Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 3: The politics of wasteMercury is still mined on a large scale in China and by artisanal miners elsewhereon a small scale. It can also be a by-product of mining and refining zinc, gold andsilver and from refining of natural gas. It is also recovered from old mine-tailingsand recycled from mercury containing products and stockpiles, particularly in <strong>the</strong>chlor-alkali industry.Activists, including groundWork, are pushing for a global ban in <strong>the</strong> use ofmercury.Health care products contribute less than 1% to worldwide mercury demand butpose direct health risks to health workers and to people whose teeth have been filledwith dental mercury amalgams.The global movement for mercury-free health care reports advances in <strong>the</strong> EuropeanUnion and <strong>the</strong> United States in <strong>the</strong> phasing out and/or banning of mercury-basedmedical products. There are also advances in Argentina, Brazil and <strong>the</strong> Philippines.In South Africa <strong>the</strong> KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has issued a directivephasing out all mercury products in public health facilities. Ironically, <strong>the</strong>seinitiatives have brought down <strong>the</strong> costs of such products. In China, by 2004 <strong>the</strong>rewere eight factories producing 150 million mercury-based <strong>the</strong>rmometers, a 20%increase from 2000, using nearly 200 metric tonnes of mercury.Additional sources: Health Care Without Harm;and http://www.zeromercury.org/fact_sheet/index.htmlconference that an Italian corporation was dumping toxic waste in war torn Somaliademonstrated its pertinence and urgency. Delegates adopted environmental justice as<strong>the</strong> core idea capable of linking disparate struggles – struggles for land, housing andservices, and struggles against pollution, dispossession and exclusion – to a commonmovement. They also mandated <strong>the</strong> formation of <strong>the</strong> Environmental Justice NetworkingForum (EJNF) to give shape to <strong>the</strong> movement. EJNF grew rapidly to represent over600 organisations representing workers, local community groups, religious bodies andwomen’s groups as well as NGOs active in a range of sectors. It took up <strong>the</strong> Thorcampaign amongst o<strong>the</strong>rs and led civil society participation in <strong>the</strong> debates that <strong>the</strong>nseemed to promise a wholesale transformation of policy.- 40 - groundWork - <strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong>