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space Press Releases, News Stories |
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Asia Pulse NEW DELHI, India, 5 February 2002 -- Workers at Sabari Exim Pvt Ltd in the Tamil Nadu capital of Chennai could be exposed to contaminants from at least 30,000 tonnes of exported scrap from the World Trade Center in New York, environment group Greenpeace said. "We are totally opposed to the US and other rich countries using India as a dumping ground for all kinds of wastes and rejects. Such dumping of steel scraps are adversely affecting the major steel plants in our country apart from causing a whole lot of environmental and health problems," a Greenpeace release quoting the Secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions said. "Uninformed workers in India may be exposed to the harmful toxins while handling the scrap and if the rest of the debris at Ground Zero is any indication, WTC scrap may be contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, furans, mercury, lead and other heavy metals, the release said. They demanded that the US government immediately provide evidence that the steel scrap sent to India was free of contamination. Although steel scrap is legal trade, the conditions under which the scrap at the WTC was created raises concern about the toxic contamination, it said. FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. More News |