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Ship may contain other toxic materials also: eco groups

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The French aircraft carrier, Clemenceau, is likely to contain about 700 tonnes of structural material contaminated with the globally banned and cancer-causing chemicals polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) besides asbestos, according to the Basel Action Network, Greenpeace, the Corporate Accountability Desk and the Ban Asbestos Network of India.

The PCBs are far more difficult and expensive to remove than asbestos, according to a statement issued by these environmental groups. India has neither the facility nor capacity for handling the highly toxic PCBs, nor the destruction technology required under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants — a United Nations treaty. India and France have ratified the treaty but the Indian Government does not have the political will to ensure that such toxins are dealt with without harming workers and the environment, says the statement. No tests have been conducted to measure PCBs arising from ship-breaking at Alang in Gujarat.

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