The secret of white beaches of Bodrum, or What is dangerous for tourists "Turkish Maldives"

Over the past few years the sandy beaches of the popular Turkish resort of Bodrum amazingly transformed. They were covered with white sand and now a significant part of the coast looks in the photo as the Maldives. Tourists love it, but it is as long as they don't know about the origin of this snow-white miracle and its impact on the body and the environment. Turkish independent media conducted its own investigation and spoke about the secret white beaches of the world.

Before the new beach season on the Aegean sea and boil of vengeance — the gates of the hotels and entertainment complexes endless line drive trucks filled with bales of white sand. At least the sand is a substance called the owners of the beaches, but they truthfully, because of natural sand, this substance is only indirectly related.

The beaches of Bodrum fall asleep quartz sand with a significant proportion of quartz flour. It is very beautiful, but completely unacceptable substitute for sea sand. Journalists of the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet was not the first who raised this question, but they made it so that the issue drew the attention of not only power, but also the public.

Silica sand is the product of weathering of metamorphic rocks. Most of the particles have a size of from 0.05 to 2 mm. It is a valuable raw material for many industries, such as glass industry, production of refractory and construction. But this substance has harmful to humans and the environment properties.

Dr. Tugce Kasapoglu was Huercal, the well-known pulmonologist, told reporters that the smallest particles of quartz threat to humans when they get into the respiratory tract. They are not only normal respiratory reactions such as mucus, discomfort in the throat and cough, and deadly disease.

Prolonged inhalation of quartz dust can begin allergic asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in children and adults and other problems. Contact with this substance significantly increases the probability of lung cancer and may cause exacerbation of TB patients. The doctor was Huercal sure that quartz sand should be immediately removed from the beaches of Bodrum, which can turn from a health center in threat to human area.

The problem of white quartz sand applies not only to humans, but the environment. The ecosystem of the Aegean sea is under threat, as it is thousands of cubic meters introduce a foreign substance that has destructive properties. The Chairman of the local Committee on environment Tahsin Ceylan argues that a large part of the quartz sand on the beaches is a waste, the so-called quartz powder.

The fact that the production of quartz, time consuming and costly exercise and the product is quite expensive. The feasibility of buying a certified beach sand with a certain grain size is questionable, therefore, acquire the cheapest by-product, small and volatile. When the wind quartz dust is posted for tens of kilometers, covering vegetation, buildings, roads and, of course, the mucous membranes of the people.

When wet quartz dusts acidic substance, destructive acting on terrestrial and marine plants and microorganisms. The flora in contact with this substance, you lose the ability to photosynthesize, which provides up to 20% of the oxygen in the air and fills them with water. Because of this huge area of sand off the coast of Turkey may soon turn into a lifeless desert underwater.

The population of Mediterranean monk seals, which in the Aegean sea is rapidly shrinking, thanks to the quartz beaches may soon cease to exist. Due to contact with dust quartz females are born dead and premature babies, and the duration of life of adult animals is greatly reduced.

Member of the Executive Committee of the city Council of Bodrum World of Bahattin Demir'm sure the owners of hotels, and the owners of the beaches are well aware about the dangers of quartz sand, but ignore it in the hope of increasing profits. But the tourists themselves according to Demira increasingly complain of choking white dust on the beaches and try to choose places with a real, Mediterranean sand.

Reporters Mr Demir gave an interview on this important topic, which concluded with these words:

Turkish law strictly applies to those who destroy nature and is a threat to human health. Articles 181 and 182 of the Penal code provides imprisonment for a term from 6 months to two years for intentional contamination of soil, water or air and damage the environment. If it has affected people or contamination takes the form of ecological disaster, the punishment can be more severe.

The fight with the organizers of the "Turkish Maldives" is gaining momentum. Last summer, the hotel complex Gündoan Mahallesi Küçükbük fined by 310 thousand Turkish liras (3 million) and ordered his leadership to clean the beach from quartz sand. Went to the municipality of Bodrum for the weak control of the coast — the Department of environment and urbanization fined officials for a total amount of 35 thousand Turkish liras (320 thousand rubles).

But there are beaches all the more dangerous, for example, is radioactive. In the South-East of Brazil, the owners of coastal facilities, knowing the dangers of the local sand, trying to attract more tourists.