groundWork's Quarterly
Newsletter
Vol 4 No. 4
December 2002
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Dear Friends
We end 2002 on a high note
with a newsletter filled with optimism and hope for the year ahead.
We tell of the daily “ordinary miracles” of small brave steps taken by
ordinary people which together can make a huge improvement to our lives
(see page 12), of the resurgence of civil society mobilisation for a just
and healthy environment (see pages 4 and 17), of a growing worldwide movement
for climate justice instead of climate change (see page 13), and of the
courageous young woman from Zamdela who stood up in parliament and called
for cleaner energy (see page 14). There are, of course, the ongoing
struggles, such as the continued push for incineration by large corporations
(page 9). But as our technical know-how improves, as our network
of colleagues offering us technical, legal and campaigning skills increases,
so our ability to face these challenges improves.
Adding to our optimism is
the addition of a new board member, Joy Kistnasamy, who is herself the
incarnation of joy and optimism. Meet her on page 21.
Regards, Linda
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By groundWork Director,
Bobby Peek
On November 20, 2002, concerned local Durban residents
and many other supporters, including groundWork, protested outside
the Anglo American-owned Mondi paper plant in south Durban. This
protest was organised to relay civil society’s concerns about Mondi’s
proposed incinerator to government and Mondi. The protest was successful,
with many of the local residents placarding the entrance to Mondi (see
pages 8 – 10).
A day after this, a local organiser, Desmond D’SA,
was summonsed by the local police to present himself at the police station.
It was claimed, although it is yet to be verified, that Mondi was considering
laying a charge against the organisers of the protest for disrupting the
entrance of Mondi. This was despite the fact that the organisers
of the protest had received permission from the Durban Metro Police to
hold a protest action. (It was often mentioned at WSSD that the state
crack down on leftist civil society groupings would continue after the
WSSD, and I am afraid these predictions might be correct.)
A week after the protest, one opens the local newspaper,
and what do we see? An insert by Anglo American Mondi stating how
they are “caring for the environment, caring for you” – a full two pager
insert. It is ironic how, when there is public condemnation or criticism
of a polluting industry in south Durban, and the press publish it, the
polluting industry goes back to the press and buys space to splash their
greenwash - oops “good deeds” – across the pages. (Newspaper editors
should take note of this tactic – print a story criticising a corporate,
and you are bound to have that corporate respond with full page adverts
promoting them as friends of the environment and champions of the community.)
The meaning of “corporate greenwash” is often explained
using the example of how polluting corporates will rather spend money
on advertisements portraying them as friends of the environment, than
on better practice.
I have to eat my words, however. For I have just
phoned the local newspaper which published the Mondi greenwash, and was
told it costs a paltry R30 000 for double page spread. I thought
greenwash was supposed to be expensive!
LEAD
STORY
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Shell called to Account!
by Bobby Peek
“Blood is thicker … than water, To you who sucks
my hopes … Tell me, Is oil thicker … Than blood …?” (Nnimmo Bassey, 2002,
Nigerian Activist)
After
the hype of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD),
in a time of solitude, I wondered whether it was worth all the effort.
This was due to the fact that immediately after the WSSD, the valueless
promises of industry came home to roost in the various industrial incidents
that impacted upon the communities of south Durban (see In Brief on page
19).
Was all the community mobilisation and activism at WSSD worth
the blood, sweat and tears? In my review of the WSSD in the last
groundWork newsletter (Vol 4 No 3, “From the Smokestack”) I wrote
that industry or government cannot be trusted, and the recent incidents
in south Durban bear testimony to this. What I also reflected upon
was the fact that “civil society needs to get up and do things for themselves.”
This we did.
On Tuesday, November 12, 2002, in the driving autumn rain
NGO representatives and community people living next to Shell plants from
South Africa, Nigeria, USA and Britain, all gathered outside Shell’s London
headquarters to hand over Jack Doyle’s book, “Riding the Dragon”, an account
of some of Shell’s environmental legacy over the last century (see publications
on page 20).
It was with this in mind, i.e. doing things for ourselves,
and the outcomes of the groundWork Corporate Accountability Week,
where Peoples’ Action for Corporate Accountability (PACA) was the theme,
that I managed to release the sense of depression and reflect on the positive
work that was done on corporate accountability by the very many civil
society activists around the globe challenging Shell.
Here in London we had community people from around the world
asking Shell to clean up its act and for governments to hold them accountable.
Presenting “Riding the Dragon” to Shell was of great significance
in the environmental movements’ history. In this book, in black
and white, we have a well and soundly documented account of the environmental
impact Shell has made on this planet. It is a book that will outlive
the activists who presented it. It is evidence that Shell will have
to answer for their actions in the years to come. It is a clear
tool that can be used to get Shell to be held accountable in all their
trouble spots worldwide.
While Friends of the Earth and UK organization Platform protested
outside, representatives of the communities and NGOs who had traveled
to London for the occasion, met with the Reputations Manager of Shell
for Africa and the Americas. Meeting the Reputations Manager was
a small victory for us because clearly Shell was feeling the impact of
increasing worldwide campaigns by communities airing the company’s dirty
washing for all to see.
It is clear that the 2002 Greenwash Academy Award for Lifetime
Achievement that was given to Shell just prior to the WSSD, as well as
the many days and years of community action was something that has had
an impact upon Shell.
Despite this impact, it was a difficult mind-shift for activists
to sit down in the Shell premises to discuss the problems they have with
Shell. Nnimmo Bassey clearly indicated in the meeting that he never
thought it would be personally possible to enter the Shell head quarters
after the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who also at some time had sat in these
very same offices. But because of the suffering of many other communities
around the world who live on the fence line of Shell plants, he took up
this challenge in solidarity.
Shell’s Chief Executive Officer, Phil Watts, chose not to
meet with the representatives, stating that he was out of the office.
In earlier correspondence with Shell staff, they stated that in “general
we (Shell) are happy to engage externally in substantive discussion and
around mutually agreed agendas that advance understanding or, even better,
generate agreement about practical ways forward.” But this commitment
appears to apply only in local areas where Shell is driving negotiation
processes with communities and therefore has the upper hand. However,
when community people take the initiative and fly all the way to London
they are not met with the same attitude.
Nnimmo Bassey, of Environmental Rights Action of Nigeria,
was firm in calling for Shell to be held accountable for its violations
of human rights. Iris Carter, from the Concerned Citizens of Norco,
raised the issue of how they are sandwiched between Shell plants, and
the impact of this on their health. Hilton Kelly, of Port Arthur
(USA) and Desmond D’SA of south Durban, both brought air sample data highlighting
Shell’s pollution in their neighbourhoods. D’Sa further called on
the senior Shell management to replace their fuel pipelines in south Durban,
rather than just patching them up. Shell’s misrepresentation of
facts in south Durban, was another issue that was raised in the meeting.
Was this action successful? Only time will tell.
Shell promised to get back to the community representatives before the
end of the year. It remains to be seen if their response will be
substantive.
With the release of “Riding the Dragon”, the offensive against
Shell’s abuses worldwide has shifted to a higher moved to another level.
This documentation of Shell’s atrocities will be a useful tool for worldwide
organising around corporate abuses. Only we can change things. We
need to do it for ourselves, rather than putting our lives and health
in the hands of elected governments.
Hazardous waste incinerator proposal defeated
by Linda Ambler
Residents in Sasolburg and
further a field are celebrating the news that the Free State government
has rejected an application for the construction of a hazardous waste
incinerator in Sasolburg.
The
incinerator was proposed by a private company, Peacock Bay Environmental
Services (PBES), approximately 18 months ago. PBES received funding
from the USA Trade and Development Agency for the developmental phase
of this project. If the incinerator had been approved it would have
been the largest hazardous waste incinerator in Southern Africa.
The Sasolburg Environmental
Committee (SEC) and Sasolburg councillors, together with groundWork
and other national and international civil society groups joined forces
in a concerted and sustained effort to halt the proposed development.
Reasons for opposing the
facility were many including, that it would be a highly polluting facility
and the air in Sasolburg is already heavily polluted. The local campaign
against the incinerator was supported by the Global Anti -Incinerator
Alliance (GAIA) who wrote to President Thabo Mbeki to ask him to intervene
and scrap the proposal.
The Free State Department
of Environmental, Tourism and Economic Affairs rejected this proposed
development on October 2, 2002. Their decision was based on three factors:
- interested and affected
parties objected to the development
- PBES had failed to submit
a health risk report, and
- the application failed
to indicate the cumulative effects of the development.
“We are happy for this response
by government refusing permission to the development of a hazardous waste
incinerator in Sasolburg. The people have been listened too, and this
has set a precedent”, said Nicholas Kasa, secretary of the SEC.
The rejection of the incinerator
proposal came exactly one month after the south African government ratified
the Stockholm Convention, which calls for the elimination of dioxins,
which would have been one of the main by-products during the incineration
of waste.
“It is hoped that by this
decision, the SA government is stating its intent to fulfil its obligations
to protect the health of the people of south Africa and the world, and
will consider halting other such proposals as the Mondi (Anglo American)
incinerator in south Durban,” comments Manny Calonzo, Assistant Coordinator
of GAIA, based in the Philippines.
groundWork hopes
that this rejection will send a clear message to foreign investors that
south African does not approve of them pushing dirty technologies such
as incineration in south Africa and the south generally.
groundWork wishes
to acknowledge the legal and technical assistance we received from Patrick
Pringle and his colleagues at the Legal Resources Center (Pretoria) in
opposing this incinerator.
Peacock Bay Environmental
Services are currently appealing the Free State government’s decision.
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Crimes against communities: The tales corporates tell
By Llewellyn Leonard
“The ultimate test of
man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for
future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard."
Gaylord
Nelson
For years polluting industries
have poured poisonous toxic chemicals from incinerators into the environment.
Communities living adjacent to these incinerators have largely been ignorant
of their potential for harm. These industries have subjected people to
contact with poisonous toxins without their consent and knowledge. It
is the public that is being asked to assume the risks that industries
calculate. Communities are beginning to understand the risks that incinerators
pose to their health and environment and have decided that enough is enough
and that no more shall industries, which try to promote incinerators by
hiding them behind new “labels”, pollute their air thereby affecting the
lives of their children and environment.
It is a fact that as long
as industries and polluting technologies continue to be placed in poor
black communities, profits will always come before people. Currently,
several incinerator proposals being pushed by industries are cause for
concern.
Pretoria
Portlands Cement
Pretoria Portlands Cement (PPC) is proposing to incinerate tyres to replace
some of their coal in its cement kilns. I was flabbergasted to hear that
PPC stated that the disposal of tyres would contribute to road safety
preventing them from being sold to unsuspecting vehicle owners -as if
this statement would detract society from the reality that the burning
of tyres by PPC is a form of increasing profits by spending less on exploring
cleaner fuel sources. This I feel is at the expense of the environment
and communities despite the fact that PPC has recently reported a forty-five
percent growth in net attributable profit to R600.3 million for the year
to September. PPC also claimed that the burning of tyres would be
environmentally friendly. However, it is a reality that internationally
there has been a move away from incineration and that in test studies
done in the United States and Europe, burning tyres in cement kilns has
increased dioxin emissions by 36% and has also increased heavy metal emissions.
groundWork recently
wrote a letter to government requesting that a full Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) be conducted on alternatives for the disposal of tyres.
Uses for used tyres include the reuse of rubber crumb in products such
as rubber wheels, specialist surfaces such as running tracks, surface
material for roads and playgrounds to name a few. It is hoped that
the government will stop this proposed burning of tyres and explore cleaner
alternatives for the recycling of tyres.
Natal
Portland Cement
Natal Portland Cement (NPC), which was recently sold off by PPC, is also
proposing to fire its cement kiln at its Port Shepstone plant with alternative
fuels, in this case hazardous waste.
Last
month I visited the NPC plant at the invitation of NPC. I was aware
that NPC was disseminating information to the public and asked if it was
conducting an EIA. I was told that approaches had been made to three different
consultants for a quote for an EIA. However, NPC clearly stated
that the current information dissemination exercise was not part of the
EIA. What concerned me was that the scoping phase of the EIA would require
public participation and that it did not make sense that information dissemination
was being conducted and still an EIA would be done requiring public participation
again, causing the current information dissemination conducted to be nullified.
This makes me wonder whether or not an EIA will be conducted. I was also
surprised that NPC had not as yet informed surrounding communities about
the proposed project since it is these people’s lives that would most
be affected by health risks.
It is time that corporates
come out with transparency of information and stop posing in front of
civil society as wolves dressed in sheep’s wool.
Mondi
Paper
Another case of crimes against communities is the recent authorisation
given by the provincial government to Mondi Paper, a subsidiary of Anglo
American, for the construction of an incinerator in Merebank, south Durban.
Mondi is proposing to burn coal, coal ash, waste sludge and various other
waste products as fuel sources for its paper plant. The local communities
are opposed to this proposal and are asking that Mondi switch to a cleaner
fuel source such as Sasol gas.
In a meeting held in south
Durban between the communities and Mondi, those present clearly stated
to Mondi manager, John Barton that they did not want the incinerator in
their neighbourhood. I was shocked that Mr Barton at the meeting gave
a speech in which he stated how fit he was and what an athletic comrades
runner and Duzi athlete he had become. His glorification of himself
didn’t last very long, however, as the community responded by telling
him that he should try jogging in south Durban and experience the pain
of lung burn and short breath being experienced by members of the community.
I was upset to hear Mondi
argue that their project was consistent with Minister Valli Moosa’s Multi-Point
Plan to improve air quality in south Durban. The provincial government’s
authorisation of this incinerator undermines the national Ministry’s plans
to improve air quality in this area. One of the objectives of the
‘Multi-Point Plan’ is to reduce the use of dirty fuels and coal in south
Durban. However, this facility would make use of both coal and dirty
fuel (in the form of waste products). The facility would also result
in increased emissions of some pollutants, such as carbon dioxide which
would increase by nearly 50% and nitrous oxide (NOx) which would increase
by 16.7%. Sulphur dioxide emissions from the plant would decrease,
but only by 5%, which would not contribute significantly to the already
saturated pollution problems experienced in south Durban. Mondi’s
statement that the project will result in a reduction in all emissions
except carbon dioxide is untrue. Hence, government must revert its
decision and follow the proper channels and allow a full EIA to be conducted.
It is time that corporates
stop ‘toying’ with people’s lives by committing murder upon innocent victims
through polluting their environments thus affecting their health. The
role thus far that communities, environmental groups and others have played
in compelling such corporates to change their behaviour is an achievement
however, that most corporate environmentalists fail to recognise.
It is hoped that through continued global community mobilization that
such attitudes will change over time causing corporates to switch to clean
production technologies that will have a positive spin-off for all of
us.
Ordinary Miracles
by Ardiel Soeker
Just as pebbles make a mountain
Raindrops make a sea
Every sun that rises
Never rose before
Each new day leads the way
Through a different door
And we can all be quiet heroes
Living quiet days
Walking through the world
Changing it in quiet ways
Ordinary miracles
Like candles in the dark
Each and every one of us
Lights a spark
And the walls can tumble
And the mountains can move
The winds and the tides can turn
(Extracts from Ordinary Miracles by Barbra Streisand)
Ordinary miracles have been
the driving force of groundWork’s
existence. This year has been no different. More intense maybe, what with
the launch of the Air Quality Project, Community Air Pollution Monitoring
Campaign, Regional and International exchanges and the increasing number
of industrial incidents and accidents to respond to, and don’t forget
WSSD… Definitely more intense!
Ordinary miracles are manufactured
in the hearts and minds of people and it seems that they always have a
collective basis expanding beyond the staff of the organisation. These
days “groundWorker’s” have sprung up everywhere, whereas not long
ago there was very little environmental activism in the country.
Activists of the Sasolburg
Environmental Committee took on the might of industry and succeeded in
stopping the construction of a hazardous waste incinerator in their neighbourhood.
The developer is now appealing the decision. Similarly in Secunda, Joe
Slovo and Table View, environmental activism is on the increase. The Table
View Residents Association has managed, through sheer persistence, to
commit the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment and Tourism
to investigate the impacts of the Caltex refinery’s pollution on neighbouring
communities. South Durban has literally been peppered with industrial
incidents over the past while, leading to demonstrations and marches by
south Durban residents.
Progress and maturity can
result from these conflicts. The Sasolburg Environmental Committee and
The Highveld East Environmental Monitoring Association are now established
structures and spokespersons for their communities on environmental justice
issues. Refinery communities now have the resources and know–how
to do pollution monitoring, run campaigns, negotiate with industry, engage
our government, network with national and international NGO’s and the
list grows longer as the activism increase. Look out 2003, here
we come!
AIR QUALITY PROJECTback
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Climate Justice Conference
by Ardiel Soeker
The recent UN conference
on Climate Change in India served as the trigger for a parallel protest
conference organised by the Indian Climate Justice Forum. The Climate
Justice conference provided a platform for communities affected by climate
change to draw attention to their individual struggles and challenges.
Fisher folk, landless peoples
organisations, women’s movements, indigenous peoples organisations, local
and international NGO’s, the rural and urban poor, formed part of the
hundreds of delegates from across the world that gathered for two days
in India in October 2002, under a huge marquee in the hot Indian sun to
share, strategize and mobilize around climate justice action.
Myself from groundWork
and Desmond D’SA from the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance
attended the conference and presented our organisations’ respective campaigns.
Some of the different themes
and issues discussed during the conference included: Indigenous people’s
struggles; the science of climate change; Corporate Accountability; fishworkers’
struggles against climate change; agriculture and food security; natural
resource management, and fossil fuel exploration and exploitation.
Delegates were able to make
linkages between their own local struggles and those of other communities
around the world. Floods, droughts, temperature changes and increases
in sea water levels are some of the climatic impacts experienced by these
communities. To many people these climatic impacts also mean poverty,
landlessness, increase in diseases and a poor quality of life.
It was a sad truth to note
that the US is responsible for a quarter of all global warming gasses.
In fact some big corporations emit more CO2 than most countries.
Developing countries contribute very little to global warming but will
bear the brunt of climate change.
Delegates also expressed
their disappointment and frustration at the UN facilitated Climate Change
negotiations. It was as if the negotiators could not see the urgency
of the issues. More and more speakers called for the initiation
of a people’s movement for Climate Justice.
The conference climaxed
in a peaceful march through the streets of New Delhi to the UN Climate
Change Conference to demonstrate our concerns around climate change and
injustice. Thousands of marchers carried banners and placards calling
for climate justice, corporate accountability, equity, and an end to US
apathy.
Young woman from Zamdela gives presentation to Parliament
On 8th November
2002 Seipati Ntaopane, travelled down to Cape Town from her hometown,
Zamdela (Sasolburg), to address the Minerals and Energy Portfolio Committee
in Parliament. Seipati is a young mother who became concerned about the
impact of pollution on her family and community. She is now an active
member of the Sasolburg Environmental Committee and a spokesperson for
her community on environmental justice. Following is an extract
from her speech to parliament:
“My name is Seipati Ntaopane
from Zamdela, Sasolburg in the Free State Province. I represent the Sasolburg
Environmental Committee, which was formed to address the community concern
of industrial pollution. Companies like SASOL, Natref Refinery, and other
chemical plants are situated on my doorstep.
Despite the long running
electrification programme in our country, that our government tries to
provide to everyone, the problems still exist with coal burning. Poor
people cannot afford to buy electricity for heating and cooking. They
can only afford it to light their homes and use cheap coal for cooking
and heating.
Unless we try to minimize
the use of coal both domestically and by industry, people are going to
remain poor and unhealthy. This impact of coal pollution can be
avoided successfully by opening up channels of communication between the
big companies and the Government and Communities.
Coal can be replaced by
natural gas. SASOL is providing natural gas to other parts of the country.
Communities should be provided with natural gas to supplement the energy
from the electricity. By using natural gas we will be protecting our environment
for future generations. We all must take responsibility for creating awareness
about safe and efficient use of energy.
Natural gas can also bring
real environmental benefit. It is a far cleaner form of energy and we
call on Government and Industry to ensure that it is affordable to poor
communities. Government must subsidise communities like Zamdela and Embalenhle
who are bearing the brunt of economic development. People in these communities
are exposed to high levels of pollution from surrounding industries.
By bringing natural gas
to the homes of the people in Zamdela and Embalenhle and other communities,
we will be enriching society and providing better way of life for poor
south Africans.
Social and economic development
must go hand in hand with environmental protection. A central part
of sustainable development is after all protecting and providing things
that people will need in future, such as clean air, water and stable climate
whilst ensuring our basic needs are met.
I am delighted that we have
an environmental right in the constitution and it should not be seen as
a bonus, it SHOULD be there. The environment is as much a fundamental
right, and is as strong as any others. Thank you.”
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by Greenfly
This
is the “cynics’ corner” and optimism is not a regular feature of this
column. But do we have grounds for some optimism in the light of the current
rash of legal action being taken on environmental justice issues?
There’s
our stalwart litigator in London, Richard Meeran, hammering away at Cape
PLC on behalf of diseased and dying asbestos workers; back home, South
African lawyers, Ntuli and Spoor are attempting to prevent the unbundling
of Gencor before Gefco has to cough up for a massive claim brought by
a substantial number of asbestosis victims suing in respect of operations
of its former subsidiary, Gefco; residents in Steelvalley adjacent to
Iscor’s Vanderbijlpark plant have taken Iscor to court, alleging that
the steel company is polluting their water; and there is also, of course
groundWork’s own court application to have the largest waste incinerator
in KwaZulu-Natal shut down.
All of
these cases are civil actions, not state led criminal cases. Cases
of the government taking polluters to court are few and far between.
In fact, I cannot think of one in recent history.
Talking
about lawsuits by victims of environmental justice, readers will be interested
to hear that about 111 000 suits have been launched against Combustion
Engineering seeking damages for health claims. This US power plant boilermaker
used asbestos to insulate its boilers in the 1970s. Some estimate the
suits will cost the company $4 billion (about R40 billion)!
In 1990, Combustion Engineering was bought for $1.6
billion by ABB during a phase of rapid expansion under Percy Barnevik
– regarded at the time as a ‘visionary corporate manager’ at the head
of a model industrial corporation[1].
In 1992 this visionary famously said: “I tell people that if we make 100
decisions and 70 turn out right, that’s good enough”.
That sort of advice may have contributed to ABB’s present
predicament – the company is currently trying to stave off bankruptcy,
while handling an ill-timed, costly expansion into eastern Europe and
Asia, as well as facing the asbestos liabilities. ABB’s stock value has
crashed 77% during this year prompting Moody’s Investor Service to cut
ABB’s credit rating for the fifth time since March to junk status. When
Barnevik resigned at the end of 2001 – saying he was taking his share
of responsibility for the companies woes – he took a pension package worth
$100 million (he subsequently agreed to pay half back when challenged
by his successor this year)[2].
But why would we be interested in all this? Well, ABB
weren’t the only ones to benefit from Barnevik’s ‘advice’ – he also sits
on President Mbeki’s ‘International Foreign Direct Investment Advisory
Council’ which meets regularly to advise him. The groundWork Report
2002, published earlier this year - which dealt with corporate influence
over governmental environmental regulation - quoted Barnevik’s views on
the meaning of globalisation for the corporate world:
“I would define
globalisation as the freedom for my group to invest where it pleases,
when it pleases, in order to produce what it wants, by getting supplies
and selling wherever it wants, supporting as few constraints as possible
regarding workers’ rights and social conventions”[3], [4].
You’ve
got to wonder about the enormous gap between these sort of ‘corporate
cowboy’ views at the heart of ABB and the credibility ABB seems to be
reap from its public relations and ‘corporate responsibility’ work – according
to the company’s website, the South African operation:
“scooped awards
in no less than five categories at the 2002 annual PMR emPower awards
[in] November 2002. ABB was honoured with two national awards for the
social upliftment and black economic empowerment categories, two gold
awards for the war against crime and job creation and training categories
and a silver award for environmental care” (http://www.abb.com/za).
But I
digress. Getting back to legal actions against businesses, even some of
our Southern African neighbours have recently surprised international
corporates by threatening to hold them legally accountable. In Lesotho,
a Canadian engineering consulting firm – Acres International – was found
guilty of corruption after paying bribes to win contracts on the multi-billion-dollar
Lesotho Highlands Water Project. According to IPS, “A company official
said he was ‘shocked’ by the court's decision”[5]
And from
Swaziland, IPS reports that:
“When a major distillery received word that it was being sued for polluting
a major river by the Swaziland Environmental Authority (SEA), the company
was so astounded it wrote to Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini demanding
an explanation.
Implied
in the letter was a suggestion that government's desire for foreign companies
to invest in the kingdom was more important than environmental concerns.
‘After an investigation by the full cabinet, government finds the lawsuit
appropriate, and gives its backing to the Ministry of Environment, Tourism
and Communications,’ the Prime Minister's office replied in a press statement.
The lawsuit is the first major test case mounted by the environmental
authority”[6]
What
is worth noting from the above is that our neighbouring African states
are prepared to take polluting corporates to court, while our own government
is not.
Remember
- groundWork readers are very welcome to supply Greenfly with insider
information on environmental politics in SA. If you have any comments,
which are critical of Greenfly’s report, for any reason, perhaps you should
let the groundWork editor know (I know I’m not interested). But
if you have even more interesting stories and scandalous titbits I should
know about, e-mail me at greenfly@groundwork.org.za.
I promise to protect my sources, but only my sources – targets are there
for the taking!
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Pietermaritzburg - Are you really as “ignorant” as the Health Inspector
calls you?
By Nitasha Baijnath
For far too long the pollution problems being
experienced in the predominantly black residential areas of Mountain Rise,
Willowton, Panorama Gardens, Eastwood, Northdale and Allandale have been
neglected by the Pietermaritzburg city health officials. According
to Mr. Vishaal Singh, the Environmental Health Officer in charge of these
areas, members of these communities are “ignorant” regarding air pollution.
I, however, think not!
These communities are
calling for the relevant officials to “wake up” and ensure that the public’s
constitutional and environmental rights are not infringed upon because
of the authorities’ apathy.
These above-mentioned
communities are located around and in the midst of Pietermartizburg’s
heavy industrial area. Here one can find many factories (including
PG Bison, TDM woodworks, Bayer, and Belgotex Carpets), dry cleaning industries,
as well as five cooking oil refineries (the most notorious of which is
the Willowton Oil and Cake Mills).
At an awareness meeting
at Eddles Sports Club on the 16th of October, residents expressed
their deep concerns about the state of air quality governance in the southern
suburbs of Pietermaritzburg. They said there was a lack of information
about complaints logging or feedback to communities by the local municipality
on what steps are being taken to address the problem. They feel that their
concerns have fallen on deaf years.
The senior citizens present
at this meeting discussed the air pollution problem as a matter of
urgency as they said that it seemed like the children and the
elderly were more ill more often. Dr Vather, a community General
Practitioner, said he had noticed an increase in cases of asthma
and other related respiratory illnesses in these communities.
A petition, consisting
of 293 concerned individuals (obtained over a short period of time), was
sent together with a letter to Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa.
The petition calls for the authorities to take steps to decrease the air
pollution from PG Bison, Willowton Oil & Cake Mills, TDM Woodworks
and other factories in the vicinity.
My interactions with
the officials in the city’s Environmental Health Department have dampened
my expectations regarding the commitment by our public servants.
I moved to Northdale earlier this year, and travel through the heavy industrial
area on my way to and from work. The pollution I have experienced
and witnessed while commuting has caused me to phone the environmental
health department on numerous occasions to complain. On several
occasions, my complaints were not officially logged, feedback was not
given, telephone calls were not returned, and inspection of the complaints
was dispelled! Once when I phoned and once when another resident
phoned to complain, Mr. Jimmy Pather, the acting Chief Environmental Officer,
refused to log our nuisance complaints because he said that we did not
live in the area of the pollution! Can it be that the city’s acting
chief environmental officer does not know that pollution knows no borders?!
What an apathetical approach and a shameful reflection of the local environmental
health department!
Mr. Hilton Ryder, Chief
Environmental Officer, has been delegated by National Government (DEAT),
the duty of an Air Pollution Control Officer in Pietermaritzburg. He has
however, failed to penalise or prosecute PG Bison when it recently exceeded
its permitted dust limit. Moreover, the Willowton Oil and Cake Mills in
Willowton have been illegally operating a boiler for over a year now and
have also not faced any threat of prosecution. Who knows how much further
the wool is being pulled over our eyes!
Calling in to lodge
a complaint can be quite a mission as officials tend to pacify complainants
by telling them about the difficulties the officials face and the improvements
that they are making - when all that is really happening is to the benefit
of the polluting industries in the area. How can you take this?
Why be passive when
your lungs are collecting the dust and offensive gases, when your sinuses
are being aggravated and nasal cavity being eroded away slowly? The time
to mobilize and do something worthwhile is now. Call in to complain whenever
you observe or smell an odour or see thick smoke emissions. It will surely
jerk things up.
Well, now the officials have begun
audits at the factories within Willowton, which is a leap forward. These
audits will focus on the checking of permits, boilers, hazards, records,
etc. Also, the Pietermaritzburg Air Quality Forum has purchased
a PM10 monitor, which is on PG Bison's premises at present and will
be moved around to different factories and communities, in order to monitor
the dust levels. So we are making progress! Although odour
and other criteria pollutants are still a problem in the area, let's applaud
this initiative.
Hmm - you are NOT as ignorant as he calls
you, after all!
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Edendale hospital
representative attends CleanMed Conference 2002
by Judith Dinky Halimana
Judith Dinky Halimana,
a groundWork intern, enjoyed her first trip overseas to attend
a medical waste conference in the USA as well as to gain skills and network
with international partners. The trip was sponsored by Health Care
Without Harm (HCWH). She will use the experiences gained on this trip
to help reduce the risks posed by health care waste at South African hospitals
in the future.
On 23rd October
I left South Africa for Chicago as a representative of Edendale hospital
and groundWork to attend the CleanMed International Conference.
I was excited to attend such a conference since it was my first trip overseas.
The aims of the conference included: promoting pollution prevention practices
in hospitals; support the development of environmentally safe materials,
technology and products; and educating health care providers, workers,
consumers and all affected constituencies about the environmental and
public health impacts of health care industries and solutions to those
problems.
I stayed at the Holiday
Inn, Mart Plaza, Chicago and shared a room with Emily Holweck of France.
We have since become good friends. Other participants came from
countries as far as Argentina, Philippines, Japan and Austria to name
a few.
During the conference, I
had the honour of meeting other health care providers and environmentalists,
including Glenn McRae, Annie Leonard, Firuzeh Mahmoudi and Lillian Corra.
Presentations covered matters such as healthy interiors; life cycle of
materials; environmentally sustainable health care systems; safe needle
devices, etc. There were also exhibits of medical products and literature.
I was honoured to listen
to the keynote speaker, William McDonough, author of the book “Cradle
to Cradle”. I have since made a copy of this book available
at Edendale hospital Library.
The highlight of the conference
was attending a workshop on Environmentally – Sound and Safe Management
of Waste from Health Care Activities conducted by Dr Glenn McRae,
who visited Edendale Hospital in 2001 with groundWork to conduct
a skills share at our institution. I was thrilled to give a presentation
on the past and present practices of Edendale hospital since the skills
share. I also spoke on the hospital’s future intentions for health care
waste management. Many participants were eager to speak to me after
my presentation to find out more about how we had reduced hospital costs
with regard to health care waste.
The programme also included
a tour of the University of Illinois – Chicago conducted by Professor
Peter Orris.
I would like to thank HCWH
and groundWork for giving me the opportunity to attend such an
informative and globalised conference. The knowledge and skills that I
have obtained has been most rewarding. I will in the future be using this
knowledge gained to help reduce the amount of waste produced at my hospital
and hopefully help other institutions as well. This will help contribute
to sustainable hospital environments.
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The dose determines the poison, or does it?
By Linda Ambler
For centuries toxicologists have worked on the premise that
the "The dose makes the poison."[1], i.e. very toxic chemicals
can be harmless if they are present in small enough doses. Toxic
chemicals are present everywhere – in our air, our foodstuffs, our cosmetics
and water. But we have been told that these chemicals are so diluted or
dispersed as to pose no threat. However, a recent article by Rachel’s
Environment and Health News[1] presents arguments and evidence
which undermine this theory.
Differently susceptible
The first example of how the dose does not always determine
the poison, is how some people are more susceptible to some chemicals
than are others.
For example, exposure to sulphur dioxide fumes may provoke
asthmatic attacks in some people while other people may be unaffected.
Some people walking down the detergent aisle in a supermarket may begin
to sneeze or break out in hives. However, most will not show any
reaction.
Bioaccumulation
The "dose makes the
poison" justification for industrial dumping is also weakened by
the discovery that some chemical pollutants accumulate up the food chain.
Thus a cow may be exposed to a low dose of chemicals in the grass it eats,
but this dose of chemicals increases when passed on in the cow’s milk[4].
At the very top of the food chain is the nursing infant drinking a solution
of chemical poisons along with mother's milk. (Breast feeding is still
the best way to nourish an infant. But are there really no consequences
of starting life on a diet of dilute chlorinated solvents and pesticides,
as all children do today?)
Chemical cocktails
Traditionally, "the dose makes the poison" refers
to exposure to one chemical at a time, and does not take into account
the fact that we are exposed to a mixture of many chemicals at any one
point in time. Some chemicals may combine to have an additive effect.
Others combine to cause a synergistic effect which is greater than the
sum of the effects of each of the individual chemicals. (EHP Vol. 110
Supplement 1, February 2002, pgs 25-42) Thus insignificant doses of several
chemicals add up to a significant dose.
The Environmental Health Perspectives recently conducted
two studies which examined the effects of mixtures of chemicals.
In the first study a mixture of four organochlorine chemicals
(Lindane, two forms of the pesticide DDT and a breakdown product of DDT
called DDE). Each of these chemicals is known to have estrogenic effects.
In this study low concentrations of these four chemicals (too low to cause
estrogenic effects by themselves) were mixed together. The result
was that these four different chemicals added up to an effective dose
which had estrogenic effects. This study showed that chemicals present
in our environment or food at so-called harmless levels may combine together
to cause harm. (EHP Vol. 109, No. 4, April 2001, pgs 391-397)
In the second study another combination of 4 chemicals (DDT,
genistein, 4-N-octylphenol and 4-nonylphenol) were mixed together. Here
again the the four chemicals mixed together had greater effect than any
of the chemicals alone. (EHP Vol. 108, No. 10, October 2000, pgs 983-987)
So mixtures of "harmless" amounts of chemicals are crucially
important to health.
Different effects at different times
Bisphenol A is a chemical used extensively in the manufacture
of polycarbonate plastics, including soft drink containers, in some modern
plastics used as "dental sealants" and in the lacquer lining
of tin cans.
The new study in Environmental Health Perspectives reveals
that Bisphenol A is particularly potent in mice exposed near the time
of birth. Pregnant female mice exposed to low levels of Bisphenol A near
the time of birth produce offspring that gain excessive weight early in
life and maintain excessive weight thereafter.
This effect does not occur
in mice fed Bisphenol A as adults. The study also found that low doses
of Bisphenol A produced a greater effect than higher doses! According
to the authors of the study, their Bisphenol A data "suggest the
need for careful evaluation of the current levels of exposure [of humans]
to this compound." (EHP Vol. 109, No. 7, July 2001, pgs 675-680)
The Bisphenol A study drives home the point that chemicals
may be toxic at low levels at a particular time in the life of an organism,
which of course greatly complicates the testing that is needed to protect
public health from industrial toxins.
Thus it is clear that the dose does not determine the poison,
but that is a mixture of chemicals that makes the poison and that this
mixture is experienced differently by different individuals and differently
at different times during growth and development.
| This information above validates groundWork’s
belief that we are exposed to a wide variety of toxic chemicals
everyday in our air, water and food. While scientists may
argue that the concentration of each chemical in each food item
or in each bucket air sample is so low as to be of no concern,
the truth is that these low doses all add up to a toxic soup of
harmful chemicals playing havoc with our health and natural environment.
The only solution can be the elimination of harmful chemicals,
and not merely their reduction. |
Information quoted with permission by Environmental Research
Foundation, Annapolis, Maryland, U.S., See www.rachel.org
.
Joy
Kistnasamy
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by Linda Ambler
This month we welcome Joy
Kistnasamy as the sixth member of the groundWork Trust. It
has long been our desire to have Joy on our board but work commitments
have prevented this up until now.
Joy brings to groundWork her extremely infectious
optimism and enthusiasm as well as a wealth of work experience in the
fields of industrial pollution and environmental health.
Joy was born 33 years ago in Durban, and has spent
most of her life thus far living in Merebank in south Durban. She
says that growing up in Merebank amidst various major industries, transportation
routes and 4 minutes away from an international airport necessitated her
becoming interested in environmental issues!
She also comes from a family which is very aware of any injustices
that exist, environmentally or otherwise. Her late father played
a major role in encouraging Joy and her brother to be active rather than
passive participants in this process.
Joy has a BTech: Environmental Health, and a B.Comm. and
is presently doing her Masters in Environmental Health while also lecturing
in the environmental health department at the Durban Institute of Technology.
Prior to taking up her lectureship she was employed for two years as the
Coordinator of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA).
Thereafter she took part in a three-month scholarship to the University
of Michigan, USA in 2001.
Since Joy first began working on environmental health issues
in Durban she has noticed a shift in thinking on both the side of community
and industry to actively negotiate and reach environmental goals that
will benefit everyone.
Motivating people is one of Joy’s greatest talents. She encourages
people living in polluted communities to get involved in the process,
telling them that every person's input is vital and no matter what, persevere
and never give up.
Says groundWork director Bobby Peek: “I have always
found Joy to be an optimistic person. In the field in which we work,
it is often difficult to be optimistic, for the odds are stacked heavily
against us. However, Joy has through it all always wanted to take
on the struggle, irrespective of the odds.”
In the words of a colleague of hers: “Joy is a joy
to work with plain and simple!”
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Industry - Back to business after WSSD
The ink was not even dry on the Chairman’s Paper of the WSSD,
when the industries that were making all their fancy promises continued
operations as normal in south Durban. Normal in this case meaning
polluting!
On 23 October, community people complained to the Durban
city health department about emissions in their neighbourhood. Only
the next day did Engen admit that one of their crude oil storage tanks
in south Durban had problems with its floating roof. The floating
roof eventually sank resulting in emissions for over a week.
On the same day the Shell and BP refinery had an operational
upset due to a power failure. The chemicals present in the refinery
processes at that point in time had to be flared without the requisite
steam, resulting in impartial combustion of hydrocarbons. A pall
of smoke settled on the south Durban neighbourhood. Shell did not
identify all the chemicals they burnt, but did state that communities
need not be concerned about their health!
The result of these two accidents was that the community
sandwiched between the two refineries had emissions coming at them from
both sides. No action has yet been taken against the either of the refineries.
KZN government to halt incineration of medical
waste
The
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health is to be congratulated for taking a
policy decision to halt the incineration of medical waste in the province.
This announcement was made by Dr Sipho Msimang from the provincial department
of health in a speech to the SA Institute for Environmental Health conference
at Durban's ICC last month. Dr Msimang also called for every health
care institution to employ a person to specifically skilled in and tasked
with the proper control of all waste matter generated at the institution.
It is hoped that other provinces, departments and the national government
will follow this leading example by the KZN government.
Pesticide poisoning
The World Health Organisation
(WHO) estimates that there are 25 million cases of pesticide poisoning
worldwide every year, resulting in as many as 20 thousand deaths.
99% of the poisonings occur in poorer countries where protection controls
are weak and education and awareness is low. (Natal Witness 11-11-2002)
Iscor pollution court case
The case adjourned just
four days after commencing when the judge recused himself after being
accused of being biased by council for the applicants. (www.iscorpollution.org.za)
Newborn babies in Britain exposed to high levels of dioxins
The UK Environment Minister
has admitted that breastfeeding babies in the UK are taking in a “staggering”
amount of dioxins in their mother’s milk. The concentration of the
carcinogenic dioxins in the mother’s milk is 170 times the lowest safety
level set by the World Health Organisation and 170,000 times the amount
proposed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to guard
against the possibility of getting cancer later in life.
Dioxins are also known to
weaken the immune system, disrupt the endocrinal system, cause reproductive
problems and having "gender-bender" effects.
The main anthropogenic source
of dioxins is the incineration of waste. The main route of entry
of dioxins into the UK population is believed to be through eating beef
which comes from cows which have eaten dioxin contaminated grass.
The report says the latest
measurements – taken by the old Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food in 1993 and 1994 – showed that every day babies aged two months were
taking in 170 picograms of dioxins for every kilogram of their body weight.
(The Independent 17-11-02)
“Riding the Dragon:
Royal Dutch Shell & the Fossil Fire” by Jack Doyle, published
by the Environmental Health Fund, Boston, paperback, 351 pages
This is a documentary of
Royal Dutch Shell, the fossil fuel-giant which operates in 140 countries
and which last year posted a profit of $11 billion. The book begins
in south Durban, South Africa. From there it moves to the North
Sea, Nigeria, the USA, Canada, China and Tibet documenting incidents of
leaks, explosions and fires, air pollution, toxic waste and climate change.
There are also chapters dealing with the history of Shell, from humble
beginnings to global giant, the chemical by-products of the petrochemical
industry, as well as the chemical additives.
The book ends with a “to
do” list for Shell to clean up its act. Top of the list is the need
to transform itself from a fossil-fuel giant into a renewable energy-based
company. Calls are also made to shareholders to take an active role
in encouraging the transition to cleaner fuels and technology. The
central message of this book is clear - the fossil fuel fire is uncontrollable
and unmanageable. There are too many costs and too many risks involved
from the extraction to the refining, the transportation, the storage and
the use thereof.
This book can be downloaded
from www.shellfacts.com.
National Air Quality
Report
This month groundWork
released its first National Air Quality Status Report. The report
draws together the findings of the bucket brigade air samples and community
air sampling programmes in three identified pollution hotspots, namely
south Durban, Cape Town and Sasolburg Copies of this report
are being sent to the leading decision makers dealing with issues of air
pollution, trade and industry, minerals and energy and health. This
report will in future be produced on an annual basis. Copies of
this 2002 report are available from the groundWork office and will
shortly be available on the groundWork web site.
South African people and environments in the global market
This
series of five booklets (published by groundWork and reviewed in
our September 2002 newsletter) gives an environmental justice perspective
on challenges for sustainable development in South Africa. Issues
covered include: global and South African development policies; the corporate
push for self-regulation; how selling basic services excludes the poor;
genetic engineering and pollution from petrochemical industries.
Please contact us for your free copies.
The groundWork Report 2002 - Corporate Accountability in south
Africa: Air Pollution and petrochemical industries
If you have not
received your copy of The 2002 groundWork Report, please
contact us in the office for your free copy.
|
