Somalia's secret dumps of toxic waste washed ashore by tsunami

Times
From Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg



THE huge waves which battered northern Somalia after the tsunami in December are believed to have stirred up tonnes of nuclear and toxic waste illegally dumped in the war-racked country during the early 1990s.

Apart from killing about 300 people and destroying thousands of homes, the waves broke up rusting barrels and other containers and hazardous waste dumped along the long, remote shoreline, a spokesman for the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) said.

“Initial reports indicate that the tsunami waves broke open containers full of toxic waste and scattered the contents. We are talking about everything from medical waste to chemical waste products,” Nick Nuttal, the Unep spokesman, told The Times.

“We know this material is on the land and is now being blown around and possibly carried to villages. What we do not know is the full extent of the problem.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,18690-1509979,00.html

that is the question.

investigated the allegations with the Italian branch of Greenpeace, published a series of articles detailing the extent of illegal dumping by a Swiss firm, Achair Partners, and an Italian waste broker, Progresso.


I thought world morality had progressed and one could expect this could happen in 1940 and 1950 but never again after the 60s.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=a623a0f35f900c0c&cat=c08dd24cec417021

Radiation threat follows tsunami
By Bokongo Bosire in Nairobi
March 05, 2005
HIGHLY toxic waste washed on to Somalia's coastline by the December tsumani has spawned illnesses with symptoms like radioactive exposure in villagers along the shore of the shattered African nation.

Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the UN Environment Program (UNEP), said: "There are indications that hazardous waste, radioactive waste, chemical waste and other substances (in containers), which have been dumped on the Somali coastline, were damaged by the tsunami."

A UNEP report said: "Somalia is one of the Least Developed Countries that received countless shipments of illegal nuclear and toxic waste dumped along the coastline."

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Talk about the double whammy and man's inhumanity to man!!!

I just saw this on yahoo news. i'm surprised there hasn't been a bigger reaction to this here. i guess that the story was buried under other news.

i think that we should find out which companies are responsible for dumping this waste, and if they are "brokers", then for whom they were working/received the waste.

within Somalia. Illegal dumping threatens the lives of people in other countries as well. Anyone at risk should be allowed to prosecute.

throw shit like this in the ocean and that make it okay and gets rid of it.

How fucking stupid can you be.

You can't throw things 'away'. There IS no 'away'. Earth is a closed system; everything we do will come back to haunt us.