Press Releases from Greenpeace. Org
GREENPEACE INTERCEPTS EUROPEAN SHIP ATTEMPTING TO
ILLEGALLY DUMP TOXIC WASTE IN TURKEY
4 May 2002
Istanbul/Paris, 4 May 2002: Greenpeace activists today intercepted a European cargo
vessel as it illegally attempted to enter a Turkish shipbreaking yard with dangerous toxic
waste on board.
The vessel "Sea Beirut" was towed from France to be scrapped at Aliaga, one of Turkey's
notorious ship breaking yards (1), with asbestos still on board.
The vessel was sold for scrap with asbestos on board by the French authorities in March
2002 to a German company MSK. In taking the decision to sell the ship for scrap, France
is responsible for ensuring it is cleaned of hazardous materials before it is exported.
Up to 100 ships are scrapped in Turkey every year. At least 50 percent of them come
from Western European shipping companies. The costs for dismantling toxic ships in
Turkey are lower than in Europe because not even basic requirements for the protection
of people and the environment are met at ship breaking yards such as Aliaga where ship
breaking practices are comparable to those in China, India and Bangladesh.
GREENPEACE CONTAINS DANGEROUS PESTICIDES ABANDONED IN
NEPAL AND CALLS ON BAYER AND SHELL TO TAKE THEM BACK
21 January 2002
New Delhi/Kathmandu: Today Greenpeace finished containing six tonnes of dangerous
obsolete pesticides exported by the world's biggest chemical companies to the Himalayan
Kingdom of Nepal and made the entire stockpile safe and ready for sea transport. Several
local non-government organisations and Greenpeace activists tied a banner reading
"Toxic Free Nepal" around the warehouse in Kathmandu where the poisons are
contained.
"It's time for the chemical industry to move beyond 'responsible care' rhetoric and take
genuine responsibility for its products from cradle to grave. Greenpeace is inviting the
companies that made these pesticides to come and retrieve this toxic waste and dispose of
it safely in the country of origin," said Greenpeace toxic trade expert, Andreas Bernstorff.
More than a dozen Greenpeace activists from India, Germany, Switzerland and the
Netherlands, together with Nepalese agricultural technicians, started cleaning up the toxic
waste, that had been abandoned in dangerous conditions on the outskirts of Kathmandu,
three months ago and completed it this month.
Approximately one third of the waste is pesticides manufactured by Bayer and Shell; the
remainder were made by Union Carbide (Dow), Sumitomo, Sandoz, Rhone Poulenc (now
Bayer), Du Pont and Monsanto, amongst other companies. The deadly substances found
in Kathmandu were donated to Nepal by Western companies or channelled through
international aid mechanisms over twenty five years ago. The site is one of several
locations in Nepal where obsolete pesticides have piled up as result of oversupply.
An estimated 500,000 metric tonnes of obsolete pesticides have been abandoned worldwide, mainly in developing countries. They are usually stored in similarly poor
conditions, often in residential areas or even next to schools. Greenpeace is calling on the
industry to compile a full inventory of all stockpiles of obsolete pesticides around the
globe and to take full logistical, technical and financial responsibility for their retrieval
and safe disposal, in line with the regulations of the Stockholm Convention. (1)
TOXIC BHOPAL WATER DELIVERED TO DOW CHEMICALS
3 December 2001
Delhi - Greenpeace activists in several countries today joined 'AaCcTt: Bhopal' (1), a
global alliance of survivors’ groups from Bhopal and their supporters in an international
day of action to mark the 17th anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster.
Activists collected contaminated groundwater in Bhopal and personally delivered it to
several Dow offices and employees around the world (2). The water bottles, labeled
"Refreshingly Toxic Bhopal Water: - Available only in Bhopal and other selected areas",
highlight the continued contamination of groundwater around the site of the disaster,
which is still used by up to 5,000 Bhopal families for everyday needs.
The coalition called for renewed efforts to rehabilitate survivors of the disaster, clean up
of the residual contamination at the abandoned site, Union Carbide and its officials to be
held accountable and for international laws to be developed to ensure that corporations
are made responsible for chemical accidents and ongoing pollution worldwide.
On the midnight of December 2-3, 1984, over half a million people were exposed to a
cocktail of poison gases from Union Carbide's pesticide factory. Around 7,500 people
died in the immediate wake of the disaster. According to local groups, the current toll of
dead has crossed 20,000 and a large number of people continue to suffer from exposurerelated chronic illnesses of the lung, eyes, brain, heart, immune, hormonal, reproductive
and other systems and are in desperate need of medical attention.
After the accident, Union Carbide abandoned the factory and left hundred of tonnes of
chemical wastes which have seeped into the drinking water source of the neighbouring
communities. Many people are forced to drink water that contains a cocktail of hazardous
chemicals including chlorinated benzenes, chloroform, trichloroethene and carbon
tetrachloride. A 1999 study by Greenpeace found contamination levels to be far above
US EPA drinking water standards. Carbon tetrachloride was found at levels 682 times
higher than standards in the US, chlorinated benzenes at 5-11 times higher,
trichloroethene 50 times higher and chloroform more than 20 times above US limits.
In February this year, Union Carbide managed to shed its name by becoming a wholly
owned subsidiary of US-based multinational Dow Chemicals. Dow Chemicals purchased
Union Carbide for a sum of 9.3 billion USD, thus creating the second largest chemical
company in the world.
UNILEVER ADMITS TO TOXIC DUMPING; WILL CLEAN UP BUT NOT
COME CLEAN
19 June 2001
Mumbai, India, 19th June 2001: Conceding to the demands of citizens groups and
Greenpeace, the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever has agreed to permanently close its
polluting mercury thermometer factory in India, the largest in the world. The company
has also agreed to undertake a clean-up of 5.3 tons of mercury wastes it illegally dumped
at a local scrapyard, but it is still refusing to accept that local people and workers at the
factory in Kodiakanal may have been exposed to the highly toxic metal.
Ex-workers from Hindustan Lever, Unilever’s Indian subsidiary that runs the mercury
thermometer factory, say that the company’s double-standards were also evident in their
casual attitude towards mercury exposure in the workplace, and in the company’s
continuing and unscientific denials that any such exposure occurred.
The company claims that none of the 140 current workers, or any of the 250 or so exworkers, (many of who resigned in the past due to health reasons), are at all affected by
mercury. Ten workers below the age of 40 have died while employed at the plant. No
investigations were performed at the time of death. Ex-workers report kidney problems,
chronic stomachaches, blood vomiting, infertility, and women suffering a variety of
gynaecological disorders. The company has neither conducted a comprehensive and
scientific epidemiological study, nor published the basis of its claims that no workers
have ever been affected.
A conservative environmental audit conducted by Unilever’s consultant indicates that
hundreds of tons of mercury-bearing toxic wastes have been sold to unsuspecting
recyclers and end users in several southern Indian states. Several tons of wastes, that the
ex-workers claim are severely contaminated with mercury, were also buried by the
company in unlined pits at the factory site, which borders a protected nature reserve of
Pambar Shola. To date, the company has failed to fully disclose to the Pollution Control
Board the raw data it used to calculate the amount of toxic mercury it released from its
factory (1).
A conservative environmental audit conducted by Unilever’s consultant indicates that
hundreds of tons of mercury-bearing toxic wastes have been sold to unsuspecting
recyclers and end users in several southern Indian states. Several tons of wastes, that the
ex-workers claim are severely contaminated with mercury, were also buried by the
company in unlined pits at the factory site, which borders a protected nature reserve of
Pambar Shola. To date, the company has failed to fully disclose to the Pollution Control
Board the raw data it used to calculate the amount of toxic mercury it released from its
factory (1).
Wastes such as zinc ash, residues and skimmings; lead waste and scrap; used batteries;
and waste and scrap of metals such as cadmium, chromium, cobalt, antimony, hafnium
and thallium have been exported to India from countries including OECD nations such as
Germany, USA, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, UK, Belgium and Norway. These
imports have occurred without any authorisation or the knowledge of the Indian Ministry
of Environment. Some of these waste items are also illegal under the laws of European
Union nations and Australia, both of which have banned the exports of hazardous wastes
to non-OECD countries.
The Ministry of Environment has shown no sincerity in obeying the Supreme Court
order, and has in many instances even sought to obfuscate issues by attempting to free up
imports of zinc ash, toxic lead-containing wastes and hazardous ships-for-scrap. The
blame for India's status as a global dumping ground lies as much with the Ministry as it
does with the waste traders and exporters," said Greenpeace.
SHIPPING INDUSTRY RESPONSIBLE FOR DEATHS IN BANGLADESHI
SHIPBREAKING YARDS
20 June 2000
NEW DELHI/AMSTERDAM -– Greenpeace today squarely blamed international ship
owners and operators for the deaths of more than 40 workers in the two recent explosions
aboard ships being scrapped in Bangladeshi shipbreaking yards.
Both explosions, aboard MV Dena on May 31 and aboard MV Tanko on June 14 at the
Chittagong shipbreaking yard, occurred because the owners of Dena and Tanko failed to
decontaminate their ships of gas and oil to ensure the safety of workers operating with
torch-cutting equipment.
Greenpeace has consistently highlighted that the export of ships-for-scrap to Asia without
decontaminating the ships of hazardous substances such as oil and gas, asbestos and other
toxic substances is tantamount to waste dumping.
Following increased deaths due to explosions and fires in Indian shipbreaking yards, the
Indian Government mandated a "gas-free for hotworks" certificate that ensured that the
insides of ships were decontaminated of explosive gas or oil seams before import into the
country. According to Indian shipbreakers and government sources, this requirement has
significantly reduced casualties.
However, they also point out that, as a result of the Indian mandate, part of the problem
has been exported to Bangladesh. Failure to regulate the import or breaking of ships-forscrap in Bangladesh has made it the preferred destination for hazardous ships-for-scrap
from unscrupulous ship owners and operators.
"The shipbreaking disasters are proof enough that the unequal application of local
environmental or worker safety laws can never be expected to deal with an international
problem. The Governments of India and Bangladesh, Pakistan, China and other
shipbreaking nations should realise that if they want their shipbreaking industries to
survive, they have to apply the "Polluter Pays" principle and ensure that the ship owners
and operators are held responsible and financially liable for the safety of workers," said
Jayaraman.