The mercury used in the factory is imported, from U.S. companies
such as Bethlehem Apparatus and the entire thermometer production
is reportedly exported to the U.S., for sale at home and abroad in
Germany, UK, Spain, Australia and Canada. In addition, Cheseborough
Ponds relocated its factory in the United States to India in 1977
and became Ponds India Ltd.
Greenpeace and Palni Hills Conservation Council (PHCC) also
discovered mercury contaminated wastes from Hindustan Lever, a
subsidiary of Unilever, dumped behind the factory wall onto the
slopes leading to the Pambar Shola (forest). The Pambar Shola is
one of the last remaining pockets of bio-diversity in this region.
Tropical plant species, endemic to the area are threatened by the
toxic pollution from Hindustan Unilever.
At the factory, the highly hazardous mercury-bearing wastes are
stored haphazardly in open and torn sacks, with the contents
spilled onto the workspace, frequented by barefooted, unprotected
workers. Reports gathered from several workers indicate serious
health effects including a variety of neural disorders, tremors,
infertility and loss of appetite.
According to the waste merchant at the dumpsite, children with
bare feet and hands recovered half a liter of mercury, while a
local merchant purchased broken thermometers containing hazardous
waste for under five cents per kilo. Many of the broken
thermometers were stamped with Baxter or Medline, two U.S. medical
product suppliers.
Mercury in highly poisonous and exposure to even a small amount
through air, water or skin exerts severe effects on the central
nervous system and kidneys.
“All that talk about industry having learned a lesson from
Bhopal is nonsense,” said Navroz Mody, Greenpeace’s Toxics
Campaigner, “Hindustan Lever and U.S. companies like Cheseborough
Ponds, Baxter, Medline and Bethlehem Apparatus should be held
criminally and financially liable. Hindustan Lever must end the use
of mercury in the factory, clean up the dump-site and compensate
the workforce in the plant for occupational health effects from
mercury.”
Update! March 9, 2001: While the company claims to not
know about the mercury disposal problem, they shut down the factory
until the situation can be investigated and resolved.
Congratulations to Greenpeace in India, our allies in India
including the 400 people who marched from the dump to the factory
to protest the dangerous situation there.
