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Greenpeace Press Release

Greenpeace has laid a bulk of the blame for the critical condition at the Indian primarily on the shipowners and ship operators who continue to refuse to strip the ships of hazardous substances prior to their export to Asian shipbreaking yards.

At an international meeting concluded in London in April, the International Maritime Organisation has decided that IMO has a role to play in regulating the shipbreaking industry. Despite its global nature and well-known disastrous impacts on the environment and the health of workers in Asian yards, shipbreaking has escaped any global regulation.

"We see this as a welcome step that the IMO has decided to fulfill its responsibility of participating in the regulation of the shipbreaking industry," said Marcelo Furtado, Greenpeace's toxics campaigner who attended the IMO meeting. The Basel Convention, which regulates the movement of hazardous wastes from one country to another, will also be involved by defining the hazardous nature of the substances found in the ships.

The report, which is based on scientific environmental sampling and analyses conducted by Greenpeace, confirms that workers are exposed to poisons such as asbestos not only in their workplace, but also in their living quarters.

"The proximity of their shacks to the place of work results in double- exposure to the Alang workers," said Ganesh S.Nochur, toxics campaigner for Greenpeace in India. "The poisoning of our workers is a result of Government's inaction in calling for the decontamination of the ships prior to their export to India. Not only are the workers poisoned, but India becomes a dumping ground for somebody else's wastes," he said.

The report found that the sediment and soil levels in the shipyard of the toxic biocide Tributyl tin -- a poisonous chemical used in the ship's antifouling paint -- are high enough to warrant classification of the soil and sediment as hazardous wastes under German regulations. Similarly, high levels were found of polycyclic aromatichydrocarbons, many of which are known carcinogens.

"The poisoning of Indian workers and the shipbreaking yards is a legacy of the shipping industry, and it is unacceptable that they do nothing to address the problem and pass on the entire liability to the workers and the environment in Asia," said Nochur.

Acknowledging the positive change in attitude among sections of the Indian shipbreakers and within the regulatory agency, the Gujarat Maritime Board, Greenpeace continues to maintain that the response of these players is not adequate. The Government has to be more vocal in its demands for decontamination prior to export, Greenpeace said.

A recently submitted High Power Committee report on hazardous wastes to the Supreme Court has recommended that ships must arrive at the Indian port for breaking "without any hazardous waste or radioactive substances. Hazardous substances that remain in small, but nevertheless substantial quantities, despite and subsequent to decontamination, should be removed during breaking, contained and returned to sender."

The environmental group has also called upon the International Labour Organisation.to take the assistance of Indian labour groups in developing a safe work protocol for the shipbreaking industry.

For more information:

Ganesh S. Nochur, Mumbai: +(91) 9820042897

Nirmala Karunan, New Delhi: +(91) 9810202105