History and Chronology

· Hindustan Insecticides Limited - One of the last and major producers of DDT. They also produce other chlorinated pesticides like endosulfan and others like malathion and mancozeb.

· Travancore Cochin Chemicals - Their primary products include caustic soda, chlorine, hydrochloric acid and sodium hypochlorite.

· Merhcem Limited - A leading manufacture of rubber chemicals, agrochemicals, water treatment chemicals and speciality chemicals.

· FACT - Their main interests lie in fertilisers, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals

Together, with help from other industries they have transformed the Periyar and the inland creeks into a cesspool of toxins, which have alarming levels of deadly poisons like DDT, endosulfan, hexa and trivalent chromium, lead, cyanide, BHC. To map the extent of industrial pollution Greenpeace undertook extensive samplings of the waters of the Periyar and inland creeks.

A survey of pollution conducted by Greenpeace in 1999 documented severe contamination of nearby creeks with a mixture of organochlorine chemicals including DDT and it's metabolites, endosulfan and a range of other chlorinated compounds, all discharged by Hindustan Insecticides Limited factory. A further set of samples collected in 2002 confirmed the continued serious pollution of the creeks of the island of Eloor with toxic and persistent organic and inorganic compounds. It was apparent that conditions had not improved at all in the 3 years since Greenpeace's first survey. Contaminants were also found to be passing the whole breadth of the island to enter the Periyar River at its southern shore. These studies established Eloor as a toxic hotspot of global proportions and enabled Greenpeace to campaign vociferously to demand an emergency to be declared at Eloor.

Greenpeace began to recognise the need to empower the local community with the skills to demystify the toxic assault on their lives and thereby raise questions and seek solutions. We institutionalized a Riverkeeper, the first in Asia, to patrol the Periyar River. Over the course of a year (2002-2003), Mr. V.J.Jose, representing the afflicted community, patrolled his river and notified the regulatory authorities and other relevant Governmental bodies of the ongoing environmental catastrophe at Eloor. Published as the River keeper's report, it revealed highly disturbing trends. The Riverkeeping programme succeeded in turning the spotlight on the deterioration of the Periyar and exposing the corporate criminals behind it. It also saw the community at Eloor, and concerned citizens from Cochin joining the struggle.

The findings of the river keeper clearly indicated the death of the river. If this was true what was the extent of damage to the health of the residents of Eloor? To map this, Greenpeace conducted an epidemiological health study at Eloor, examining the impacts on health from rising environmental pollution on a population of around 10,000 people. The health survey began with the predicted presumption that health problems may be related to the known types of diseases related to air and water pollution. However it was found that people in Eloor suffer from all kinds of diseases and problems that arise out of contamination of the land, air and water by these cocktail of poisons. Every organ in the body seemed to have been affected. Featuring high among other complaints was the incidence of congenital malformations, deformations and abnormalities. From these it was apparent that the nature of illness spreads across practically all body systems in an almost haphazard manner. As a follow-up with a classic Greenpeace confrontational non-violent action, the emergency was brought to the notice of the Health Minister of the State.

These were followed by a series of public mobilization activities centered on people's right to information. The need of the hour was to raise the momentum of the debate. Demands were made for technologies that would ensure clean production in the industries. It is our belief that consumer and public pressure can hasten the phase-out of polluting technologies and can spur the commercialization and mainstreaming of clean production technologies and products. And some of this began to happen.

These activities culminated with the "Vote for the Planet" Campaign push, where hundreds of people from Ernakulam district cast their votes for a green planet. "Meet your Candidate" was a programme organized by Greenpeace to provide a platform for community representatives to raise their pertinent concerns on the environment with politicians standing for the Lok Sabha election from Ernakulam. Greenpeace's lobbying and diplomacy efforts in tandem with public pressure, yielded results when Eloor became an election issue and further, the elected candidate constituted a Periyar Action Plan Committee comprising of the regulatory bodies, the Industry, concerned individuals and environmental groups.The mandate of this committee is to come up with a plan, which would enable industries to continue to function and thrive, while incorporating clean production technologies and sustainable development paradigms.

Today Greenpeace's efforts are yielding dividends when industry representatives at large and organizations such as the CII are keen to take our advice and suggestions on board. Greenpeace will continue to campaign at Eloor, till harmful POPs producing factories, which have been banned across the globe, are done away with, and till existing solutions are adopted by industries in their production processes.

A fire erupted at the Endosulfan plant of the Hindustan Insecticide Limited (HIL) in the early hours of July 6, 2004. Thousands of people were affected as the smoke from the plant engulfed the area with pungent odor. Hundreds of people were medically examined the next day by a special medical expert’s team from the State Health Department. This incident has opened once again the issue of local community living with a tickling bomb. A fact-finding team by environmental organizations concluded that there was a total negligence from the authorities on all safety measures in the plant.