05
August 2008 - Ghana — The latest place where
we have discovered high tech toxic trash
causing horrendous pollution is in Ghana.
Our analysis of samples taken from two electronic
waste (e-waste) scrap yards in Ghana has
revealed severe contamination with hazardous
chemicals.
The ever-growing demand
for the latest fashionable mobile phone,
flat screen TV or super-fast computer creates
ever larger amounts of obsolete electronics
that are often laden with toxic chemicals
like lead, mercury and brominated flame
retardants. Rather than being safely recycled,
much of this e-waste gets dumped in developing
countries. Previously, we have exposed pollution
from e-waste scrap yards in China and India.
Nigeria has also been identified as a dumping
ground for old electronics.
During our investigation
into the shady e-waste trade, we uncovered
evidence that e-waste is being exported,
often illegally, to Ghana from Europe and
the US. We visited Ghana to investigate
workplace contamination from e-waste recycling
and disposal in the country.
In the yards, unprotected
workers, many of them children, dismantle
computers and TVs with little more then
stones in search of metals that can be sold.
The remaining plastic, cables and casing
is either burnt or simply dumped:
Some of the samples
contained toxic metals including lead in
quantities as much as one hundred times
above background levels. Other chemicals
such as phthalates, some of which are known
to interfere with sexual reproduction, were
found in most of the samples tested. One
sample also contained a high level of chlorinated
dioxins, known to promote cancer.
Dr. Kevin Bridgen, from
our science unit, has visited scrap yards
in China, India and Ghana: “Many of the
chemicals released are highly toxic, some
may affect children’s developing reproductive
systems, while others can affect brain development
and the nervous system. In Ghana, China
and India, workers, many of them children,
may be substantially exposed to these hazardous
chemicals."
How does it get to Ghana?
Containers filled with
old and often broken computers, monitors
and TVs - from brands including Philips,
Canon, Dell, Microsoft, Nokia, Siemens and
Sony - arrive in Ghana from Germany, Korea,
Switzerland and the Netherlands under the
false label of “second-hand goods”. Exporting
e-waste from Europe is illegal but exporting
old electronics for 'reuse' allows unscrupulous
traders to profit from dumping old electronics
in Ghana. The majority of the containers'
contents end up in Ghana’s scrap yards to
be crushed and burned by unprotected workers.
Some traders report that to get a shipping
container with a few working computers they
must accept broken junk like old screens
in the same container from exporters in
developed countries.
What's the solution?
While working computers
and mobile phones can have a new lease of
life in some African countries, they create
pollution when thrown away due to the high
levels of toxic chemicals they contain.
This is why we are pressuring the biggest
electronic companies to phase out toxic
chemicals and introduce global recycling
schemes. Both of these steps are vital to
tackle the growing tide of toxic e-waste.
Some companies are making
progress towards taking responsibility for
the entire lifecycle of their products.
However, Philips and Sharp stand out for
refusing to accept that they are responsible
for recycling their old products. The stance
of these powerful multinationals is ensuring
there will always be a digital divide that
they prefer remains hidden, a dangerous
divide with unprotected workers in developing
countries left with the toxic legacy.
+ More
Greenpeace to sue French
Nuclear Industry
01 August 2008 - France
— Over the last month there have been a
catalogue of accidents at the French nuclear
site Tricastin-Pierrelatte. We’ve followed
all the breaking stories on our new weblog
‘Nuclear Reaction’. Now Greenpeace France
has launched two court cases in an effort
to find out what’s really been going on
at the site.
It's been a heck of
a nuclear month in France, here’s a timeline
of what we know so far:
July 7, 11PM, over 74
kilos of uranium is leaked into the environment
from Tricastin;
July 8, 7AM, eight hours later the authorities
are informed;
July 8, 1PM, Restrictions on fishing, bathing
and drinking local water are introduced
14 hours after the accident;
July 17, investigation of the leak reveals
that there is more radioactivity present
than the leak could have caused. Further
investigation suggests that the military,
who stored radioactive material at the site
underground without proper containment in
the 60’s and 70’s could be to blame;
July 23, a leaking pipe results in 100 workers
being exposed to radioactive particles from
a leaking pipe;
July 29, a false alarm results in 120 workers
being evacuated, tests show that 45 employees
have traces of radiation on them from the
previous weeks’ leak.
Since the first incident the French police
have launched an investigation and the French
Environment Minister has ordered tests of
the ground water at all French nuclear power
facilities. That’s of little comfort to
a community which has discovered that their
water could have been contaminated by radioactive
waste for the last thirty years.
We're suing French power
company Areva and its subsidiary company
Socatri for causing water pollution, and
for the abandonment and illegal deposit
of waste. Our aim is to bring into the public
eye the circumstances that led to these
problems and expose the terrible safety
record of the nuclear industry.
Areva is the 90 percent
state owned flagship of the French nuclear
industry, and along with the French power
company EDF is a key part in President Nicolas
Sarkozy’s plans to spread nuclear power
to the word. Since coming to power Sarkozy
has concluded deals to spread French nuclear
technology everywhere from Finland to South
Africa, and from the USA to China.
That Sarkozy is intent
on selling this technology to others while
unable to manage it securely at home says
it all. Our message for the President? “Nuclear
Power? Non merci.”
US Congress Announces
Ban on Toxic Chemicals
05 August 2008 - Washington,
DC, United States — The US Congress has
sent President Bush legislation that will
make toys safer for little tots and infants.
The bill bans the use of six toxic chemicals,
called phthalates, that are added to vinyl
plastic to make it flexible.
Thousands of our supporters
wrote members of Congress to help overcome
heavy lobbying by ExxonMobil who manufactures
phthalates.
The legislation will cover products made
for children up to 12 years of age, ranging
from baby teethers to Barbie dolls. Unfortunately,
the new law will not cover vinyl products
that aren’t playthings, although every parent
knows that everything in the home has the
potential to be sucked on or put in a child’s
mouth. Vinyl products not covered by the
legislation include car safety seats, clothing,
children’s furniture and other vinyl household
products ranging from shower curtains to
floor and wall coverings. The law also does
not cover other chemicals such as bisphenol-a
(BPA), which has been found in polycarbonate
plastic baby bottles.
Greenpeace’s Toxics
Campaign
Since 1996 Greenpeace
has led global campaigns to eliminate the
use of these chemicals in toys and other
consumer products. We were the first organization
to expose that vinyl toys contained toxic
chemicals after testing a wide range of
children’s products.
As one industry scientist
admitted, phthalates are easily released
from vinyl products like water from a "moist
sponge" when children chew or suck
on them. Eliminating exposures to toxic
chemicals is critical, especially among
young children. Phthalates present a number
of health conerns; some are classified in
Europe as 'toxic to reproduction' while
others are toxic to the liver and kidney,
albeit at higher doses.
If President Bush signs
this new US law, it will permanently eliminate
the use of three phthalates used in vinyl
children’s products. It will also ban three
additional phthalates until more thorough
safety tests are completed.
Eliminating Toxic Dangers
As one industry scientist
admitted, phthalates are easily released
from vinyl products like water from a “moist
sponge” when children chew or suck on them.
Eliminating exposures to toxic chemicals
is critical, especially among young children.
Phthalates can have a wide variety of health
effects ranging from deformation of reproductive
organs to damage to kidneys.
Vinyl plastics or polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) can contain more toxic additives
than any other plastic. Phthalates are added
to make vinyl soft and flexible and can
account for 20 to 30 percent of the product
(read our 2001 report This Vinyl House).
Other additives that have been found in
vinyl include heavy metals such as lead.
Congress and the President
Must Lead
In order to address
these toxic hazards, Congress must take
a bigger step by overhauling US chemical
policy. Several states are beginning to
do this and in 2007 the EU adopted a new
chemicals policy (REACH) that prohibits
the marketing of chemicals in products that
have not been fully tested for their health
effects and stipulates substitution of hazardous
chemicals by safer alternatives . In 2009,
Congress should finish the job and enact
comprehensive reform of U.S. chemical policy
to eliminate these toxic hazards in products
and require the use of safer substitutes
that will protect our families.
However, this new law
is a critical first step that ExxonMobil
spent millions to stop, and will likely
lean on President Bush to veto. If you’d
like to help you can call the White House
today at +1 (202) 456-1414 and urge President
Bush to sign the Consumer Product Safety
Commission Authorization bill.
