European court says Italy violated rights of residents near Naples over garbage crisi

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Italy violated the human rights of residents living in and around Naples by failing to manage a 15-year garbage and pollution crisis that contributed to higher mortality rates from cancer in the area, the European Court of Human Rights ruled. The preliminary verdict announced Thursday from the Strasbourg-based court is the second major one in recent years to find that Italy’s failure to collect, treat and dispose of tons of waste in the Campania region adversely affected residents’ personal well-being. Residents of the area have long complained about adverse health effects from the dumping, which has poisoned the underground wells irrigating the farmland that provides vegetables for much of Italy’s center and south.