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TAIWAN URGES FORMOSA TO RETRIEVE CAMBODIA WASTE

by WILLIAM IDE, Reuters

TAIPEI, Taiwan, 28 December 1998 -- (Reuters) Taiwan said on Monday the mercury-tainted waste dumped by industrial giant Formosa Plastics Corp in Cambodia was harmful and urged the firm to retrieve it.

``Formosa needs to act quickly and retrieve the waste,'' Fu Shu-chiang, director of the Environmental Protection Administration, told a news conference.

``It exceeds our standards, therefore it is considered harmful,'' Fu added.

Fu said the agency had tested samples of the waste taken by Taiwan environmentalists in Cambodia and they showed a mercury concentration in excess of Taiwan's standards.

The industrial waste was dumped in the Cambodian port city of Sihanoukville early this month. News of the waste sparked riots in Sihanoukville last weekend in which one person was killed as protesters sacked offices of officials they blamed for allowing its import.

Four more died in a panicked exodus of more than 10,000 people fearing contamination. Cambodia's Health Ministry has said the deaths of at least two residents appeared linked to unprotected movement of the waste.

Formosa said it would send a team to Cambodia as quickly as possible, but stopped short of saying whether it would ship back the waste.

``Formosa will work as fast as it can,'' said Li Chih-tsun, a senior administrator at Formosa. Li questioned the reliability of the samples. ``The sample is not representative and the results are flawed,'' Li said.

Formosa has said the cement-like material is tainted with mercury but had been certified by the Environmental Protection Administration as safe for landfill disposal.

Formosa said the team would include a lawmaker who had had close links with Cambodian authorities, foreign experts, lawyers, and environmental specialists.

It did not say when the team would leave for Cambodia.

Mineshi Sakamoto, a mercury poisoning expert from the Japanese environmental agency's Minamata Institute and adviser to the World Health Organization, said on Sunday the waste could be a long-term health hazard and should be removed.

A separate test by Singaporean laboratory Matcor Technology and Services showed a mercury concentration of 675 parts per million.

Taiwan environmental officials said the waste would first be returned to Taiwan before any punishment was meted out to Formosa Plastics. Under Taiwan laws, firms can be fined up to T$150,000 (US$4,650) for the illegal export of industrial waste. (US$1 = T$32.259)

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