Greenpeace India

HLL and Mercury Pollution in Kodaikanal

In the winter of 1984, the colonial summer retreat of Kodaikanal got a Thermometer factory from multinational Ponds. It was set up after dismantling a plant owned by the then Cheseborough Ponds in Watertown in the US. Hindustan Lever Limited, a subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch Consumer-care firm Unilever, acquired the plant in 1997 as part of Unilever’s global acquisition of Ponds.

The factory had been functioning without letting known the employees or the locals about the dangers it posed to the surroundings and to the workers for almost two decades. Raw mercury for the thermometers was imported from the United States and finished thermometers were sent back to the US, from where they were distributed to markets abroad.

By late 90s, mercury contamination in the area was measured at hundreds of times permissible limits of .01mg/kg in the soil as mercury evaporated while at work. This means that over a period of years, the mercury escaped the plant as vapour and dumped as waste would amount to several tons. While this being the case, the company insisted that the total loss of mercury to the environment was only 559 kg, which would not impact the environment, thus putting the onus on the local community to prove the contamination.

On the search for Mercury waste, on 7 March 2001, Greenpeace and a local environment group - Palani Hills Conservation Council (PHCC) - exposed mercury bearing waste glass dumped by the company at a local scrap yard. Consequent demonstrations by the local people at the factory site forced its closure, and the Pollution Control Board issued a notice to the company to refrain from carrying out any activity at the site.

Later, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board called on HLL to provide documentation on the use or storage of mercury at the site, to which HLL submitted fraudulent and patently false declarations. Further, it was discovered that 10 tones mercury were unaccounted for and has been lost to the environment, in addition to the amount admitted!

The worst part of the case was that workers were exposed to unacceptable mercury vapor levels since they were asked to work without proper safety measures and regular medical check-ups. Many of the workers’ symptoms, which clearly indicated reaction to mercury, were often not even recorded during the irregular medical examinations. In the last few years, as many as 12 ex-workers have died of either renal failure or multiple complications, which could easily be established to Mercury exposure. Many more are suffering and at various stages of criticality with problems ranging from neurological, nephrological, reproductive and endocrinal disorders.

Equally important is the fact that the tropical forest of the Pambar Shola on the east and the Kodi Lake and town to the West and North respectively have been polluted by the mercury vapor blown out by the fans and natural drainage of water. Mercury contamination of lake or river can have wide ranging environmental effects since the sediments will be recycled into the aquatic Eco-system for decades or even longer.

The levels of mercury in the soil outside the factory indicate an elevation of 25 times over the lowest reading, and 250 times permissible limits. This contamination is the result of mercury vapor forcefully blown out by fans, and there is every reason to believe that these high levels of contamination would also be reflected in the surrounding environment.

After the closure of the factory, local environmental groups and Greenpeace have been focusing on sending the waste materials back, do remediation of the site and compensate the workers. The Indian Peoples’ Tribunal (IPT), on a request from local groups agreed to look into the health and environmental impact of mercury pollution and the existing practices at the factory with regards to safety and effluent disposal.

The investigation by the IPT showed that the ex-workers of HLL thermometer factory had suffered occupational health problems. It also demonstrated that HLL have falsified information provided to statutory bodies, and is responsible for the illegal dispersal of several tons of mercury throughout Tamil Nadu, in addition to the tons of mercury released from the factory in a sensitive ecological location. The analysis of factory workers’ health problems indicated a close relationship to mercury poisoning symptoms reported from other parts of the world. The spot ambient mercury readings are 9.6 times more than the accepted standard specification. Such exposures are sufficient to cause memory loss and other neurological problems.

With pressure building up, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board ordered HLL in March last to send the waste back to the US for recycling and disposal. Consequently, the company had not option but to collect, pack and send the 290 tonnes waste material to a recycler in Pennsylvania in the US on May 8 from Tuticorin port.

Notwithstanding all these developments, the lie the company has been preaching continues. It still holds the view that the workers are not affected by years of mercury contamination and that there is no effect to the ecology of this sensitive forest area due to dispersing of tones of Mercury into the atmosphere. When can one expect the company to correct its records and value the flora and fauna of this sensitive ecology and its inhabitants?