December 15, 1995
Used Chlor-Alkali Plant Shipped from Norway to India for Pesticide
Production
United Phosphorus, a major Indian agrochemical producer and
exporter, recently purchased a used chlorine production plant
from Norwegian pulp and paper giant Norske Skog in order to
manufacture or formulate chlorine and chlorinated pesticides,
according to a 1995 Greenpeace report. Pesticides to be
produced by the plant include some of the world's most toxic
agrochemicals, including phosphamidon (classified by the
World Health Organization as Class Ia, "extremely hazardous")
and dichlorvos and endosulfan (slated for phaseout in Norway
due to their toxicity and environmental persistence).
The Greenpeace report, "Norway to India," states that Norske
Skog closed the plant in 1992 due to pressure from
environmental groups and Norwegian government opposition to
chlorine use in paper bleaching. Norske Skog began looking
for a buyer soon thereafter, and in 1994 sold the plant to
United Phosphorus. According to Greenpeace, United Phosphorus
will most likely reconstruct the facility in Jagadhia, an
industrial estate in the Gujarat region, one of India's
largest and most polluted industrial belts.
Greenpeace emphasizes that chlorine is an acutely toxic gas
which can cause respiratory damage and death, and that
chlorine bleaching is associated with highly toxic
organochlorine chemicals, including dioxin. The report says
that Norway has a national policy targeting organochlorines
for reduction and elimination, and that Norway is a signatory
nation to several international agreements involving
organochlorine reduction and phaseout, including the North
Sea Ministerial Declarations of 1987 and 1990, and the 1992
Paris Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution. The
Greenpeace report points out that the North Sea Declaration
identifies dichlorvos and endosulfan as priority hazardous
substances to be eliminated, yet the export of Norske Skog's
plant relocates production of these same pesticides to India.
The transfer of the Norske Skog equipment to India highlights
the growing trend to shift pesticide production from North to
South as Northern countries move to phase out older hazardous
pesticides. According to "The Pesticide Trail," a 1995 report
by The Pesticides Trust (UK), there are already approximately
125 plants manufacturing pesticides and another 500
formulating pesticides in India. The Multinational Monitor
magazine recently quoted India's Minister of Environment and
Forests as stating that the "chemical industry has emerged as
one of the sunrise areas of industrial investment in our
country."
The Greenpeace report also makes recommendations addressing
these shifting production trends, including: that Norway and
other countries establish national rules and procedures for
assessing technology transfers before exports take place;
that transfers of equipment used to manufacture harmful or
banned products be eliminated; and that all countries
institute a system for screening transfers of technologies
used to make harmful or banned products.
In response to the report, United Phosphorus has threatened
to sue Greenpeace, although they have not filed legal
charges. The chemical manufacturer is currently suing Midday,
a Bombay daily newspaper that ran a story based on the
Greenpeace report, as well as the journalist who wrote the
article and the editors and the news service which
distributed the story.
Agrow World Crop Protection News reports that India produced
85,800 tonnes of technical-grade pesticide active ingredients
in fiscal 1994-95, and that agrochemical exports from India
increased by 55% to US$83 million during this period. Agrow
lists a range of pesticides produced by India's agrochemical
industry, including methyl bromide, which is a potent ozone
depleter, and three of PAN International's "Dirty Dozen"
pesticides, DDT, BHC and methyl parathion.
Aware that pesticide production is increasing in developing
countries, many NGOs have called for a global phaseout of
certain hazardous chemicals, and for strengthening and making
legally binding the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure
(see PANUPS, July 21, 1995). The PIC procedure was adopted by
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in 1989 to ensure
that governments would be informed of hazardous pesticides in
trade, and have the right to prohibit their import.
Sources: Norway to India: A Case Study of Hazardous
Technology Transfer, Greenpeace International, March 1995;
Multinational Monitor, July/August 1995; Agrow, June 16,
1995.
Contacts: Greenpeace, 1436 U Street, NW, Washington, DC
20009; phone (202) 462-1177; fax 202-462-4507.
===========================================================
| Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) |
| |
| Phone:(415) 541-9140 Fax:(415) 541-9253 |
| Email: panna@panna.org http://www.panna.org/panna/|
| PANNA, 116 New Montgomery, #810, San Francisco, CA 94105 |
| |
|*To subscribe to PANUPS send email to MAJORDOMO@igc.apc.org|
| with the following text on one line: subscribe panups |
| To unsubscribe send the following: unsubscribe panups |
| |
|*For basic information about PANNA, send an email message |
| to panna-info@igc.apc.org |
===========================================================