Hindustan Lever Will Export Mercury Waste to USA

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Hindustan Lever Will Export Mercury Waste to USA

By Nityanand Jayaraman

KODAIKANAL, India, March 31, 2003 (ENS) - Pollution control authorities in the

southern Indian state of Tamilnadu have ordered Hindustan Lever Limited, a

subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever, to export to the United States

286 tons of waste contaminated with mercury from its controversial thermometer

factory in Kodaikanal, now closed. The company has been directed to

decontaminate the site and its surroundings to global standards.

Last week, 50 tons of toxic wastes containing mercury were removed to the Port

of Tuticorin. The remaining material is being packed by the company under

supervision of regulators and the workers. Greenpeace India is sending a team of

people with experience in the safe handling of hazardous materials, to observe

the process and report on whether international standards of containment are

being faithfully followed.

“This is only a partial victory. But it’s heartening to note that the poisons

are to be returned to the country which supplied them,” says Navroz Mody, a

resident of Kodaikanal and member of the Tamilnadu Alliance Against Mercury.

Waste thermometers from the Hindustan Lever factory dumped in the forest.

(Photo by Shailendra Yashwant courtesy InfoChange)The controversial Hindustan

Lever factory was exported to India in 1983 after it was shut down in Watertown,

New York.

Behind the thermometer factory, are towering tropical montane forests peculiar

to the hills in south India which host one of the richest terrestrial

biodiversity hotspots in the world.

In March 2001, workers, community members and nongovernmental organizations

forced the factory to suspend operations after discovering that the company had

dumped wastes contaminated with mercury at several public locations including a

local scrapyard and on the sensitive watershed forests adjoining the factory.

The factory imports all its mercury, primarily from the United States, and

exports all of the thermometers it produces to U.S. based Faichney Medical

Company.

According to the Tamilnadu Alliance Against Mercury, several thousand tons of

toxic wastes and contaminated soil remain to be properly identified and

contained. A special Hazardous Waste Management Committee set up by the

Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board to monitor the issue has instructed the

company to remove the broken thermometers that contain mercury and crushed glass

before initiating complete site remediation.

The committee is comprised of officials of the Board, representatives of

Greenpeace and a local NGO, Palani Hills Conservation Council, in addition to

representatives of industry associations.

The committee has expressed concern over the variations in the mercury material

balance submitted by the company, and observed that mercury releases to the

environment “appeared to be substantially higher than permissible levels.”

Clarifications sought by the committee are yet to be provided by the company.

The company said in a statement that the study by the Hazardous Waste Management

Committee found that the factory has not caused any adverse environmental impact

outside the factory premises.

According to the company, the total amount of soil contaminated with mercury

would not exceed 4,000 tons. Ex-workers from the thermometer factory, however,

say company figures are underestimates.

“The company is not coming clean. Like Union Carbide did in Bhopal, Hindustan

Lever is resorting to misinformation and underplaying the damage it has caused

to the environment and workers’ health,” says ex-worker Mahendra Babu. “If they

have nothing to hide, why hasn’t the company provided the information sought by

the Pollution Control Board for more than a year?”

According to Babu, the company has a lot of answering to do. Ex-workers claim

that the workplace exposure to mercury has caused serious health effects among

the workers. “At least 11 workers have succumbed to the toxic effects of

mercury, but the company has failed to provide us the health records despite

repeated requests,” says Babu.

Greenpeace India holds a demonstration against the Hindustan Lever thermometer

factory. (Photo courtesy Greenpeace India)Hindustan Lever, however, has told the

Committee that it will “provide records pertaining to all ex-workers whoever

asks for them in writing, including to families of those who expired after

employment at the factory.” But, says the company, no one has come forward.

A preliminary health survey among Hindustan Lever ex-workers by Dr. Mohan Isaac

of Bangalore based Community Health Cell found symptoms consistent with mercury

exposure among some of those surveyed, and recommended that available

information warrants a thorough investigation of potential health effects.

The Hazardous Waste Management Committee has said that it will have the health

records independently verified by experts.

In January 2001, Hindustan Lever decided in principle to exit from the

thermometer business, the company said in a statement, because it is not core to

the company. The company's core business is the manufacture and marketing of

soap, detergents, skin care products, deodorants and fragrances, foods and

beverages. It is one of the country's five biggest exporters.

In May 2001, Hindustan Lever says it communicated to the Working Committee of

the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board, which looked into the issue, that it had

already decided to discontinue the manufacture of mercury thermometers in

Kodaikanal.

Mercury is a neurotoxin; it affects the nervous system. Very high exposures to

mercury vapor in the air can cause acute poisoning. This may develop into

pneumonia, which can be fatal. People with chronic mercury poisoning have wide

swings of mood, becoming irritable, frightened, depressed or excited for no

apparent reason. The earliest and most frequent symptom is a fine tremor of the

hand, tongue and eyelids which can progress to trouble with balancing and

walking.

Greenpeace India says the directive issued to Hindustan Lever by the Hazardous

Waste Management Committe will serve as notice to other multinational

corporations that they can no longer use India as an easy place for the dumping

of toxic waste.

 

 

 

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