EU: The European Commission has said it will propose tough new criminal penalties to try to stop illegal shipments of toxic waste from Europe to the Third World.
Environment commissioner Stavros Dimas announced the plan to beef up existing laws yesterday following the deaths of eight people in the Ivory Coast in a toxic waste scandal involving a tanker chartered by the Dutch energy firm Trafigura Beheer BV.
The Probo Koala tanker, which was impounded by the Estonian authorities on Wednesday, is accused of unloading 400 tonnes of toxic waste in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in August. The waste was later dumped on city rubbish tips, leaking toxic fumes.
Eight people died as a result of inhaling toxic gases, and tens of thousands were forced to seek medical attention. Up to 77,000 people may have been poisoned.
On a visit to the Estonian port of Paldiski to support an investigation by the authorities, Mr Dimas said he feared the Probo Koala incident was just the "tip of the iceberg" in illegal waste shipments from Europe. He also condemned member state governments for not doing enough to prevent tankers using their harbours illegally to pick up European toxic waste for transport to Africa.
"Such highly toxic waste should never have left the European Union. European and international laws were broken. There is no excuse for it. What happened was not only unethical in the most profound sense of the word, but it was criminal," said Mr Dimas, who said he wanted to raise awareness about illegal shipments of toxic waste.
Trafigura, the Dutch firm that chartered the ship, denied the vessel had been impounded and, in a statement, said the waste on the Probo Koala in Estonia was not the same waste as discharged in Abidjan. The firm described the waste dumped in Ivory Coast as "chemical slops", a mixture of gasoline, spent caustic soda and water and said it was a normal byproduct of cleaning tanks used to transport fuel.
Greenpeace welcomed the decision by Estonia to impound the ship, and the signal by Brussels that it would use the Probo Koala case to further tackle illicit toxic dumping.
Mr Dimas said he would seek ways to reinforce the existing waste shipment regulation and its implementation by the member states. "I also plan to put forward a proposal to criminalise certain environmentally damaging practices such as the one perpetrated," said Mr Dimas, who will raise the issue at the next meeting of EU environment ministers.