Conceding to the demands of citizens groups and Greenpeace, the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever has agreed to permanently close its polluting mercury thermometer factory in India, the largest in the world. The company has also agreed to undertake a clean-up of 5.3 tons of mercury wastes it illegally dumped at a local scrapyard, but it is still refusing to accept that local people and workers at the factory in Kodiakanal may have been exposed to the highly toxic metal.
On 7th March 2001, when Greenpeace, Unilever ex-workers and Kodaikanal community groups first exposed and cordoned off one of Unilever's illegal dumpsites in a crowded part of the Southern Indian tourist town, the company denied that it was dumping the wastes or guilty of environmental double-standards.
"Unilever's agreement to close the factory and to clean up the scrapyard is a clear admission of its guilt. That it will not accept people may have been exposed to the mercury as a result of its bad practices is scandalous,"
said Greenpeace toxics campaigner Navroz Mody.
"This case represents only a small portion of Unilever's toxic liabilities. Its shoddy handling and disposal of mercury wastes at this plant exposes its scant regard for the environment in countries like India where environmental regulation is lax," he added.
Ex-workers from Hindustan Lever, Unilever's Indian subsidiary that runs the mercury thermometer factory, say that the company's double-standards were also evident in their casual attitude towards mercury exposure in the workplace, and in the company's continuing and unscientific denials that any such exposure occurred.
The company claims that none of the 140 current workers, or any of the 250 or so ex-workers, (many of who resigned in the past due to health reasons), are at all affected by mercury. Ten workers below the age of 40 have died while employed at the plant. No investigations were performed at the time of death. Ex-workers report kidney problems, chronic stomachaches, blood vomiting, infertility, and women suffering a variety of gynaecological disorders. The company has neither conducted a comprehensive and scientific epidemiological study, nor published the basis of its claims that no workers have ever been affected.
"Unilever has placed the burden of proof of impact on health on poor workers who are paid a meagre $75 per month after 10 to 15 years of service,"
said Raja Mohammed, an ex-worker of the company.
"We have already proven that the company's bad housekeeping has exposed us to toxic mercury. Now, let Unilever prove that the exposure is not causing all these health problems we face. Only that would justify their claims that they are treating their Indian workers at par with their Dutch or English workforce," he added.
A conservative environmental audit conducted by Unilever's consultant indicates that hundreds of tons of mercury-bearing toxic wastes have been sold to unsuspecting recyclers and end users in several southern Indian states. Several tons of wastes, that the ex-workers claim are severely contaminated with mercury, were also buried by the company in unlined pits at the factory site, which borders a protected nature reserve of Pambar Shola. To date, the company has failed to fully disclose to the Pollution Control Board the raw data it used to calculate the amount of toxic mercury it released from its factory.
Greenpeace is demanding that, aside from assessing and remediating the damage to the environment and workers' health, Unilever should apologise for deceiving the public and endangering worker and community health and the environment by its careless handling of toxic mercury. The environmental organisation is also calling on the Ministry of Environment (India) to acknowledge that it has failed to protect the environment and workers from toxic pollution and to fulfil its responsibilities now by initiating an action plan to rapidly phase in safe, non-toxic alternatives to mercury use.
Notes for editors:
In a report presented to the Pollution Control Board, Unilever assess the amount of mercury released into the environment from its factory site at Kodaikanal at 539 kg, (with a statistical variance "of between 43 kg minimum and 1,075 kg maximum"). Another 284 kg of mercury has been dispersed through "off site disposal". It has produced 165 million thermometers with 125,000 kg of mercury, with a breakage rate documented at around 30-40 %.
Mercury is highly poisonous and exposure to even a small amount through air, water or skin contact exerts severe effects on the central nervous system (brain) and kidneys. Foetuses and young children are particularly vulnerable to poisoning by mercury.
