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Greenpeace
is an independent campaigning organisation that uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems and to force solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.
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voice
Delegates at the December 2000 Johannesburg conference
were shocked and moved. By giving victims of pollution a voice they
were not negotiating treaty text alone, but were making decisions about
real people's lives.
A few days later the treaty was overwhelmingly agreed by 120 nations,
including the USA. It was ratified as the Stockholm Treaty in May 2001;
a major victory against chemical pollution.
"I think embarrassment played a part", said Rick Hind of the Greenpeace
toxics campaign. "It exposed American hypocrisy and also the implication
that the US had already solved this problem. It shows the US does not
have the backing of the Americans in its pro-pollution position."
He added "David Prince's testimony shows how people's lives - in the
US and beyond - are affected by chemical pollution on a daily basis.
Following are excerpts from David Prince's testimony, and from that
of his wife, Diane Prince.
Johannesburg, South Africa
5 December 2000
"When I last attended these meetings, in Geneva, my wife Diane was in
remission from ovarian cancer. Today, her cancer has returned and she
is now undergoing a course of chemotherapy.
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Click on image to view
in larger format.
David Prince's testimony shows how people's lives - in the US
and beyond - are affected by chemical pollution on a daily basis.
Memorial sign to Mossville residents who have died of cancer and other diseases.
Until the Johannesburg conference, the US stood
in opposition to a ban on the super toxin, dioxin. This is the
chemical associated with the Condea Vista polyvinyl plant near
David Prince's hometown of Mossville, Louisiana, where residents'
blood dioxin levels are three times the national average.
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