The toxic warship Clemenceau returns to France , setting a new precedent for developed countries to take action against dumping their toxic and other waste in developing countries
"This is a huge victory for the environment, and for the
campaign headed up by us and other organisations" said Pascal
Husting, Greenpeace France Executive Director.
Back
in December we highlighted France's attempts to dump an old
warship leaden with toxics like deadly asbestos on India. France
didn't want to deal with its own toxic mess - despite our actions
to block the departure of the Clemenceau from the French port of
Toulon. We said it was wrong for France to dump a 27,000-ton
warship full of asbestos, PCBs, lead, mercury, and other toxic
chemicals in India to be broken up by hand in a scrapyard where
impoverished workers are injured and die every day. France insisted
it was right and sent the ship to India anyway.
We weren't going to let them off that easily. In January
we reboarded the warship in the Mediterranean and called on
Egypt to block the passage of the ship. The French government
intervened at the highest level to ensure the ship could continue
to head to the ship-breaking beaches of India.
Meanwhile in India there was a growing media and public scandal
surrounding the Indian Government permitting France to dump a ship
full of hazardous waste in India. Indian courts ordered the warship
to stay out of Indian waters pending a final ruling. Still France
kept the asbestos ship steaming towards India.
As the Indian Government dithered and the French Government
stubbornly insisted on the dumping plan, media interest intensified
and levels of public anger in India and France increased with every
day the ship continued to steam towards India.
Chirac was due to visit India on Febuary 20. Today he announced
that the warship would be turned around and head back to
France.
The case of the Clemenceau has become a symbol of the moral
injustice of rich countries dumping their toxic waste on poorer
countries. Having tried and failed to offload the ship to other
countries to avoid responsibility for the toxic mess of its own
making, France has finally been forced to clean up its own act.
While we savour this victory and the return of the Clemenceau to
France it is just a poster child of a wider problem. Every year a
vast decrepit armada bearing a dangerous cargo of toxic substances,
asbestos, PCBs and heavy metals, ends up in ship breaking yards in
Bangladesh, India, China and Pakistan, where they are cut up in the
crudest of fashions, taking a huge toll on human health and the
local environment. Ship breaking is one of the most visible forms
of the trade in toxic waste that ends up dumped in developing
countries
We believe that rich governments should look at the precedent of
the Clemenceau case and take action to stop the dumping of toxic
waste in all forms on poor countries. Only effective action will
prevent another Clemenceau-style scandal.
More:
Background information on shipbreaking
and the solutions to the problem.
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