November 8, 1997
Dioxins - the most toxic industrial waste
Industries have been known to deliberately impart damages to the environment and communities by toxic waste dumping and plant emmissions. Dioxins have been identified in the United States as the most toxic industrial chemicals known to human as they are carcinogenics and related to various implications to health of human, animals, and vegetations. These chemicals are hazardous to human biological systems and exposures can lead to immediate damages. Scientific studies in the United States, furthermore, have established that adverse effects of dioxins to human could be found at low levels of exposure.
Dioxins are produced when chlorine-based chemical compounds are burned. Possible sources of dioxins are hazardous waste incinerators and solid waste incinerators, and factories manufacturing polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, plastic. Our concern in Malaysia is possibility of presence of dioxins in our environment since pollution from various industries go unchecked and majority of them still manage to escape scrutinies of the Department of Environment.
Open burning is still a widely-practised method of degenerating industrial as well as municipial wastes, but a number of waste incinerators imported have been put into use in some states. Either smokes and ashes flying in the air from open-burning sites or emmissions from waste incinerators can bring dioxins into the environment if wastes containing chlorine are present.
Resource
Dying from Dioxin: A citizen's guide to Reclaiming Our Health and Rebuilding Democracy - Lois Gibbs
To learn more about dioxins, please check out the Dioxin Homepage
November 9, 1997
Sad state of environment in Selangor and Klang Valley
In October this year, residents in several housing areas experienced serious difficulties when water supply was cut. Water treatment plants were shut down due to contamination of Sungai Langat where water is drawn from and to the treatment plants. Residents of low-income groups were the majority affected by the water shortage. It was found that the water from Sungai Langat contained diesel which is harmful to human health, and it was decided that the contamination could escape the treatment plants and passed on to human uses, thus the plants had to be shut down temporarily.
Recently, the TV3 evening news showed aerial views of the locations along the river and even the sight seen from the television screen was horrible. Blackened soils and plastic drums were clearly seen within a factory premise and this added to the overall filthy conditions of the premise. About a week before, major newspapers showed pictures of Sungai Luit which brought more attentions to serious degree of damages to the environment in Selangor besides the water shortage. It was reported that municipial wastes piled up nearby collapsed and filthy liquid seeped into the waterway.
