Greenpeace in India

Greenpeace in India Bhopal Tragedy and Greenpeace On the night of the disaster, December 1984, an explosion at Union Carbide’s pesticide plant caused 40 tones of lethal gas to seep into the city of Bhopal, six safety measures designed to prevent a gas leak had either malfunctioned, were turned off or were otherwise inadequate. In addition, the safety siren, intended to alert the community should an incident occur at the plant, was turned off. Bhopal is an ongoing disaster. One hundred twenty thousand people still face serious health problems and children born to survivors are also affected. The toxic chemicals abandoned in Bhopal by the chemical company have contaminated the groundwater that is used by thousands of people who live around the abandoned factory Greenpeace and Bhopal survivors. Union Carbide responded to the disaster by paying survivors inadequate compensation and abandoning the plant, leaving tones of dangerous toxic chemicals strewn around the site and the people of Bhopal with a toxic legacy that is still causing injury today. In 2001, the company shed its name by merging with Dow Chemical. The government of India unexpectedly started proceedings to dilute charges against Anderson from culpable homicide to negligent to homicide. But yesterday, the judgment of a Bhopal Court rejected the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation’s plea to dilute charges against Anderson. Greenpeace called on the U.S. State Department to arrest and extradite international fugitive and Bhopal corporate criminal Warren Anderson, who has been found by a UK newspaper and Greenpeace living a life of luxury in New York State. Anderson, the former Chief Executive Officer of Union Carbide[1]has been, hiding in the United States since an explosion at his company’s plant in Bhopal, India, caused the worst industrial disaster in history in December 1984. Greenpeace paid Anderson a visit at his U.S. home and handed him an arrest warrant. He has been facing charges of culpable homicide and an extradition order from the government of India for the past eleven years. He has never appeared in court to face charges for crimes in Bhopal or even to explain why his company did not apply the same safety standards at its plant in India that it operated at a sister plant in South Charleston, the U.S. State of West Virginia. Opposition to Dumping of Used Mercury in India Greenpeace and activist groups in India and the U.S. have called on D.F. Goldsmith and Metal Corp. to stop the export of a 118 ton stockpile of used mercury from the United States to an undisclosed destination in India. The mercury stockpile, which is the largest in the country, was recovered from Holtra Chem., a Maine-based chlorine-caustic factory. D.F. Goldsmith and Metal Corp., an Illinois-based trader, has purchased the stockpile, allegedly for shipment to a secret recipient in India. Companies and federal government agencies in the U.S. do not want the stockpile because of environmental risks and liability associated with storing the metal, which is known to be a deadly nerve poison. Mercury affects the human brain, spinal cord, kidneys and liver. Following protests by Maine-based environmental organizations, the Governor of Maine, Angus King, approached the federal government to prevent the export and instead add the stockpile to the existing store of used mercury in the Department of Defense's (DOD) stockpile. Neither Maine nor any of the neighboring states have any facilities to store the material. The U.S. refused to accept the mercury, claiming they lack authority to do so. In the past, Greenpeace, Basel Action Network and Toxics Link have highlighted numerous cases of toxic trade, hazardous waste dumping and the export of obsolete products or technologies by industrialized countries to India. Indian activist groups have raised the matter with the U.S. Embassy and the Government of India, and have alerted the trade unions, including the dockworkers unions of the impending toxic shipments. Enough is enough of USA toxic imperialism that dumps unwanted and dangerous substances, technologies and wastes on industrializing countries. Investigation on Industrial Sectors in Kerala Greenpeace published a report “Corporate Crimes”, has listed the Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) in Kottayam and Hindustan Insecticides Ltd. (HIL), Eloor, as companies responsible for causing pesticide pollution in the State. According to the report, aerial spraying of the persistent toxic chemical, Endosulfan, has affected around 20,000 people spread over 15 villages in Kasargod district. Surface water sources such as tanks, streams, ponds and soil have been continuously poisoned with Endosulfan. Very high residues of pesticide have been reported to be found in drinking water resources and soil, Greenpeace has held the PCK responsible for the aerial spraying of extremely hazardous chemical for more than two decades and violating recommendations and safety measures in the process. The Department of Agriculture was also responsible for failing to intervene despite complaints since 1980. According to the report, the Central Insecticides Board of India has failed to implement an important shared recommendation of two Government appointed committees to stop the use of Endosulfan near water bodies. The Pollution Control Board had failed to take measures to protect water bodies and the public while the National Research Center for Cashew and Kerala Agricultural University have been found to be responsible for advocating the use of Endosulfan in crops in Kerala The final Greenpeace statement demanded that State owned corporations be made liable and accountable to the public like privately owned multinational corporations. In the case of HIL, Eloor, the report said that the company had released effluents contaminated with DDT and metabolites, Endosulfan and derivatives, BHC and other chemicals, including highly toxic organ chlorines into a public stream. According to a Greenpeace investigation conducted in 1999, the effluent stream shared by this factory with Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) and Merchem Ltd., contains 111 toxic chemicals of which 39 are organ chlorines. The contaminants were linked to releases from HIL. The primary effluent reaches Periyar, which is the drinking water source for the entire city of Kochi and Aluva. Periyar was also the source of livelihood for thousands of fisher folk; the report said that the contaminated stream had directly affected around 20000 people as it flowed into a river that was used for drinking water. The stream also contaminated wetlands, vegetation and domestic animals in the area. Around 80% of the people in the area were reportedly found suffering from respiratory diseases. The Greenpeace has held HIL and the PCB responsible for causing extensive damage. Hindustan insecticides Ltd has been manufacturing pesticides at its Udyogmandal site (Kochi) since 1956 and, according to the Ministry of chemicals and Fertilizers, continues to produce DDT and Endosulfan. The plant located adjacement to a wetland, apparently discharges its effluent to an open channels. Greenpeace international visited Udyogmandal Industrial Estate on 22nd may 1999 and collected samples of water and sediment from the creek and of soil/sediment from the adjacent wetlands, for analysis of organic containment and heavy metals. The results of this analysis demonstrate that, Sediment from the creek sampled 10m downstream from HIL contained more that 100 organic compounds 39 of which were organ chlorines, including DDT and its metabolites Endosulfan and several isomers of hexacholorocyclohexane (HCH).DDT and HCH were also detectable in the water/effluent sampled downstream from HIL, indicating that production of these insecticides, and their realize to the creek, is continuing. DDT and its metabolites were also detectable in the wetland surrounding the Udyogmandal estate. Although it cannot be ruled out that the presence of these residues might result from direct application of DDT for malaria Vector control, the presence in these samples of other chlorinated chemicals also identified in the creek and/or other uncontrolled discharge from the estate might be leading to more widespread contamination of the wetland. In summary, the results of this investigation strongly support the conclusion that the manufacture of DDT and other pesticides at the Hindustan Insecticides Ltd plant is ongoing. And is resulting the continued release of these and diverse mixture of other organocholorine chemicals to the environment. Determination of the source of containment in the surrounding wetland demands further investigation. The Kuzhikandom Thodu Effluent Creek The Kuzhikondom thodu creek flows through a number of different industrial units on the Udyogmangal estate. According to local source, many plants discharge uncreated or partially treated wastewaters in to this creek. Immensely upstream from the HIL site, this creek flows through the Fertilizers and Chemical Travancore (FACT) site. Immensely downstream from HIL the creek flows through the edge of the MERCHEM site. According to local source, there are no regular discharges to the creek from Mercham plant. Two samples of sediments collected from this effluent creek. One samples (IT9011) was collected at the point at which the creek enters the HIL site, in order to determine the nature of containment inputs from plants situated upstream from HIL. At this location, the air above the creek was choking, making it impossible to breath close to the level of the water. The second samples (IT9010) was collected from the creek at its point of exit from the Merchem site approximately 10 meters downstream from its exit from the HIL site, as it was not possible to gain access to the creek closer to the HIL boundary. These samples consisted of a black and oily sludge, a sample of the water effluent following in the creek (IT9009) was also collected at this point. These two samples were collected in order to give an indication of the type of effluent being discharged in to the creek by HIL. At the time of sampling, however, there was no clear indication that effluent was being discharged. Moreover as a result of the preceding monsoon rains, any effluent discharge to the creek would have been considerably diluted with rainwater flow at the time of sampling. The result of brief investigation give a strong indication that activities at the Hindustan insecticides LTD plant in kochi, Kerala have resulted in substantial contamination of the Kuzhikondoam Thodu creek with DDT, Endosulfan, HCH (BHC) and a wide range of other hazardous organocholorine chemicals to the environment. DDT and other organchlorine were also detectable in the wetland surrounding the plant, although the verification of source of this contraindication would require further research. Greenpeace and River Keeping Programme Periyar is one of the most polluted rivers in Kerala; the water pollution in the lower reaches of the Periyar system has reached alarming levels. Over a month back, dozens of buffaloes had died allegedly after drinking the river water polluted by effluents dumped by the industries in Eloor and Edayar industrial belts. In the past five years, several incidents of large-scale `fish kill' have occurred in the river system. Greenpeace, which has declared Eloor as an environmental hotspot, will launch the `river keeper' project in the fourth week of November2002, Manu Gopalan, toxics campaigner of the agency, told, it would coincide with the arrival in Kochi of the Greenpeace ship ‘Arctic Sunrise’ and the Bhopal bus tour, which are part of the agencies 1000 Bhopal’s global campaign against industrial pollution. Local environmental and river protection NGOs will back up the keeper will ride in a boat from Eloor to where the river meets the sea to look for originating points of industrial effluents as well as other pollutants. They will be photographed for fool proof evidence against the culprits. Since most of the dumping is done at night, the keeper will be provided with a night-vision camera to capture it on film. Water samples collected will be chemically examined daily. Mr. Gopalan said this way the `fish kill' or ‘buffalo kill’ could be predicted and steps taken against it. The Greenpeace would fund the project initially and later on the local NGOs would take care of it[2]. It was modeled on fishermen’s experience in Hudson River, New York. In the 1980s, fishermen living off the Hudson were hit by the water pollution caused by industrial and other effluents. They decided to appoint a river keeper to keep a watch on the polluters. The local Government had equipped the keeper with administrative authority to punish the polluters. The drive was a big success, which helped reduce water pollution and thus protect the fishermen's livelihood. Chaliyar: The Struggle In the villages of Vazhyoor and Vazhakkad in Kerala, the Chaliyar River has been polluted by an industry built on its banks, the Grasim Mavoor Rayons factory. Growing paddy and coconut on its fertile banks, the people who lived there were also happy, naturally. The turnaround began on 30 May 1958 when the state government of Kerala leased out 1000 hectares of the surrounding Nilamboor forests to the Birla group of industries. The idea was to allow the Birla group a source of bamboo for their pulp industry. What began as 0.1 million tones of bamboo requirement, doubled within four years by 1962. It was in 1963 that the Grasim Mavoor Rayons factory, established on the riverbank, went into production. And they, few hundred jobs offered to them, but the poisoning of their beloved river. Untreated factory effluents were polluting the river and seeping into the ground. The river soon became a cursed fount of skin diseases, cancers, even asthma and tuberculosis. The 1960s and early 1970s were a painful time for the people of the region, and ironically, the factory faced closure too for a while in 1974 when the river got so polluted that it lost its very flow. Since the water was being pumped into the factory too, the high level of effluents in it made production difficult. Finally, under the leadership of K A Rahman, President of the Panchayat of Vazhyoor village, the movement bore fruit. Working relentlessly for the Chaliyar, Rahman finally succumbed to cancer, even while dying, that his people should continue the struggle. Anguished by his loss, the villagers went on an indefinite hunger strike from 26 January 1999. Although the company posed the threat that 3000 people would be rendered jobless in the struggle, the villagers knew what they were doing. After all, 9000 fishermen had lost their livelihoods because fish no longer flourished or even survived in the Chaliyar. And what of the health impact, intangible and immeasurable. The factory was closed in August 1999; the rest followed suit. Universities and research institutes joined hands with the people to record and analyze the pollutants and were aghast with the results. Greenpeace, the global activist organization, stepped in demanding that the ‘polluter must pay’. Finally, the court asked the factory to pay 90 days of wages as compensation to the workers. The factory doors were permanently locked on 30 June 2001 and compensation dues were cleared by July 2001. It was a small beginning and one that promised to be little more than a footnote in the history of the environmental movement. Yet, when the Phyllis Cormack set sail from Vancouver in the afternoon of 15 September 1971, something quite new was launched: a force for change. In the years that followed Greenpeace would become a global symbol for people seeking to challenge those who pollute and damage the planet. Its hard to imagine that from such small, even disorganized, beginnings, Greenpeace has become an organization with the ability to shake established power brokers and influence the international environmental agenda. But that is what it has done. Greenpeace cannot claim to have single handedly changed peoples thinking about the world they live in. However, in adopting its special non-violent, direct action approach of 30 years ago it set a pattern for others to follow, not just in the environmental world, but beyond. All over the world voices of protest have been heard: by politicians, governments and businesses. Arguments that would otherwise be dismissed have been listened to and accepted. In countries where the opinions of those in power were dominant and seldom challenged, the right to have an opinion and take action has become accepted, even established. In Lebanon, ravaged by civil was in the 1970s, in the Soviet Union and later Russia, in China and in Turkey to name only a few, Greenpeace has pioneered civil, peaceful protest. It has shown that, when something is important enough, it makes a difference to stand up for principle and challenge the decision makers. Also in countries where democratic rights have long been established, Greenpeace has developed a new style of campaigning and shown there are effective ways to raise a voice, to be heard, to make a difference. Greenpeace activists have been jailed, their campaigns have changed laws, but in the end it is the arguments that underpin Greenpeace’s actions that have won the day. The news media has, of course, recorded these changes as incidents and events. They are already history. Only when reflecting on how things might look today had Greenpeace not existed at all.