Villages in Cuddalore industrial estate `toxic hot spot'

The Hindu, Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Correspondent : Our Staff Reporter
CHENNAI, SEPT. 20. Twenty thousand residents of 10 villages and several hamlets around the over two decade-old SIPCOT industrial estate near Cuddalore town are exposed to high levels of 22 toxic chemicals, including eight cancer causing ones, mostly released by factories in the complex, according to a study conducted by the SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitors (SACEM).

Releasing a SACEM report here today, the Federation of Consumer Organisations-Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (FEDCOT) general secretary, M.Nizamudeen, told reporters that "for the first time in the country", the air the people living near industries breathe was tested, using the simple "bucket technology," for toxic gases, such as volatile organic compounds (VOC) and sulphur compounds.

Dubbing the area a "global toxic hotspot", he said SACEM activists of Semmankuppam, Sangolikuppam and Eachangadu were trained in the use of "bucket", a plastic container fitted with a special tedlar plastic bag to capture air samples during intense odour incidents.

Referring to the report, `Gas trouble: Air quality in SIPCOT, Cuddalore', he said the SACEM team sampled five instances of chemical odour in and around the industrial complex from March to June and sent them to the Columbia Analytical Laboratory in the United States. The samples were analysed for 67 VOCs and 20 sulphur compounds.

The results confirmed the worst fears of the villagers that frequent odour incidents they experienced were indicators of chemical pollution from the factories, he said. At least 13 chemicals found were used as raw material in one or more industries.

Safety levels violated

According to him, 14 of the 22 chemicals, including trichloroethene carbon tetrachloride, acrolein, methylene chloride and hydrogen sulphide violated the United States Environmental Protection Agency's safety levels. A total of 17 chemicals affected eyes, 18 were harmful to the respiratory system, 13 capable of affecting the central nervous system and 14 injurious to skin.

Eight of them were known to cause cancer in animals and humans.

Denny Larson, Director of the US-based Global Community Monitor, who was involved in developing the bucket technology, said the levels of some of the chemicals in the SIPCOT area were at least a 1,000 times higher than those prevailing in South Africa, Thailand and the Philippines.

The report justified the villagers' demands for continuous air monitoring, including for toxic gases, an aggressive air pollution elimination programme, long-term health monitoring, specialised health care facilities for residents and a ban on the setting up or expansion of any polluting facility in the complex.

 
SOURCE : The Hindu,Tuesday, September 21, 2004
 


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