Greenpeace also released the findings of their analysis of soil
and sediment samples taken from the Mumbai ship-breaking yard. The
findings confirm that the toxic pollution caused by the ongoing
illegal export of hazardous waste on board old ships has worsened
further in the two years since Greenpeace last conducted a
scientific sample analysis. In response to the findings Greenpeace
calls for immediate clean-up of the Mumbai ship-breaking yard and
for
International regulation that obliges ship owners to
decontaminate their ships before sending them to the ship-breaking
countries (footnote 1)
"This compilation, based on the research done by Greenpeace for
the Corporate Accountability tour of India shows that none of the
end of life vessels found on the beaches of Mumbai and Alang carry
the requisite inventory of hazardous waste on board," said Martin
Besieux, ship-breaking campaigner, "We demand that the concerned
authorities re-inspect these ships and hold the ship owners
(exporters) liable for violating Indian and International laws"
he added.
"We are puzzled, on one hand the Indian government is working
closely with Greenpeace at the International Maritime Organisation
(IMO) to push for mandatory regime for clean ship recycling
practices. On the other hand, we find that when we assist them by
exposing specific instances of violations of Supreme Court
directives, as requested by the Minister of Environment and
Forests, they treat us like common criminals. Instead of
persecuting us, the Indian authorities should persecute the real
criminals, those that willingly continue their polluting practices.
We were here to expose multi-nationals that
are abusing Indian and International laws and refuse to take
responsibility for their liabilities in India," said Cosmo
Wassenaar, Captain of the Rainbow Warrior.
The crew of the Rainbow Warrior is under house arrest in Mumbai
for alleged visa violations. Meanwhile thousands of Greenpeace
supporters have written to the Indian authorities to free the
activists. The Consul Generals of Netherlands, Germany and
Australia have visited the ship to express solidarity with the
international crew even as they are working on political solution
to end the present imbroglio that is proving to be an embarrassment
for the Indian government.
"During this Corporate Accountability Tour of India, Greenpeace
highlighted violations committed by multi-nationals and lack of
accountability in the Indian ship-breaking yards. We exposed double
standards practiced by the UK government and British ship owners at
Alang, Dow's pending liabilities in Bhopal and Unilever's
(Hindustan Lever) toxic legacy in the pristine forests of
Kodaikanal. But clearly the language of corporate accountability is
not acceptable to Corporations and the Indian government, which
explains the ongoing persecution of our activists and the crew on
board. The Rainbow Warrior will leave India, but Greenpeace will
continue to expose corporate crimes and campaign for corporate
accountability," said Shailendra Yashwant, Campaigns Director of
Greenpeace India.
Photographs and video footage will be sent to wire services by
8pm IST.
For further details contact: 
or contact: Namrata Chowdhary, Media Officer, Greenpeace India
+91 9810850092; 
Note 1 - International mandatory regulations are needed as
voluntary
initiatives by the shipping industry have failed to address the
enormous pollution associated with the breaking of toxic ships.
Greenpeace has been monitoring ship scrapping practices and
conducting research at ship breaking yards for several years. A new
report released by Greenpeace, "Playing Hide and Seek", shows that
voluntary initiatives on ship recycling do not work and reinforces
the need for international, mandatory guidelines on ship
breaking.
It documents numerous cases in which ship owners have sent
vessels without measures taken to Asia for scrap in spite of the
voluntary industry code of practice on ship recycling as agreed to
in August 2001. The report is available on
www.greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak. The report lists an overview of
the top 20 polluters and an overview of the flags of convenience
used for the final voyage of a ship to the breaking yard. It also
shows that ship owners are not taking
the measures necessary to avoid pollution and to save lives, as
promoted by the voluntary code of practice.