Greenpeace today released the first ever technical and
environmental data on the toxic contamination caused by
shipbreaking in India through its investigative report "Ships for
Scrap: Steel and Toxic Wastes for Asia."
The report which was presented at a press conference in New
Delhi confirms allegations by trade unions and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) about the widespread contamination and
occupational hazards at the Alang and Mumbai shipbreaking yards in
India.
However its implications reach far beyond India because similar
conditions are known to exist in other shipbreaking states,
particularly Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, China and
Vietnam.
The analyses of samples taken from Alang and Mumbai, revealed
the presence of high levels of heavy metals, potentially
cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the toxic
biocide tributyl tin (TBT) and asbestos. German occupational health
specialist Dr. Frank Hittal estimates that every fourth worker in
Alang must be expected to contract cancer due to the lack of
safeguards in handling the contaminants.
"This report proves that ships do contain hazardous substances,
which are subsequently released into the environment when the ships
are broken, and that the workers do indeed suffer as a result,"
said Nityanand Jayaraman, Greenpeace's toxics campaigner in India.
"Citizens' groups have raised the issue of hazards in the
shipbreaking industry with the Ministry of Environment. But, the
government has maintained a sphinx-like silence. We hope the
Ministry realises the gravity of the situation and acts rapidly to
set things right."
All the toxic substances found by Greenpeace on ships-for-scrap
are hazardous wastes covered under the Basel Convention. Prevailing
Indian legislation, international law and European Union
regulations expressly prohibit the sending of hazardous
ships-for-scrap containing these contaminants to India (or other
industrialising Asian countries) for breaking. Shipbreaking and the
export of ships-for-scrap are issues that straddle several
international fora and agreements, including the International
Maritime Organisation, the Basel Convention and the International
Labour Organisation. "Along with our partners from BAN and trade
unions, we intend to ensure that the export of ships-for-scrap is
no longer used as a loophole to dump toxic wastes on developing
countries," said Andreas Bernstorff, Greenpeace Germany's toxics
campaigner.
While the goal is to ensure that ships are decontaminated prior
to export to Asia, the report identifies asbestos handling and
flame-torch cutting of steel plates as the two most significant
areas of immediate concern. Because the surface of ship steel
contains heavy metal-based paints, salts and organic compounds,
high-temperature torch-cutting exposes workers to highly hazardous,
and cancer-causing fumes that contain dioxins and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons.
"Asbestos handling and torch-cutting are both highly hazardous
activities strictly regulated in industrialised countries. In
Germany, for instance, only fully protected personnel operating
under the supervision of highly skilled specialists are allowed to
perform these operations. For the ships that are already in Asia,
this practice should be immediately enforced by the Asian
governments in the interest of their workers' health," said Judit
Kanthak, a chemical engineer and toxics campaigner with Greenpeace
Germany who authored the report.
"Contamination by highly persistent organic compounds, such as
the toxic biocide tributyl tin and the deadly dioxin, is a real and
present threat. Even if activities were stopped at these sites, the
high concentrations of some of these toxins in the sediment and
subsequent release into the environment will ensure ongoing
contamination at these sites for decades," concluded Kanthak.