Number 473, July 12, 2002.
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Pesticides from the Shell Plant Damage Health of Neighborhood Residents
Residents of the Vila Carioca neighborhood in the southern zone of São Paulo have been contaminated by pollutants from the nearby Shell plant. The Medical Board of the State and its Sanitary Commission are supervising the registration and testing of residents in the neighborhood.
The SP Sanitary Commission confirmed that Shell had denied that its plant and surrounding area were contaminated since charges were made in April. The pollution caused by the burying of fuel waste and pesticides spread from the Shell complex and pesticides and toxic hydrocarbons were taken by underground water to the residential area of the neighborhood. The State System of Toxin Vigilance is analyzing the damage and will determine the type of medical exams and treatment needed for the local population. Shell confirms that they will only carry through with the medical exams for the residents if the State System of Toxin Vigilance demands it.
The information to be collected from the neighborhood residents include how long they have lived and worked in the area and whether or not they used well water. Contact with the toxic substances can cause anything from dizziness and learning difficulties to damage to the nervous and respiratory system as well as cancer depending on the degree and duration of exposure.
In order to reinforce the necessity and importance of the health of the neighborhood residents, Councilman Joopi Hato (PMDB), president of the Investigative Council of Gas Stations of the City Hall, delivered to the State Secretary of Education the results of the investigation completed by Carlos Bocuhy, a member of the State Council on the Environment. The investigation included death certificates of neighborhood residents.
The investigators included two members of CADES, the Municipal Council on Environment and Sustainable Development. They interviewed over 250 people: 13% of whom suffer from rhinitis and 19% from constant headaches. According to Hato, the majority of the death certificates indicate death from cancer and respiratory problems.
Denounced in 1993, the Shell contamination in Vila Carioca is a target of a denouncement proposed by the Municipal Environmental Prosecutor.
Source: Folha de São Paulo, July 2, 2002
National Campaign Against the Concession of the Alcântara Base to the U.S. Government
I. Brief History of the Base: Alcântara Rocket Launch Center (CLA)in Maranhão.
1. In 1982 the Brazilian government created the launch site in the
municipality of Alcântara and expropriated an area of 52,000
hectares. Five hundred families were affected, the majority descen-
dents of escaped slave communities (quilombos) who lived on fishing
and subsistence agriculture. Those families were moved to seven
villages and granted 15-hectare lots, far from fishing access. In 1990,
the Collor government increased the size of the base by expropriating an
additional 10,000 hectares, giving the CLA a total of 62,000
hectares.
2. In October 2000, the Cardoso government signed an agreement with
the U.S. government to cede the base or, in other words, the 62,000
hectares of land. Under the accord, the United States would control
the area and Brazilian authorities would not even be able to monitor
it. In practice, the CLA would be a U.S. military base.
3. Analysts warn that the real objective of the U.S. government is
not just to launch rockets, but to use nuclear warheads, as a way to
maintain military control of the Amazon. The geopolitical strategy
of the United States in the Amazon region already includes military
bases in Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, which can benefit from
intelligence provided by the Amazon Intelligence System, or SIVAM,
which was set up by U.S. corporations. Consequently, what is at
stake is the sovereignty of the Amazon and the control of its
riches, its biodiversity and water resources.
II. Principal Demands of Base-Area People
The population that is being affected by this policy has organized
the Movements of those Affected by the Base (MAB). Its principal
demands are:
1. That the families living in the affected region be identified and
their needs accessed.
2. That no more families be relocated, especially the 210 that are
currently threatened by the 10,000 hectare expansion of the base.
3. That the families be given the right to work the lands within the
original 52,000 hectares, even if access has to be granted through
concession.
4. That legalization of those landholdings within the CLA be
guaranteed, since they were part of former escaped slave =
communities.
5. That the families be guaranteed education for their adolescent
children, technical assistance, and training and resources in order
to develop agricultural production on their land.
6. That a social fund be created, equal to 15% of each space rocket
launch. Of this money, 5% would be for the mayor's office and 10%
for the relocated communities.
7. That the Brazilian government not concede the base to the United
States.
III. Current Situation of the Agreement between the Brazilian and
U.S. Governments
1. By the Brazilian Constitution, all international agreements must
be approved by Congress. The Brazilian government has sent the
agreement to Congress for approval.
2. In 2001, the agreement was evaluated by the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Chamber of Deputies. The member reporting on the
agreement, PT Deputy Waldir Pires of the state of Bahia, produced a
document, approved by consensus, which rejected it and proposed
changes that would guarantee Brazilian sovereignty over the area.
3. The accord was then evaluated by the Committee on Science and
Technology. The member in charge of reporting on the agreement, PFL
Deputy Jose Rocha of Para, produced an evaluation in favor of the
original agreement. That document was approved by the Committee.
4. In March 2002, the agreement was sent to the Committee on the
Constitution and Justice, where PSDB Deputy Zenaldo Coutinho of Para
drafted a report. The deputy must now produce a new report, which
will be voted on by the Committee.
5. After that, the Committee report will be voted on by the
full Chamber, and the deputies generally follow the lead of the
committees.
IV. National Campaign Against the Agreement
It is necessary to block this agreement, because its approval would
allow the U.S. government to assume control over the entire base
area of 62,000 hectares, with serious consequences for local communities
and national sovereignty.
Please send messages demanding that Deputy Zenaldo Coutinho, like
Waldir Pires, reject the agreement.
Write NOW to:
Deputado Zenaldo Coutinho
dep.zenaldocoutinho@camara.gov.br
Fax: 011 55 61 318 2266 (from the United States)
Mailing address:
Camara dos Deputados, Anexo 3, 70000 Brasilia, DF, Brasil
Source: Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
Food Rights Watch, June 2002
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