ArmeniaNow The births of two-headed and three-legged calves in two provinces of Armenia within the recent months raised an alarm among environmentalists that may also be supported by records.

Official data from the National Statistical Service state that the number of birth anomalies in Armenia within the recent 15 years has increased by about 15 percent, and by two percent in only the past five years.

Environmentalists believe this is mainly caused by emissions from mining, and by misuse of pesticides (or by use of banned pesticides).

Though there is no research on cause of the increase in abnormalities such cleft palate, or missing limbs, webbed or extra fingers/toes, well-known environmentalist Karine Danielyan, head of ‘For Sustainable Human Development’ NGO, believes that the main cause the “disastrous condition” of the environment.

When the two-headed calf was born January 25 (it lived 10 days)in the stable Hakob Avetyan in the Sotk village, Gegharkunik province,residents of the village started worrying that everything is more than serious.

“This is really a very serious alarm for us, saying that we should fight against exploitation of mines at such a high speed,” head of Sotk village Kolik Shahsuvaryan told ArmeniaNow.

However, the fight is still ineffective, because GeoProMining Gold Company continues developing mines, including installation last week of new facilities that, residents fear, will double damage caused to the local environment.

“Birth of such an animal is not accidental at all, because as a result of mining industry a full list of heavy metals appeared in the Sotk River,” Danielyan says.

On March 22, a two-legged calf was born in Griboyedov village, Armavir province, which is still alive, however, veterinarians have no hope that it will live long.

“These cases are still rare, but they are quite exemplary and evidently demonstrate that polluted environment has an embryo-toxic effect, and this means that we can already speak about mutations, and if mutations enter any population, it is very difficult to remove them, and that work lasts very long, and sometimes, it is in vain,” Danielyan says.

(Environmentalists say this can be a result of the Metsamor Nuclear Plant, the village is some 20 km away or that villagers bought the cows from more polluted areas in the vicinity of mining industries.)

Doctors have not joined environmentalists’ fight, but, privately speak about the current problems, saying that cases of mutation are registered among people, too, but unlike animals, they are revealed earlier and an embryo is removed.

In Alaverdi, Lori province, the most polluted town of northern Armenia, the number of women who have lost their children due to fetal abnormalities has grown (according more to common knowledge than to statistics). However, Alaverdi Maternity Hospital representatives told ArmeniaNow that “they have no instructions from the ministry [of healthcare] to speak about this issue.”

The situation is even more alarming in Armenia’s southern mining province Syunik. Tailings depots of a few mines there are known to seriously pollute the environment.

According to the data of the Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies at the RA National Academy of Sciences, the amount of heavy metals in this region exceeds the permissible norm ten times.

The tailings depot of Artsvanik, full of about 150 million tons toxic waste, carries an ecological threat.

Peasants’ lands, where different plants are cultivated, and cattle are pasturing, are located not far from the tailings depot.

“People have no other way out, they live there, cultivate the land, Syunik residents even praise their beans, and they say that it is the only worm-free bean. Of course there would not be any worms in agricultural products because of such a great amount of lead and chrome pollution,” says Ecolur NGO head Inga Zarafyan.

A doctor who has been working at Kapan Maternity Hospital for many years, says that birth defects are numerous, simply people do not speak about it, because they are afraid to lose their jobs.

“If all the children, whom we, unfortunately, aborted at late-term pregnancy, were born and lived, Syunik would have become a province of mutants. These cases are very numerous, and they are mainly defects which are not compatible with life, therefore soon after revealing them, we abort those children,” said the doctor, whose named is withheld by ArmeniaNow.

The doctor herself lost a baby at seven months, diagnosed with Anencephaly (cephalic disorder that results in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp). After the trauma, she moved to Yerevan with her family hoping to reside in a cleaner environment.

Nevertheless, Ministry of Healthcare of Armenia insists that there is no room for worry. “Defects always existed, and no specific increase in those defects has been registered,” says Karine Saribekyan, head of Mother and Child Healthcare Department of the Ministry of Healthcare.

Meanwhile, the 15 percent increase in defects does not include the cases of those children with disorders, who were aborted. Their number is not made known, yet it exists, and creates worry among future parents.