After touring the factory in the Koura district of Amioun around midnight Tuesday, Nohra said it would be shut the following day over the health and environmental dangers it posed. “This factory does not meet the ecological and health standards and threatens the area, especially during the first two hours of the tire burning procedure,” Nohra said. “The illegal chemicals stemming from the tires spreads in an unhealthy way and violates the standards,” he added. Factory workers burn tires to isolate the rubber from the steel and sell them separately. The process sends thick black smoke billowing across the area and causes catastrophic ecological and health damages. Nohra said that the factory had caught fire three times in the past. In one instance, the fire lasted for three days, sending smoke over the region which “jeopardized peoples’ health,” Nohra said The Daily Star
