Unsafe disposal of toxic wastes 465
Toxic trade
Toxic trade is the export from one country to another of toxic wastes and
harmful materials. Because rich countries often try to dump their waste far
away, and because governments of poor countries are often powerless to
stop them, toxic trade most often means rich countries and rich communities
dumping their waste on poorer countries and poorer communities.
Despite international agreements to protect health and the environment,
toxic trade is part of global business. Even though they are harmful, products
such as tobacco, pesticides, GE foods, asbestos, leaded gas, broken electronics,
and others are commonly sent from rich countries to poorer ones.
Some toxic trade is banned by international law (see page 467). But as
many health and human rights activists know, laws only protect people when
people organize to enforce them.
Take your toxic waste and go home
The Khian Sea was a ship loaded with 14,000 tons of toxic incinerator ash from
the city of Philadelphia in the United States, to be dumped anywhere outside
the United States. But wherever it went, people rejected it.
First the ship went to the Bahamas, then the Dominican Republic, but
these countries did not accept the waste. It sailed on to Honduras, Bermuda,
Guinea‑Bissau, and the Netherlands Antilles. But no country wanted the
toxic ash.
Desperate to unload, the ship’s crew lied about their cargo. Sometimes they
said the ash was construction material or roadfill. But environmental activists
kept one step ahead of the ship, letting the countries know what was really
in the ash. No one would take it until it got to Haiti. There, the US-backed
government allowed the ash, now called “fertilizer,” into the country. 4000 tons
of the ash were dumped onto the beach in the town of Gonaives, Haiti.
Before long, public outcry forced Haitian officials to admit they were not
getting fertilizer. They ordered the waste returned to the ship. But the Khian
Sea had already slipped away in the night.
For 2 years, the Khian Sea went from country to country trying to dispose
of the remaining 10,000 tons of ash. The crew was even ordered to paint over
the ship’s name. Still, no country was
fooled into taking the toxic cargo. A crew
member later testified in court that much
Toxic waste
of the waste was dumped into the Indian
Ocean. In the end, 2000 tons of the ash
was put in a landfill back in Philadelphia,
thanks to years of effort by activists.
Return to sender!
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012