Seveso’s lessons must not be forgotten

Fifty years ago, on 10 July 1976, a devastating environmental disaster occurred at the Icmesa chemicals factory in northern Italy. A reactor containing trichlorophenol overheated, and the resulting runaway reaction led to the release of a huge vapour cloud that drifted south over the nearby town of Seveso. Around 35,000 residents suffered the largest exposure to dioxin ever recorded in what became a turning point for chemicals safety regulations. As local health official Giuseppe Ghetti said at the time: ‘What has happened here will remain in world history.’