The Tribunal was headed by Justice S. N. Bhargav, former Chief
Justice, Sikkim and curently Chairman, Manipur Human Rights
Commission , and a panel consisting of Dr Amit Nair, consulting
toxicologist, Dr Ramakrishnan, Professor, School of Business
studies, Bharatiar University, Coimbatore, and Dr Rakesh Kumar
Singh, specializing in industrial safety management. The Hearing
was attended by representatives of the TN Pollution Control
Board.
Greenpeace, Palni Hills Conservation Council and local groups
have uncovered and documented yet another set of lies by HLL
intended to cover up the extent of mercury contamination and thus
attempt to evade responsibility for any impact on the health of
workers, community or the environment.
Greenpeace has placed before the IPT documentary evidence which
shows that HLL deliberately falsified figures in its submissions to
the Tamilnad Pollution Control Board in May '01 in order to hide 10
tons of mercury which it had emitted into the environment. HLL have
now admitted to the PCB that the amount of mercury actually used
was 10 tons more than it had declared last year in submitting its
Report to The Hazardous Waste Monitoring Committee of the TN PCB.
In its Report HLL had claimed that it had emitted 559 kg of mercury
into the environment. Twenty times less than was actually
emitted.
Greenpeace also charged the company with presenting a fraudulent
account of the mercury recovered by the company from waste glass by
establishing that the company could not have recovered 10 tons of
mercury from 143 tons of broken glass (containing 6% mercury), save
by performing a miracle, as this quantity of glass could have
contained only 8.5 tons of mercury.
The company was also charged with serious violations of human
rights in its failure to inform the workers or the community of the
hazardous nature of its operations, or of the amount of mercury
emitted each year into this sensitive environment. It had also
failed to operate any established safety protocol or practices in
its operations, or to maintain proper records as required under the
law.
The IPT at its Public Hearing recorded the testimonies of the
local community and workers from the HLL thermometer factory which
has been accused of emitting mercury in the sensitive environment
of this hill-station and boarding school town for the past 18
years. Over a hundred workers submitted evidence on health problems
suffered for years, which they had brought to the attention of the
company. While HLL has stated that before March '01 no worker had
complained of health problems, workers provided evidence of the
company having referred them to doctors and specialists to deal
with their complaints, or asked them to resign."The company records
compiled by company doctors failed to notice even visibly apparent
problems such as gum disorders, skin patches, body swelling,
tremors etc. which the workers have revealed at the hearing", said
Mahendra Babu, Sec. ex-Worker's Association. "Would they be able to
get away with such shoddy coverup tactics in Europe?"
Dr Mohan Issac, (Professor of Psychiatry, NIMHANS) on behalf of
Community Health Cell, Bangalore, placed on record the opinion of
prominent doctors whose support HLL had sought for approval of its
medical protocol and findings. The doctors have in fact raised
serious reservations not only about the protocol, but also
regarding the quality of data and its interpretation. The doctors
were concerned that HLL was unable to furnish the information on
the basis of which it had arrived at its conclusion that no workers
or community members were affected.
The company in its Report to the PCB prepared by its consultants
Messrs Dames and Moore and messr Tom van Tuenenbroek, had claimed
that the company had emitted 559 kg of mercury and that there was
no impact on the health of the community, workers or the
environment. However the information on the basis of which such a
conclusion was arrived at was not provided, and much of the
information provided on mercury emission, waste recovery, safety
practices and statutory record keeping has been shown to be false
and deliberately manipulated in order to evade responsibility.
"The issue here is greater than merely not providing
information," says Navroz Mody, Greenpeace campaigner, " It is a
matter of deliberately falsifying information, as well as
suppressing material facts to avoid responsibility. HLL's
commitment to environment, transparency and fair business ethics as
prescribed by its own charter, as well as that of the
UN sponsored Global Compact for ethical business practices, to
which its parent company Unilever subscribes, stands exposed as
hollow greenwash in the face of its proven callousness, compounded
by lies to avoid detection".
Survivors of ten young men (av. age 32) who died after being
employed at the factory also placed on record their demand to HLL
to provide the health records of the workers as well as the results
of the investigation carried out by HLL to establish that their
family members were not killed by mercury contamination at the
factory.
The community has demanded that the government prosecute HLL and
its consultants for deliberately providing false information to
statutory bodies regarding the operation of the factory for 18
years, and for mercury contamination of Kodaikanal town and lake.
They have also called on the PCB to initiate independent
epidemiological and environmental studies to establish the extent
of damage caused by HLL, who must be held responsible for costs of
compensation and remediation.
The community has called on the government to ensure that the
factory equipment is disabled and permanently stored along with
hazardous mercury wastes, so that no other poor community in the
developing world is subjected to lifelong mercury contamination to
satisfy corporate greed.
Signed:
Palni Hills Conservation Council, (Neville Moncher)
United Citizen's Council of Kodaikanal, (UCCK) (Rajgopal
Dorairaja)
HLL ex Worker's Association (S. A. Mahendra Babu)
Kodaikanal Lake Protection Council, (A. J. Kumar Albert)
Greenpeace (Navroz Mody)