Rich nations treating Asia as 'the cesspit'<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (AFP): The world's rich nations are treating Asia as
\nthe cesspit of the industrialized world by paying developing
\ncountries to take their toxic wastes, Greenpeace said on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"Industrialized countries are spending money to dump waste in
\nless developed Asian countries, and to buy incinerators in those
\ncountries to burn rich states' waste,\" said Tara Buakamsri of
\nGreenpeace Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
\"We will no longer be the cesspit for the industrialized
\nworld,\" he said at a Greenpeace-run conference of 12 Asian
\nnations here.<\/p>\n
Tara said Japan is one of the world's largest producers of
\ndeadly toxins and heavy metals, which are emitted into the air
\nwhen burnt at incinerators or dumped in poorly-regulated
\nlandfills.<\/p>\n
And now it was stepping up its strategy of offering Southeast
\nAsian states money to build incinerators to burn its transferred
\nwaste, he said.<\/p>\n
\"It is unacceptable that Japan, which has created an
\nenvironmental health disaster in its own backyard ... is pushing
\nto export its polluting machines.\"<\/p>\n
Global organizations, including the World Bank and the Asian
\nDevelopment Bank, are contributing to the hazardous waste control
\ntechniques by funding these projects, Greenpeace said in a
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
Incinerators have been identified throughout the
\nindustrialized world as the primary source of dioxins, considered
\nthe most potent toxic chemicals known to humankind, it said.<\/p>\n
The incinerators sold to developing Asian states \"are causing
\nsevere environmental, social and public health problems which
\ndisproportionately impact and dislocate low income
\nneighborhoods.\"<\/p>\n
Bangkok's city administration has recently decided to buy
\nincinerators to burn up waste -- its own as well as garbage
\nshipped in from other countries.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace said it has set up a regional anti-toxic dumping
\nand ecological protection organization called Waste Not Asia to
\ncurb rich states' plans to move even more waste here.<\/p>\n
Asia will no longer allow \"a toxic technology being dumped on
\nus by some of the most polluted nations in the world,\" Tara said.<\/p>\n
Waste Not Asia will strive to replace toxic waste dumping and
\nincineration with recycling and more effective waste management,
\nsaid Sasanka Dev, an Indian environmental activist.<\/p>\n
\"We would like to put governments and the incinerator industry
\non notice that we now have the ability, information and skills to
\nchallenge their visionless designs,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Dioxins have been linked to a variety of cancers and
\ncongenital birth defects.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Japanese authorities detained four
\nGreenpeace protesters on trespass charges for scaling a building
\nto protest waste incineration by draping signs proclaiming Tokyo
\nto be the dioxin capital of the world.<\/p>\n
Dioxin incineration \"is an ongoing public health disaster in
\nJapan,\" said Koa Tasaka, a Japanese heavy metals and chemical
\nexpert at the conference.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rich-nations-treating-asia-as-the-cesspit-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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