World Bank to Fund Toxic Plastic Production in India

Press Release 18sep02

Local Community Charges that Plan is Blatant Violation of International Treaty on Pollution

Cuddalore, SIPCOT ZONE, South India. September 18, 2002- Despite environmentally-friendly rhetoric espoused at the recent UN Summit on Environment and Sustainable Development, critics of the World Bank's policies in India and elsewhere charge that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, continues to act in violation of an international agreement intended to lessen toxic pollution to the environment and humans.

One of the issues at the heart of the debate is the proposed $20 million IFC loan to expand the Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) plastic operations of India's Chemplast-Sanmar Limited. Chemplast Sanmar's Annual General Meeting was Wednesday, Sept. 18 in India. When manufactured and disposed of PVC is a leading producer of cancer-causing dioxin, a toxin ranked as one of the world's worst Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

Despite their defense of PVC industries as legitimate and ecologically sound, at a recent meeting IFC representatives informed an Indian activist that the Chemplast-Sanmar proposal has been indefinitely pulled from the project approval list, pending further study. However, the IFC could at any time re-instate the project, disbursing the loan of US$20,000,000.

In 1997 the village government in Cuddalore passed a resolution banning further developments in chemical or water intensive industries. Despite this, the IFC is considering funding the project.

"Communities around the industrial park in Cuddalore, are already reeling from the impacts of pollution from the industrial park. We are fed up with business as usual and have stepped up our efforts to put a stop to the latest proposal for another polluting factory in the area," says M. Nizamudeen, general secretary of Fedcot, a Cuddalore-based consumer rights organization.

Airborne dioxin can travel extreme distances before dropping to the earth where they are consumed by fish and grazing animals. When humans ingest dioxin contaminated foods (fish, meat or dairy products), these toxins concentrate themselves in the body fat of the consumer, amplifying cancer risks.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the average American carries a body burden of dioxin that is at or near the level at which hormonal disruption and/or cancer can occur. Numerous studies have exposed the ways in which dioxin can be transmitted from mother to infant through breast milk.

The IFC counters these arguments with the need for water sanitation in developing countries. However, environmental and social activists are quick to point the numerous alternatives to PVC pipes. High Density Polyethylene pipe, for example, is produced with a fraction of the toxicity as PVC, and is less likely to crack and leak.

The coalition of people acting against the IFC has grown to include women's and civil society organizations, Indian NGO's, environmental organizations, and even U.S. Congressional representatives who signed onto a letter demanding that the project be stopped. Less than two years ago, the Indian State Human Rights Commission confirmed that industrial pollution has seriously contaminated the groundwater, air and land in Cuddalore region.

"I am from Eachangadu, one of the villages worst affected by industrial pollution in SPICOT. Industrial pollution has caused untold misery to us, particularly the women. As women, water supply and ensuring our family's health is our business. Our water is poisoned. Our children are listless and fall ill frequently. Skin diseases, nervous disorders, respiratory problems, chronic headaches and malaise the list is long. We end up spending nearly Rs. 1000 (US$20) per family from our meager earnings in monthly medical expenses," explains said S. Vasantha, coordinator of the Vadaamallee Women's Association. "We don't want more industries that compromise the future of our children."

Those opposing the project argue that approval of the project would directly contradict the policies of the World Bank Group, and goes against the groundbreaking 2001 Stockholm Convention, which calls for the elimination of these and other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP's). The project could also be a bust for economic development: despite the $20 million loan, the project will only create 100 jobs.

Concern about this project will be voiced at the end of September 2002 in Washington DC, during the annual meeting of the World Bank Group and IMF. It is expected that thousands of protesters from around the globe will gather for the meetings, including opponents of the Chemplast-Sanmar IFC project.

Contact:

• Nityanand Jayaaraman, CorpWatch India, Tel: +91 98400 98935, Email: nity68@vsnl.com
• Monica Wilson, Essential Action, USA, Tel: +1-510-524-4000 x104, Mobile: +1-510-682-7663
• Toxics Link Delhi, H-2 Jungpura Extention, New Delhi 110 014, Tel: 4328006/4320711, Fax: 4321747, e-mail: tldelhi@vsnl.com