The medical board of the Chilean city of Nuble, 500 km south of the capital, has issued a warning about the potential harmful effects of the imminent opening of the Nueva Aldea Industrial Forestry Complex of the CELCO company. The association of physicians believes that the waste discharge from the pulp plant will be a strong and irreversible threat to the health of more than 45,000 people who use the water of the Itata River for their own consumption, for fishing or for crop irrigation.

The regional president of the board, Carlos Rojas, told Tierramérica that the substances produced in the bleaching process, such as resins and organochlorides, can lead to cancer and genetic malformations.

The board also warns that dumping the waste into the ocean, as has been announced, will not resolve the problem.