"Unilever's agreement now to clean up the scrapyard is a clear
admission of its guilt," said Eco Matser, Greenpeace's toxics
campaigner in the Netherlands. "But the Kodaikanal dumpsite is only
a small portion of this company's toxic liabilities. The company's
shoddy disposal of mercury wastes exposes its scant regard for the
environment in countries like India where environmental regulation
is lax," he said.
Greenpeace has called on the Ministry of Environment to
acknowledge their shortcomings and fulfil their responsibility of
protecting the environment by initiating an action plan to rapidly
phase in safe, non-toxic alternatives to mercury use in India.
Ex-workers from Hindustan Lever, the Indian subsidiary that owns
the mercury thermometer factory, say that the company's
double-standards were also evident in their casual attitude towards
mercury exposure in the workplace, and in the company's continuing
and unscientific denials that any such exposure occurred.
The company claims that none of the 140 current workers, or any
of the 250 or so ex-workers, (many of who resigned in the past due
to health reasons), are at all affected by mercury. Ten worker
below the age of 40 have died while employed at the plant. No
investigations were performed at the time of death. Ex-workers
report kidney problems, chronic stomachaches, blood vomiting,
infertility, and women suffering a variety of gynecological
disorders. The company has neither conducted a comprehensive and
scientific epidemiological study, nor published the basis of its
claims that no workers have ever been affected.
"Unilever has placed the burden of proof of impact on health on
poor workers who are paid a meager $75 per month after 10 to 15
years of service," says Raja Mohammed, an ex-worker. "We have
already proven that the company's bad housekeeping has exposed us
to toxic mercury. Now, let Unilever prove that the exposure is not
causing all these health problems we face. Only that would justify
their claims that they are treating their Indian workers at par
with their Dutch or English workforce," Mohammed says.
A conservative environmental audit conducted by Unilever's
consultant indicates that hundreds of tons of mercury-bearing toxic
wastes have been sold in the past to unsuspecting recyclers and end
users in several southern states. Several tons of wastes, that the
ex-workers claim are severely contaminated with mercury, were
buried by the company in unlined pits at the factory site,
bordering a forest sanctuary.
However, till date, the company has failed to fully disclose to
the Pollution Control Board the raw data based on which the
calculations for toxic mercury releases from their factory were
calculated.
Greenpeace has demanded that aside from assessing and
remediating the damage to environment and workers' health, Unilever
should apologise for deceiving the public and endangering worker
and community health and the environment with their careless
handling of toxic mercury.
1. The Unilever factory was the largest mercury thermometer
factory in the world. At the time that it was imported from the USA
in 1983, the plant was already nearing the end of its life at its
previous location in Watertown, New York.
2. In a report presented to the Pollution Control Board,
Unilever assess the amount of mercury put out in the environment
from its factory site at Kodaikanal at 539 kg, (with a statistical
variance "of between 43 kg minimum and 1,075 kg maximum"). Another
284 kg of mercury has been dispersed through "off site disposal".
It has produced 165 million thermometers with 125,000 kg of
mercury, with a breakage rate documented at around 30-40%.
For more information:Navroz Mody, Toxics Campaigner -
0454240286