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.