Toxic Wasted Dumped By Mafia
Posted on 20 September 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in Uncategorized
Italian authorities are facing claims that the Calabrian mafia deliberately sunk a ship holding toxic waste, in order to bypass environmental laws, only 20 miles off the south west coast of Italy.
Francesco Fonti, from the Calabria-based ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate, has claimed the mob muscled in on the lucrative business of radioactive waste disposal and illegally sank “hundreds” of barrels of toxic waste.
A robot submarine has been sent to the area to verify the report. Murky photos show the vessel intact and alongside it are a number of yellow barrels, with labels claiming the contents are toxic. TV images showed at least one barrel had fallen from the damaged hull and lay empty on the seabed. “This is an issue for the whole international community,” said Silvestro Greco, head of Calabria’s environment agency.
Fonti claims mobsters made millions of dollars by illegally dumping radioactive and other toxic wastes for northern Italian businesses. Fonti claims the ship was carrying 120 barrels of radioactive waste and that explosives were used to sink it off the Calabrian coast in 1992. He said he was also involved in the alleged sinking of three vessels.
Fonti is under state protection.
If the cargo proves to be toxic waste, the hunt will be on for another 31 ‘poison’ ships, believed sunk by the mafia during the 1980s and 1990s. Greenpeace and the Italian environmental group Lega Ambiente, have been compiling lists of ships that have disappeared off Italy and Greece. A Greenpeace official, Alessandro Gianni, told Associated Press Television News, that as early as the ’90s, his organization tried to learn the fate of ships that might have been involved in toxic dumping.
The deadly problem of toxic waste has long been a concern of modern living. However, both the production and disposal of toxic waste has become big business and vested interests believe that it should continue that way. Even household waste can contain large amounts of toxic chemicals.
It is understood that many third world countries accept large volumes of hazardous waste for disposal, in return for sizable financial compensation. It is believed that toxic waste has also been dumped illegally on international shores, where environmental regulation and controls are often lacking.
In America alone, it is reported that one ton of hazardous waste is created per person per year, or approximately 260 million tons. It is believed that 90% of the time, the disposal companies illegally dump the waste and get away with it.
The UK produces about two million tones of the most hazardous type of waste every year. About half of this was simply dumped into landfill sites, in 93/94.
The first news I read about this sunk ship with toxic waste were on the 15th. of September and still haven’t heard of any further update on this alarming case. Is the Italian government hiding information and/or blocking the investigations regarding this and other toxic waste ships? We need to know what has been dumped at sea and can be done to resolve it. Please don’t let this case to be forgotten, nature’s and our own future are compromised.
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