After LG’s toxic release of styrene vapor into a nearby residential area killing and injuring people, the Andhra Pradesh State Governmentconvened a High Power Committee (HPC) to investigate the tragedy.
Two months later, the HPC delivered a 4,000-page report sharply critical of LG’s management. The government investigation demonstrated LG’s disregard for safety, raised the possibility of a double standard in LG operations in South Korea and India and revealed significant environmental pollution caused by LG’s massive styrene release.
From November 2, 2019 to February 25, 2020, 87 cans of spray paints intended for consumer or general use were purchased by the EcoWaste Coalition from paint, home improvement, general merchandise and office and school supplies stores in 20 cities (12 in Metro Manila and eight other cities in Batangas, Benguet, Cavite, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Rizal, and Zambales provinces) and one municipality (Baliuag, Bulacan).
India’s Andhra Pradesh State Government created a High Power Committee to investigate the LG tragedy which released its final report on 6 July 2020. The investigation revealed LG’s disregard for safety, raised the possibility of a double standard in LG operations in South Korea and India and revealed significant environmental pollution caused by LG’s massive styrene release.
Quezon City, Philippines/Gothenburg, Sweden: A new report by the environmental health groups EcoWaste Coalition and International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) finds spray paints with dangerous lead concentrations on sale in the Philippines in violation of the country’s law banning lead in paints.
The overall objective of this project was to reveal the ongoing proliferation of DDT pollution in manufacturing and use and cite important non-chemical alternatives to increase pressure for acting on this ongoing use in Uganda, one of the countries that have registered an acceptable purpose for DDT use within the Stockholm Convention.
In response to last week's European Commision announcement that it will allow trade of problematic plastic waste within the EU, IPEN and many other global and European environmental groups have lined up to voice their opposition. Amendments last year to the Basel Convention enhanced restrictions on global trade in waste, helping smaller nations or countries without the capacity to handle that waste reject it. These amendments were passed in response to countless human rights abuses, and environmental pollution caused by unregulated plastic waste dumping. Such problematic plastic wastes now will require prior consent by importing nations. However, the Commision's ruling leaves the door open for waste traders to shunt difficult-to-recycle plastics to substandard operations in poorer EU communities, as well as plastic waste to "waste-to-energy" incinerators in other EU countries.
In its press release, the groups claim that the move undermines both the EU's commitments to carbon neutrality and a circular economy, as well as its global leadership on plastic waste.
"How does bending current EU rules and creating double standards for the EU demonstrate any kind of global leadership?" asked Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network, a global toxic trade watchdog organization. "How is the rest of the world going to take the EU seriously when they preach boldly on the global stage and then run back home to coddle their waste and plastics industries?"
Green Groups Denounce Europe's "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" Policy
In April of last year, the European Union joined Norway in co-sponsoring amendments to the world's only waste treaty to establish new trade controls on the dirtiest and most unrecyclable plastic wastes. These amendments were passed in response to countless human rights abuses, and environmental pollution caused by unregulated plastic waste dumping.
For this project, the Center for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED) created awareness-raising materials about asbestos, reduction of exposure and best handling practices. Related materials previously created under different asbestos projects were distributed at a large scale.
In this newsletter (in Russian / на русском) from the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asian (EECCA) region, IPEN Participating Organizations from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan shared results of their recent work. Results presented relate to issues such as the production and use of highly hazardous pesticides, waste incineration, the disposal of obsolete pesticides, and environmental pollution from plastic. The work of these organizations and others contributes to the implementation of the regional EECCA NGO Strategy for Chemical Safety for the period up to 2030.
