A/42/427
English
Page 225
The most explosive development in the establishment of chemical and pollutive industry has come in developing countries. This is an outright danger. The last accidents are but a few of those that may come. However, we recognize that considerable responsibility rests on the trade union movement in the individual countries in pressing for influence on authorities and managements to avoid both such accidents and investments from companies that do not follow acceptable standards.
Technology development has improved environment in the industrial parts of the world. The new production and information systems make it more difficult, then, for the developing countries to use cheap labour as a means to attract industry to their countries. The future for these countries does not look very bright, unless the international society takes it upon itself to affect a sharing of production technology and resources. This is politically difficult indeed.
Juul Bjerke
International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions,
WCED Public Hearing,
Oslo, 24-25 June 1985
the adoption and enforcement of regulations on the packaging and labelling of chemicals whose use may be potentially harmful, to ensure that clear directions are provided in common local languages. Consumer unions and other non-governmental organizations should take the lead in collecting and distributing comparative risk information on ingredients in consumer products such as cleaning agents and pesticides.
74. The chemical producer and user industries, as the source of the risks associated with chemicals and as the greatest beneficiary of their use, should bear the responsibility for ensuring (and the liability for not ensuring) that their products meet the highest standards of safety, have the fewer adverse side effects on health and the environment, and are handled with appropriate care by workers and users. This will require the fullest possible disclosure of information about the properties and production processes of chemical substances and on comparative risks, not only to the regulatory authorities but also to the workers, consumers, and residents of the community in which a chemical industry operates.
5.2 Hazardous Wastes
75. Industrialized countries generate about 90 per cent of the world's hazardous wastes. Although all estimates have a wide margin of error, given considerable differences in definition of 'hazardous waste' in 1984 some 325 million to 37 million tons were generated worldwide [1] round 5 millon tons of which were in the newly industrialized and developing areas of the world.[2]
- ↑ H. Yakowitz, 'Global A8pects of Hazardous Waste Management' prepared for WCED, 1985; U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Superfund Strategy (Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985). U.S. estimates include wastewater in very-dilute form. The result is a much larger estimate of total hazardous wastes for the United States than for other countries.
- ↑ Some other sources quote figures as high as 14 million tons for Brazil alone, and 22 million and 13.6 million tons for Mexico and India, respectively. See H. J. Leonard, 'Hazardous Wastes: The Crisis Spreads' National Development. April 1986.
