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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: GUATEMALA: GREENPEACE INVESTIGATES DUMPING OF TOXIC WASTE
- Message-ID: <1992Aug17.082325.16350@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Organization: PACH
- Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 08:23:25 GMT
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- Lines: 122
-
- /** reg.guatemala: 81.0 **/
- ** Topic: IPS:Greenpeace Investigates **
- ** Written 9:59 am Aug 14, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:reg.guatemala **
- From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
- Subject: IPS:Greenpeace Investigates
-
- /* Written 12:09 am Aug 13, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
- Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved. Permission to re-
- print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.
-
- Title: GUATEMALA: GREENPEACE INVESTIGATES DUMPING OF TOXIC WASTE
-
- an inter press service feature
-
- by george rodriguez
-
- puerto quetzal, guatemala, aug 10 (ips) -- the international
- environmental organization, ''greenpeace'' has announced that it
- is investigating reports it has received that toxic waste is
- being dumped in guatemala.
-
- ''we have received denunciations of two cases of dumping in
- guatemala and we are investigating them,'' the head of
- greenpeace's toxic waste campaign in central america, edwin
- garzona, told ips monday on board the organization's flagship,
- the ''rainbow warrior.''
-
- radioactive material has been dumped in the province of peten,
- in northern guatemala, while industrial waste has been deposited
- in the northeastern part of the country , garzona told ips. he
- gave no further details on the two cases.
-
- greenpeace has found out that there are four projects for
- importing toxic waste in guatemala although this is prohibited by
- existing environment protection legislation here.
-
- one of the projects involves the recycling of industrial,
- household and livestock waste from the united states. the project
- ''was originally authorized by the ministry of economic
- affairs,'' according to greenpeace.
-
- under another project, which is ''still being negotiated,''
- discarded tyres from the united states would be used to generate
- electricity in guatemala.
-
- the president of a congressional commission on the environment
- in guatemala, arturo amiel, told ips that, while guatemalan law
- ''leaves no legal door'' open for the importation of toxic waste
- into the central american country, ''money has proved powerful.''
-
- ''the danger is latent and there is too much money involved in
- these affairs,'' amiel admitted, adding that the commission has
- information on new attempts to introduce toxic waste into
- guatemala.
-
- the parliamentarian was referring to recent attempts to bribe
- legislators to obtain exemptions from two environmental
- protection and improvement laws, dating back to 1986, which
- prohibit the importation of toxic waste for ''technical,
- scientific and commercial purposes.''
-
- amiel said the presence of the ''rainbow warrior'' in puerto
- quetzal, a port located some 120 km southeast of the guatemalan
- capital, was ''extremely important.'' (more)
- ----
-
-
- the ship arrived here saturday within the framework of a
- campaign to encourage the implementation of an agreement banning
- the dumping of toxic waste in central american countries.
-
- at a press conference sunday on board the vessel, marcie
- mersky, director of greenpeace's central american bureau,
- explained that the campaign includes the circulation of letters
- to be sent to the sub-region's presidents with a view to
- collecting ''thousands of signatures from central american
- citizens.''
-
- the letters highlight the need for the presidents to sign the
- agreement at their summit in september in panama, she said.
-
- garzona told reporters that ''central america has become a
- favourite destination'' for exporters of waste. ''in 1987 we
- documented eight proposals, while in the first eight months of
- 1992, we have registered another nine,'' he said.
-
- according to mersky, greenpeace is also worried by the
- transport of nuclear waste between japan, france and the united
- kingdom through the panama canal.
-
- about six ships transport this type of waste on as many routes
- each year. since 1989, greenpeace has registered a total of 29
- vessels used for this purpose, she said.
-
- processing plants in france and the united kingdom extract
- plutonium from japanese nuclear waste and then re-export it to
- japan for use as fuel, mersky explained.
-
- ''we hope that the presidents of the isthmus also come out
- against the shipment of plutonium and radioactive material in
- general through the panama canal and the sub-region,'' the
- greenpeace official said.
-
- plutonium is a by-product obtained from the burning of uranium
- in nuclear plants. it is considered the most dangerous element on
- earth and takes an average of 24,000 years to lose its
- radioactivity.
-
- the ''rainbow warrior'' arrived here from el salvador, where
- greenpeace conducted similar activities to those it plans to
- stage in guatemala.
-
- the ship's name is taken from a prophecy of the cree indians
- in north america, which stated that all the world's races would
- come together one day under the symbol of the rainbow to end the
- destruction of the earth and that that would be ''the time of the
- rainbow warriors.'' (end/ips/trd/so/gr-sfi/kb/92)
- ----
-
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **
-
-