number that steadily decreased until 1993, when the factory was shut down following lengthy negotiations. Black dust pollution affected a strip of land over 20 km in length and 5–6 km in width, although work was later done to clean this up. Environmental impact By the early 1990s, Copșa Mică was among the most polluted towns in Eastern Europe. Over 60 years of unrestricted emissions led to lower air quality, surface water contamination, soil pollution, contaminated plant products and health risks to farm animals and human inhabitants. Until operations were suspended, Sometra remained the area's chief polluter, its emissions of sulfur dioxide and dust affecting all aspects of the environment. A March 1990 report in The New York Times describes the town: "For about 15 miles around, every growing thing in this once-gentle valley looks as if it has been dipped in ink. Trees and bushes are black; the grass is stained. The houses and streets look like the inside of a chimney. Even the sheep on the hillsides are a dingy gray." Horses could only live there for two years, and the only animal life in the immediate area were wildfowl, the meat of which was inedible from the toxins. In 1977, 70 residents had excessive or dangerous lead levels, a figure that had risen to over 400 by 1990, when over half of Sometra employees had above-normal lead. One test of nearly 3000 residents showed over half had lead poisoning. From 1983 to 1993, some 2000 people were hospitalized due to lead-induced anemia or severe lung and stomach pains. Of local children aged two to fourteen, 96% had chronic bronchitis and respiratory problems. Studies of children seven to twelve years old from Copșa Mică and Mediaș found that many showed signs of mental retardation, two-thirds were underweight and 30% of boys and nearly half of girls had high blood pressure. Five babies were born with malformed hearts between 1977 and 1983, a number that rose to 16 in 1988 alone. In 1985, a local doctor wrote a detailed report that ended up in the hands of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, earning him a visit from the Securitate secret police and leading to construction of the tall chimney that spewed sulfuric emissions toward nearby villages. Residents were dependent on the factory for their livelihood, saw the pollution as part of reality and were reluctant to agitate for change. Effect on