PCB, DIOXINS AND OTHER POPs

Ces migrants clandestins invisibles, inodores et invasifs font des voyages court ou long courrier et s’accumulent là où ils n’étaient pas attendus, dans les sédiments, les réservoirs des barrages, le règne animal et le règne végétal, les sols et les masses d’eau et le lait des mammifères. Ils proviennent le plus souvent d’applications industrielles, agricoles, domestiques et bureautiques. En fin de vie et hors de contrôle, ils pourrissent la nôtre, celle des baleines et des vaches dans les prairies.

(Français) Le Clemenceau qu’on rentre et consorts

8 Dec 2006

(Français) Le Clemenceau qu’on rentre et consorts

Only in French.

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(Français) La collecte sélective des déchets électriques et électroniques est une mesure de salubrité publique

15 Nov 2006

Only in French.

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(Français) Demain, les Etats-Unis lancent un porte-avions sous-marin

16 May 2006

Only in French.

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Shipwreck of an aircraft carrier in the United States

3 May 2006

The 17th of May 2006, the US Navy will sink 27,000 tons of metal valued at 9.7 million US dollars* with the force of 24 charges of explosives. The Oriskany’s immersion constitutes the first stage of a program, created by the American administration in 2004, specifically designed for the underwater re-usage of surface ships as artificial reefs. This initial venture will take place in the Gulf of Mexico whose waters have been historically contaminated by hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and PCBs and more recently plagued by the effluents of Hurricane Katrina’s natural and industrial disaster in 2005. The hull of the ex-Oriskany contains more than 350 kg of residual PCBs as well as asbestos and toxic paint. Regional dive clubs welcome this ecological disaster. In the long run, the fish attracted by this new trash heap will be subjected to a toxicological follow-up determining whether or not they are harmless in the event of consumption by divers.

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(Français) Bulletin « A la Casse » n°2

2 Mar 2006

Only in French.

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(Français) Clemenceau 30 tonnes d’amiante manquantes

12 Feb 2006

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“The Love Boat”

13 Jan 2006

According to the latest press news, the Norway (ex-France) Ocean liner will be sent to the ship breakers; instead of Bangladesh it could be sent to Alang beach in India. Before being towed to Port Kedang in Malaysia the 23rd of May 2005 where she is waiting for the final decision from the owner, Genting Corporation (which is the largest financial group of Malaysia), the Norway was docked for 18 months at Bremerhaven in Germany (1). Public opinion, the Green Party, ecologist movements and the German Authorities were not interested in her fate. This endangered masterpiece was guarded in Germany by a Nepalese crew of 45. The Norway is a masterpiece in danger but also a health, a medical and an environmental hazard: one of the engine rooms of the Norway blew up causing a deadly explosion which happened in May 2003, spreading the asbestos from the insulation at least to the third bridge of the ship. The Norway is a double victim of the asbestos pollution : she suffered the “passive” pollution from the fire protection, and heat insulations, but also from an “active” pollution due to the explosion. Despite the foggy image left hanging in illusion by her owner in the direction of a re-conversion, nobody ever really believed in any other destination for the Norway except the ship breakers’; for this temple of asbestos, the Basel Convention, the pre-treatment and the extraction of the other hazardous substances and pollutants such as the PCB’s (Polychlorinated biphenyls) were never addressed.

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In the port of Amsterdam

12 Apr 2005

The European Union has entered naval shipbreaking business. The discarded ships will begin to be dismantled and supply the steel industry with millions of tons of recyclable scrap metal. Today, France remains removed from this development, and it is the Netherlands that leads the way.

The Sandrien, a vessel of Bolivian origin, is being dismantled in the naval repair yard in Amsterdam; following the Sandrien’s deconstruction, the same yard will also scrap the Otapan (167 m long). Seized by the Minister of the Environment, the Dutch Tribunal considers a vessel destined for scrapping as waste. Consequently, the Sandrien could not rejoin Asian yards. If it wishes, the German government could do the same with the ex-France liner.

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(Français) Après le quai de l’oubli au Havre, le quai de l’amnésie à Bremerhaven

7 Mar 2005

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(Français) Un fiasco électronique et écologique

25 Jan 2005

(Français) Un fiasco électronique et écologique

Only in French.

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