National Dyes Company and Affiliates
ACNA
Native name
Azienda Coloranti Nazionali e Affini
IndustryChemical
PredecessorSocietà Italiana Prodotti Esplodenti (1906-1925)
Founded1929 (1929) in Saliceto, Piedmont, Italy
FounderItalgas
Defunct2001 (2001)
FateBankruptcy
Area served
Italy
Productsorganic secondary chemicals, pigments, dyes
ServicesChemical
ParentIG Farben Edit this on Wikidata

National Dyes Company and Affiliates (Italian: Azienda Coloranti Nazionali e Affini), more commonly known as the ACNA, was the first Italian chemical company, active from 1929 to 1999 in Cengio (main plant), as well as in Cesano Maderno and Rho, although it traces back to 1882 under different names.[1][2] The company was best known for the pollution of land and waters related to its production of dyes earning it the nickname of "the poison factory" which would see it brought before the Italian government.[3]

History

ACNA traces it origins to the dynamite factory Dinamitificio Barberi, founded on March 26, 1882, in Cegnio, Italy.[2][4][5] The factory would be change hands to the Italian Society of Explosive Products in 1906 and would see their explosives used in conflicts between Italy and Ethiopia War and the Italo-Turkish War.[6] The factory would be retooled in 1908 to produce Sulfuric Acid, Oleum, and TNT, during which the earliest evidence of pollution from the company began to be noticed.[4] The Cengio factory would be taken over by Italgas in 1925 and would later be grouped with the Rho and Cesano Maderno plants to establish the first ACNA, the Associated National Chemical Companies, which began producing dyes.[7] As the Cengio factory began to retool for the production of dyes for the textile industry, the ACNA became the first Italian producer of synthetic dyes.[8]

In 1931, Italgas was forced to sell ACNA to IG Farben and Montecatini who kept the acronym but changed the name to Azienda Coloranti Nazionali e Affini and resumed production of explosives and toxic gases, which were used in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and in Eritrea.[7] ACNA would first be brought to court for damages caused by pollution in 1938.[4]

ACNA would follow Montecatini during their merger to Edison in 1966.[7] After leaving the world of weapons manufacturing, they instead focused on the production of synthetic dyes, notably including fabric dyes such as indigo and naphthylamine.[9][10]

Environmental Controversy

It was discovered that the long-standing deterioration of the environment surrounding these factories was being caused by ACNA, improperly dumping chemical waste. As a result of this practice, a ground well over 106m3 and up to 20m thick became contaminated, along with substantial contamination of the nearby Bormida river.[11] This would contribute to the creation of the so-called "triangle of death" in Italy, a hotbed of illegal dumping in the country.[5][12] Regional governments, like that of Piedmont would claim damages caused by ACNA in the aftermath of the findings related to the Bormida Valley.[13]

ACNA's Genoa factory was polluting with chlorinated phenols, producing 48 tonnes of waste for 30 tonnes of product. The Italian Minister of the Environment would even shut down the plant for 6 months in an attempt to improve conditions.[14]

They would additionally be investigated by the Italian Chamber of Deputies under a commission of inquiry headed by Carla Mazzuca Poggiolini.[15] This would be followed by an additional inquiry in 2000 about the waste which would discover 800,000 tonnes of waste in the Pianura landfill stemming from the Cengio factory.[16][17][18]

Culture

Books

  • Andrea Dotta, “La chimica a Cengio: storie di battaglie e conflitti dentro e fuori i cancelli”, a cura della Federazione Italiana Lavoratori Chimici e Affini di Savona, 1997.[19]
  • Alessandro Hellmann, "Cent'anni di veleno. Il caso ACNA. L'ultima guerra civile italiana", Stampa Alternativa, Collana Strade Bianche, Viterbo, 2005.[19]

Movies

  • Il Caso ACNA: Storie di Lotte e Ordinari Inquinamenti, a documentary made in 2005 on the pollution caused by the ACNA[20]

References

  1. ↑ "Da Menarini alle Miniere di Montecatini: il panorama italiano". Euchems Torino (in Italian). July 24, 2011. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
  2. 1 2 Colombo, Simone (April 2014). "Innovation and Italy's Chemicals Industries" (PDF). aiche.org. AIChE.
  3. ↑ "Ex Acna, l'eredità mortale della chimica italiana: milioni di scorie tossiche da bonificare". Fanpage.it (in Italian). 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
  4. 1 2 3 "1929 - ACNA AZIENDE CHIMICHE NAZIONALI ASSOCIATE - 5 AZIONI - MILANO". Scripofilia. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  5. 1 2 Sgariboldi, Francesca; Fenoglio, Stefano; Bo, Tiziano; Cucco, Marco; Cossa, Paolo; Malacarne, Giorgio (2007). "Comparazione di dati chimici e faunistici provenienti da campionamenti realizzati in Val Bormida (Piemonte)". Studi Trent. Sci. Nat., Acta Biol (in Italian). 83: 71–75 – via Researchgate.
  6. ↑ Boca, Angelo Del (2007). I gas di Mussolini: il fascismo e la guerra d'Etiopia (in Italian). Editori riuniti. ISBN 978-88-359-5859-8.
  7. 1 2 3 "Aziende Chimiche Nazionali Associate • Titolo finanziario storico • Scripomuseum". Scripomuseum (in Italian). 19 September 2016. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  8. ↑ FAURI, FRANCESCA (2000). "The "Economic Miracle" and Italy's Chemical Industry, 1950—1965: A Missed Opportunity". Enterprise & Society. 1 (2): 279–314. doi:10.1093/es/1.2.279. ISSN 1467-2227. JSTOR 23699775.
  9. ↑ Capanna, Saverio (2015). "L'ACNA di Cengio nel contesto dell'industria chimica italiana (1931-1999)" (in Italian). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ↑ Mcclure, Kathryn Raeburn (2020-12-21). "Development of new extraction methods for analysis of natural and synthetic organic colourants from historical and artistic matrices". dspace.uevora.pt. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
  11. ↑ di Domenico, A.; De Felip, E.; Ferri, F.; Iacovella, N.; Miniero, R.; di Tella, E. Scotto; Tafani, P.; Baldassarri, L. Turrio (1992-08-01). "Determination of the composition of complex chemical mixtures in the soil of an industrial site". Microchemical Journal. Proceedings of the V Italo-Hungarian Symposium on Spectrochemistry: Quality Control and Assurance in Life Sciences. 46 (1): 48–81. doi:10.1016/0026-265X(92)90023-V. ISSN 0026-265X.
  12. ↑ "Italy's environmental disaster equals an HIV epidemic | IRPI". irpi.eu. January 28, 2013. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  13. ↑ Tezzo, Mauro (2011-04-01). "La Regione Piemonte chiederà al governo un risarcimento danni per l'Acna di Cengio. E la Liguria?". Savonanews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  14. ↑ Mackenzie, Debora; Hallenstein, Dalbert (August 19, 1989). "Italy learns to live with its environmental activists". New Scientist. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  15. ↑ "XII Legislatura della Repubblica italiana / Commissione monocamerale d'inchiesta sulla vicenda dell'Acna di Cengio / Organi / Camera dei deputati - Portale storico". storia.camera.it. Italian Parliament. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  16. ↑ "Commissione sul ciclo dei rifiuti". www.camera.it. Italian Parliament. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  17. ↑ "Doc. XXIII n. 40". www.camera.it. Italian Parliament. March 29, 2000. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  18. ↑ Bonini, Carlo (January 22, 2008). "Anche i fanghi dell'Acna di Cengio tra i veleni sepolti sotto quella collina - cronaca - Repubblica.it". www.repubblica.it. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  19. 1 2 Hellmann, Alessandro (2005). Cent'anni di veleno. Il caso Acna. L'ultima guerra civile italiana (in Italian). Alessandro Hellmann. ISBN 978-88-7226-894-0.
  20. ↑ "Il Caso ACNA: Storie di Lotte e Ordinari Inquinamenti (2005), di Fulvio Montano - CinemaItaliano.info". su CinemaItaliano.info (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-27.
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