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Environmental groups and citizens criticized the preliminary conclusions into pollution levels in the Khongor soum this week, saying they were wrong. The World Health Organization last week revealed that pollution levels in Khongor, located in the Darkhan-Uul aimag, were normal and not the cause of animal deaths and a series of unexplained miscarriages among women.

Khongor was the site of an illegal gold-washing operation last year that involved the local governor.
Residents and environmental groups continued to blame the pollution, and petitioned foreign experts to come and retest the area.
The organizers presented a letter from the American Academy of Environment Security and Society offering to use specialized and powerful technology to test for chemical substances.
The group has offered to test mercury and cyanide if it is approved by the Mongolian government. The residents said that the foreign experts who worked on the testing were under government contract.
Experts from the UN’s Environment and Agriculture Program have taken over 20 samples from land, water and livestock, and the protestors eagerly anticipate their results, said Sh.Purevsuren, head of the Mongolian Green Cross Society during a press conference.
Earlier this year PM S.Bayar accepted that pollution levels in Khongor had been damaging and apologized.
Last May and then again in last August, the Ministry of Health examined health tests from Khongor residents but never released the results.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been over 50 unexplained livestock deaths and miscarriages and abnormal births. Birds, larks and pets have been dying in massive numbers.

Used source from UB Post

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