toxics

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.

The jury at Wood Green Crown Court were sent out today (1pm, Tuesday 12th) to consider their verdict in the trial of five Greenpeace volunteers charged with criminal damage over the shutdown of Britain's biggest waste incinerator. 

The charges relate to the occupation of Edmonton incinerator in October last year when the five volunteers closed the plant for four days by camping on top of the chimney. The defendants had argued that their occupation of the plant was lawful because the incinerator was breaking pollution laws and discharging hundreds of tonnes of toxic chemicals, which threatened people, property and the environment.