The Polish climate minister has denied reports on the alleged high concentration of pesticides and herbicides in the Odra River, which spread in Germany, and has described them as “an unjustified attack against Polish agriculture.”
Over 100 tonnes of dead fish have been found since late July in Odra, Poland’s second longest river, in one of the worst environmental disasters to hit Poland in recent years.
Just what killed the fish, and how and where it entered the river, remains unclear.
“Attention, another piece of fake news being repeated in Germany!!! Pesticides and herbicides. The substance has been examined in Poland and its presence has been detected below the allowable level,” Minister Anna Moskwa wrote on Twitter on Saturday evening.
Uwaga kolejny fake news powielany w Niemczech!!!
Pestycydy herbicydy
W Polsce substancja jest zbadana i wykryta poniżej progu oznaczalności czyli bez wpływu na ryby i inne gatunki i bez związku ze śnięciem.
Teraz tylko czekamy, który polityk upowszechni jak rtęć— Anna Moskwa (@moskwa_anna) August 20, 2022
“This means that it has no impact on fish and other species and that it has no connection with the massive fish die-off,” Moskwa said, adding that one could now expect that the fake news would be spread like the one about mercury.
Moskwa said that neither pesticides nor herbicides had been found in dead fish.
“An unjustified attack against Polish agriculture. The industry was first, and now it is the turn of agriculture. What will come next?” Moskwa asked.
The German daily Tagesspiegel wrote that water samples collected from the Odra River and examined in Germany showed an extremely high level of pesticides.