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Clean up the toxic legacy in Kerala, Greenpeace tells Grasim

International environment organisation Greenpeace has cautioned the Kerala government and the Grasim workers that the closure notice served by the A V Birla group's Grasim Industries at Mavoor in Kozhikode may be a "smokescreen to allow the Birla group to escape without paying any compensation for the long-term damage done to the worker, community and environmental health."

"Grasim should not be allowed to do a repeat of the Union Carbide escape act in Bhopal. When they close down, they must be held liable for the environmental remediation of the site and for medical rehabilitation of the workers and affected members of the community," Greenpeace's Asia Toxics campaigner Nityanand Jayaraman said in a statement in Thiruvananthapuram today.

He said evidence from around the world indicated that chlorine-bleached pulp mills, such as Grasim's, release long-lasting and life-threatening poisons that pollute the environment and life even decades after the source of the pollution was removed. Some of these poisons, including dioxins, furans and other chlorinated organic compounds, entered the human body through food and compromise the ability of foetuses and infants to develop into healthy, normal adults, he added.

"Grasim can't just close and move. They have to clean-up the toxic legacy left behind by their three decades of polluting existence," said Jayaraman. "They also owe it to their workers who may have borne the brunt of the pollution inside the factory," he added.

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