FLASHBACK FIRST:
"Greenpeace offers new evidence in Africa deaths" by Toby Sterling, Associated Press | September 18, 2009
AMSTERDAM - Greenpeace said yesterday that it has uncovered new evidence linking a major oil trading company to toxic waste that killed 15 people in Ivory Coast in 2006, and asked Dutch prosecutors to reconsider charging executives with illegal dumping.
Related: What You Give is What You Get
Depends on who is dumping, huh?
The environmental group said it had obtained internal e-mails and other documents that show Trafigura Beheer BV executives were aware the sludge that the ship Probo Koala brought to Ivory Coast was hazardous.
The sludge was dumped in several places in Abidjan by a local subcontractor, and was blamed in the deaths of 15 people and the sickening of 100,000 more.
Trafigura’s managers “knew they were violating the rules by exporting toxic waste from Europe, and it was deliberately taken to Africa to dispose of there because it was cheaper,’’ said Andre van der Vlugt, Greenpeace spokesman.
Looks like they took Larry's advice, huh?
"On December 12, 1991, while serving as chief economist for the World Bank, Summers authored a private memo arguing that the bank should actively encourage the dumping of toxic waste in developing countries, particularly "under populated countries in Africa," which Summers described as "UNDER-polluted."
Van der Vlugt declined to say how his organization obtained the documents or verified their authenticity. They have been published on the website of the Guardian newspaper. Trafigura, which is registered in the Netherlands, did not deny the authenticity of the e-mails, but said they don’t show the company did anything wrong.
Then you won't mind drinking a glass of sludge, right?
“It is important to place the internal Trafigura staff e-mails published in the UK press in their proper context,’’ the company said in an e-mailed response to questions. “A number of the e-mails display what is simply ‘trader talk.’ The suggestions apparently contained in some of these e-mails were never seriously considered.’’
That the best lie you guys can come up with?
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Maybe the dumpers should get their mouths washed out with soap until they tell the truth!
"Oil firm settles Ivory Coast waste suit" by Associated Press | September 21, 2009
LONDON - Oil-trading company Trafigura said yesterday that it has agreed to a settlement with people who allege they fell ill after a tanker dumped hundreds of tons of waste around the Ivory Coast’s main city of Abidjan.
A spokeswoman for Trafigura Beheer BV said the company will pay $1,546 per person but denied that the toxic waste caused serious harm....
That's kind of a chiseler amount of comp, isn't it -- considering PEOPLE DIED!
Trafigura said in a statement that the waste from the tanker Probo Koala could have caused “low level flulike symptoms and anxiety.’’
Besides, that must be swine flu, check.
It said there was no evidence the waste caused deaths, miscarriages, stillbirths, birth defects, or other serious conditions. Trafigura insists the waste was not toxic but had a mix of gasoline residues, water, and caustic sodas used for cleaning.
Then you won't mind chugging a glass or two?
A United Nations specialist on toxic waste, Okechukwu Ibeanu, said, however, that there appeared to be a connection between the waste and deaths and illnesses suffered by the local population. In a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council last week, Ibeanu said 15 people died and 69 were hospitalized after the waste was offloaded in Abidjan in August 2006.
“There seems to be strong prima facie evidence that the reported deaths and adverse health consequences are related to the dumping of the waste from the Probo Koala,’’ he said in his report. Ibeanu said he did not have access to the death certificates of those who died, but said they were all in the vicinity of the dumping sites and fell ill shortly after being exposed to the waste.
He said thousands of people visited health care centers in Abidjan after the waste was dumped, complaining of nausea, headaches, vomiting, abdominal pains, skin reactions, and pulmonary and gastric problems.I'll bet life wasn't grand before the dump, but it got a whole lot worse after.
Great. Despite all the high-flying rhetoric, Africa is basically the WEST'S GARBAGE DUMP!
And WHAT ABOUT the FISH they have to CATCH and EAT?
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