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Call for action on PCB imports
Environmental group urges action to help stop Canada from being turned into a toxic waste dumping ground
Issue: The importing of 90,000 kilos of PCB waste to Canada from Japan, as reported in Straight Goods.
Action Required: Contact David Anderson (Federal Environment Minister) and Dan Newman (Ontario Environment Minister) to express your strong view about Northern Ontario being used as a third world dumping ground for international toxic material.
Authorized by: Temiskaming Environmental Action Committee
Timing: Please contact them during the week of April 3-7th
Contact Information:
David Anderson, M.P.
Minister of Environment Canada
28th Floor, Terrasses de la Chaudiere,
10 Wellington Street,
Hull, Q.C.,
K1A 0H3
(819) 997-1441, fax(819) 953-3457
AnderD@parl.gc.ca
Dan Newman MPP
Minister of the Environment
135 St. Clair Avenue West,15th Floor,
Toronto, ONT. Canada
M4V 1P5
(416) 314-6790, fax (416) 314-6748
Background:
TCI (Trans-Cycle Industries) is an American based company that located in Kirkland Lake Ontario for the expressed purpose of processing Ontario and Quebec PCB contaminated equipment. They are currently seeking an expansion of their license to include the whole world. While the processing of Ontario and Quebec PCB waste reduced the potential risk of accidental contamination to these provinces by reducing the stock pile of PCB's in the province, the importing of waste material reverses this trend by bring additional PCB's to the provinces and ultimately burning them somewhere in Canada. This adds to the risks incurred in PCB handling, incineration, and adds to the back ground burden of POP's (Persistent Organic Pollutants) when incineration occurs.
The importing of this PCBs contaminated material is in conflict with the spirit and the word of the Basil Convention as PCBs always have a component of Dioxin which by convention, is not allowed to be shipped. It is ironic that an international agreement designed to prevent the dumping of toxic waste into weak economic third world countries is now not adequate to prevent the this same dumping in Northern Ontario towns.
If this shipment of PCBs is allowed to be imported into Canada, it would make it difficult to prevent the large amount of waste existing around the world from finding their way into small desperate towns who have not the economic maturity to fight off the lucrative waste business.
Alternatives to centralized incineration of PCBs do exist. Portable chemical based PCB processing equipment can eliminate the risks posed by transportation and incineration of PCBs.
Please let your voice be heard!
Additional Background Information at:
Straight Goods - www.straightgoods.com/item251.shtml
Basel Action Network - www.ban.org/first_page.html
Highgrader Magazine - www.grievousangels.com/highgrader
Greenpeace Canada - www.greenpeacecanada.org
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