted into the atmosphere, seriously polluting the environment.

According to data from the Ministry of Ecology, the average annual density of sulphuric gas in Alaverdi from 1997 to 2004 has reached the highest permissible level.

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Dioxide of sulfur  (highest permissible  density - 0.05 g/m3)	0.01	0.21	0.09	0.19	0.17	0.23	0.17	0.48

In 2004 the production of copper had increased 33 times compared to 1997, reaching 9.476 metric tons. The data shows that in 2004 the density of sulphuric gas in the emissions exceeded the permissible limit by 9.6 times. "In the oral cavity, sulphuric gas turns into acid, and then passes through the upper respiratory tract and reaches the lungs. Sulphuric acid affects the human organism, weakening it and lowering its resistance. At the same time it enters into reaction in the oral cavity and produces saline, causing tooth decay," said dentist Koryun Asryan of the Alaverdi Stomatological Polyclinic.

Asryan, who first took part in prophylactic research ten years ago, pointed out, "Even when the sulphuric acid department was functioning, none of the plant workers had normal teeth." The dentist noted with regret that dental disease is on the rise among 18-20-year-old residents of Alaverdi.

Susanna Mikoyan now treats the approximately 11,000 residents Sanahin-Sarahart, who suffer mainly from respiratory and pulmonary diseases. These illnesses have increased by 50 percent since 1997. According to the doctor, nine out of ten residents have pharyngitis. Ten teachers were checked recently and all displayed symptoms of pulmonary disease. "We cannot exclude the possibility of discovering small traces in everyone if they are all examined," the district doctor said. Seventy percent of the women she has seen have developed various tumors, and have had either full or partial hysterectomies.

Mikoyan says that cardiovascular disease resulting from tumors is on the rise as well, and is often fatal. "The diseases in Alaverdi are connected to the plant; the environment is very bad," she said.

"It would be incorrect to say that these emissions have not affected the health of the population. Even if the pollution is minimal, it has an impact," said Gagik Arzumanyan, the executive director of the Alaverdi Copper Plant (ACP). According to the company's calculations, the volume of emissions is 2.5 times lower than in Soviet years. But Arzumanyan doesn't consider this to be a satisfactory criterion. Irrespective of how they compare to Soviet indices, the present level of pollution remains extremely high. Every three months the company pays ecological fines to the state budget for exceeding the permissible limits of pollution. "Any increase in payments is unprofitable but we understands the necessity," said Arzumanyan, whose company provides elementary school students in Alaverdi with milk and pastry. He said that the company plans to install equipment that will substantially decrease the volume of sulphuric gas emissions. It is not clear yet what percentage of decrease they anticipate and how it will be ensured. But the company hopes to halve the amount of pollution.

But production volumes may not permit such changes. And in that case, ACP will be compelled to find temporary solutions for using the sulphuric gases, producing ecologically safe waste products which will be safely stored.

The Alaverdi municipality needs about $120 million to implement ecological and health related projects. Mayor Artur Nalbandyan is waiting for the government to approve the program, which is to be financed by ACP's ecological payments to the budget. If it is not approved, Alaverdi will continue to bear the heavy burden of ecological and healthcare problems.

ACP realizes that in order to decrease the pollution it has to take concrete and effective steps. And these steps will be taken over the next two years, according to Gagik Arzumanyan. Until then, people in Alaverdi will continue to breath the noxious fumes, to taste the sulphur in the air.