PRESS RELEASE

AN official delegation visiting a Swedish pulp mill was forced to flee because of an overwhelming stench.

A senior Tasmanian official with mild asthma almost collapsed and had to be helped back to the tour bus.

The factory was touted as world's best practice and an "odour-free" pulp mill.

The incident has been confirmed by two members of the Resource Planning and Development Commission pulp-mill assessment panel who toured German and Swedish mills last year.

The tour group included:

Former RPDC executive commissioner Julian Green.

Federal Government representative John Ashe.

Tasmanian planner Geoff Davis.

CSIRO pulp and paper scientist Warwick Raverty.

Dr Raverty said the RPDC panel was hit by a smell like rotten eggs and rotting seaweed.

"I was almost overcome by the odour," he said. "My eyes were literally watering."

The panel left on the bus within minutes of arriving.

Another RPDC panellist, who did not want to be identified, said the stench was foul.

"It was very, very bad," he said.

Dr Raverty said the experience strengthened the resolve of the RPDC to demand a better mill for Tasmania.

The incident happened at Skoghall mill near Karlstad -- regarded as an example of the latest odour control technology by Finnish forestry giant Stora Enso.

Dr Raverty said the panel was evacuated to a small village about 6km from the Skoghall mill.

"The odour, even at that distance from the mill on a fine day with light winds, was highly objectionable and offensive," he said.

The European engineer who designed the odour emissions technology at Skoghall was guiding the RPDC tour.

"He thought that we were joking and merely trying to embarrass him because of his pride in the job that he had done at Skoghall," he said.

Dr Raverty said pulp mill emissions gradually killed olfactory cells in the nose.

"Some people who work in pulp mills for decades, like our Swedish guide, lose the ability to smell rotten odours," he said.

"Many Swedes and Finns have lost this ability because they experience it every day of their lives.

"I can predict with confidence that if the mill goes ahead at Bell Bay, there will be tens of thousands of angry people from Launceston to Beauty Point."

Visitors flee pulp factory