GP Experts Banned From Entering Chilean PVC Fire Site

[the.greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org]

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Original-TO:      World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-Cc:      The Greenbase (Green2:Green2:Gnl:Main)
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               GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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>> GREENPEACE EXPERTS PREVENTED FROM ENTERING MATHIESEN &
MOLYPACK INDUSTRY IN SPITE OF BEING WITH GOVERNMENT HEALTH
AUTHORITIES.  
 
SANTIAGO, 9 March 1996 (GP) The visit of two Greenpeace
International experts to Chile to investigate the case study
begun immediately after the fire and to evaluate procedures
used to measure the environmental damage and complement the
governmental point of view with independent sample taking, has
been defeated by not allowing them to enter the fire area
because of an express decision of the Mathiesen & Molypack
industry.  
 
On December 17, 1995, the Mathiesen PVC factory in Chile
suffered a fire which burned hundreds of tons of PVC and
extremely toxic additives (chloroparaphins, plastificants,
stabilizants) along with pesticides (pentachlorophenol) and
pharmaceutical products. Preliminary analysis confirm the
presence of dioxins, the most toxic substance known, in the

ashes of the fire. Firemen took three days to put out the fire
and spent three more weeks in completely extinguishing
smoldering hot spots. Smoke covered the city of Santiago (a
city with 5 million inhabitants) and directly affected the
near-by population of Lo Espejo, where 120,000 people are
still affected by emanations from the industry.  
In this accident, not only were stored toxic substances leaked
into the environment, but new organoclhlorinated compounds
were formed, these being even more toxic than original ones
(e.g dioxins), which are scattered by the smoke particles.
 
The Chilean authorities accepted advice from Greenpeace due to
the severity of the situation and to our experience,
particularly in PVC issues. This week, Myriam Urzua, the
Executive Director of Greenpeace Chile, Maria Luisa Robleto,
the Toxic Campaign Coordinator in Chile, Dr. David Santillo, a
scientist from the Greenpeace Laboratory at Exeter University,
and Dolores Romano, the Greenpeace Spain Campaigner for Clean
Production, met with environmental and health authorities
offering their expertise.  
The need to take samples in the area of the fire and to

evaluate adequately both the current risks to the environment
and to the health of the population was recognized by the
governmental health authorities, who accepted Greenpeace's
offer to carry out, at no cost, an independent study of the
situation.
 
However, the Greenpeace experts could not collect the samples
needed because the industry denied them access, even though
they were accompanied by government health officials.
 
Greenpeace took samples near the outside of the factory,
unused land, housetops, and in the D593 school of Lo Espejo.
Greenpeace will continue advising the government on additional
steps to adequately confine the waste and to prevent future
accidents.  
 
 
After of weeks of studying the case, visiting the interior of
the industry, seeing the waste disposal from the fire, talking
with the people responsible for the Mathiesen & Molypack
industry, and authorities from the Metropolitan Area
Superintendent, the
Director of the Environmental Metropolitan Health Service
(SESMA), the Institute for Public Health, the mayors of Lo
Espejo and San Bernardo, working with grassroots,
environmental and local organizations, GREENPEACE SOUTH
PACIFIC states:
 
     The case study and evaluation allow us to propose:
 
TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT OF LO ESPEJO 
 
1.   The industry must leave the urban area since is
considered "dangerous".
 
2.   All the contaminated debris, mud, water and soil must be
analyzed by independent laboratories to categorize it and
dispose of it permanently. The current situation of the waste
inside the industry is transitory and dangerous for the
workers and the population, and poses the danger of the
contaminated compounds filtering down to the underground water
table.
     It is urgent that these measures be taken before the
rainy season. The current disposal situation does not
guarantee that in case of strong rain the compounds would not
be dispersed into the environment. It is a very well known
fact that most of these compounds generate chemical reactions
and strong toxic emissions when they come in contact with
water.
 
3.   The governmental control that currently exists is
insufficient. The company should be under permanent
supervision by the authority in charge of the environmental
summary, in order to assure that the company is not
clandestinely disposing of waste, nor moving debris like
currently happens. This permanently generates amazons and dust
clouds that, pushed by southern winds, invade Lo Espejo and
its inhabitants.
 
4.   It is imperative to begin an epidemiological study of
firemen and of the population affected in order to determine
the effects in the short- and the long-term of the toxic
contamination caused by this serious fire.
 
TO PREVENT SIMILAR SITUATIONS IN CHILE:
 
1.   Inventory of the chemical industry including
eradication plans for companies classified as "dangerous."  
2.   Implement urgently an inventory of uses for toxic
substances.
 
3.   Foment restrictions on the use of toxic substances,
particularly chlorinated ones.
4.   Foment changes in current legislation and codes in order
to assure better control and punishment for environmental
damage.
 
 
Contact: Greenpeace Chile 56-2-639-1366
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