Toxic waste heightens needs for new facilities
Toxic waste heightens needs for new facilities
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Environmentalists yesterday stepped up calls for a central toxic waste treatment plant after enough cyanide was dumped in a holiday resort to kill seven million people.
"It should have been set up long ago. The case has underlined the urgent need to have the plant quickly," said Gurmit Singh, a leading national environmentalist.
Other environmentalists said the indiscriminate dumping of toxic waste highlighted the need for a quick review of Malaysia's environmental laws for heavier, deterrent penalties for violators.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday said he was very annoyed with the dumping of the cyanide in Pangkor island resort, which according to experts, was enough to kill seven million people.
"You can't have industry without toxic waste. You can't dispose of toxic waste if you don't provide a place to dispose it," he said, slamming the opposition for delaying the plant by backing protests by owners of land sited near the plant.
Forty-one 50-kilogram drums of potassium cyanide were found dumped a week ago on Pangkor island off northern Perak state after thousands of fish at a nearby farm died.
The owner of Scientific Chemtex Sdn. Bhd, a local company named by the government as the culprit, could be fined up to 10,000 ringgit (US$4,0000) or sentenced to two years' jail or both if convicted under environmental laws.
The Poisons Act provides for another 5,000 ringgit ($2,000) fine and two years jail term.
Police said Scientific Chemtex could also be charged under criminal laws for endangering public health and safety.
Fisheries officials said tests have showed the levels of potassium cyanide in the sea water samples around the dump and the fish ponds were lethal to aquatic life.
The contamination was found to be above the permissible level of 0.001 part per million acceptable by U.S. standards, they said.
Mahathir admitted that Malaysia's present laws on dumping of dangerous waste were inadequate and should be reviewed.
"Before this, we did not know how many lives would be lost because of this. Now that we know, perhaps the penalty is too low," he said.
A 353-million-ringgit ($141.2 million) treatment plant in southwestern Negeri Sembilan, was to have begun construction in mid-1994.
Kualiti Alam Sdn. Bhd., a company 50-percent owned by listed United Engineers Malaysia (UEM), has been severely criticized for the delay.
The other shareholders are Danish-based I. Kruger Engineering, Chemcontrol and Enviroplan, which collectively hold 30 percent, and Arab-Malaysian Development Development the remaining 20 percent.
UEM said the plant could be completed in 1998.