space Press Releases, News Stories

By ET Kalyani, OneWorld South Asia

NEW DELHI, India, 7 February 2002  -- United States officials are looking into claims by environmentalists that thousands of tons of rubble from New York City's destroyed World Trade Center (WTC) shipped to India for recycling, may be toxic.

U.S. embassy officials in India's capital New Delhi said Wednesday they were waiting to hear from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), on the matter.

"We take these concerns seriously and we have requested from Washington the EPA's ruling on the quality of the material," said a spokesman, who refused to elaborate on the issue.

Environmentalists fear that at least 30,000 tons of debris already shipped from the U.S. to Chennai in southern India, along with a shipment destined for the port-city of Kolkata in eastern India later this month, could contain poisonous substances.

The global campaigns group, Greenpeace, said the scrap being transported for recycling into steel may contain substances such as cancer-causing asbestos, dioxins, mercury, and lead.

"Since the area where the towers collapsed in New York is considered a danger-zone, it is likely that the scrap being sent to India is extremely hazardous," said Doris Rao of the group's Indian chapter.

The collapse of the WTC's twin towers--caused by the September 11 "aircraft bombings"--created about 1.3 million tons of debris.

A group of Indian environmentalists, civil rights bodies, and trade unions sent a letter to the U.S. embassy earlier this week, asking Washington to investigate the matter. It also urged the U.S. to provide evidence that the steel scrap sent to India was free of contamination.

"The burden of proving that the scrap is safe is on the United States," said Greenpeace India's anti-toxics campaigner Manu Gopalan. "The steel scrap may not be contaminated at all. But it is better to be safe than sorry," said Gopalan.

Campaigners say that under the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste, it is the Indian government which must act to prevent the import of hazardous waste.

"It is time for India and other developing countries to get up and do something about the dumping of waste from industrialized countries," said Nidhi Jamwal of the Indian group Centre for Science and Environment.

The recycling of waste is often seen by developing nations as a means of job creation. In Kolkata, for example, the WTC waste is expected to be turned into materials for use in the construction industry. The scrap imported through Chennai will be recycled as steel for furniture

But, said Jamwal, there is very little awareness in countries such as India about levels of toxicity in waste from industrialized nations. "Few know of the long-term environmental and health hazards that recycling waste can lead to," she said.

"For the West, shipping waste is just a question of trade," Jamwal said. "For us, it is a basic question of our health."