How much are we protected from toxic spill? What's changed for Europeans since the chemical disasters at Seveso and Ajka? The number of accidents has decreased, a result partly of the EU's Seveso Directive. Seveso, after the village hit by a chemical spill in 1976. Europe-wide regulations were introduced and have been tightened twice since. Toxic spill is the silent killer that strikes fear in communities living in the shadow of chemicals plants. It was a Saturday and production had finished. A tank had overheated. This overheating caused the reactor to explode. A massive cloud of dioxins was released in the northern Italian village of Seveso. The accident was actually kept secret for ten days until strange things were noticed, like leaves falling from the trees, farmyard animals dying and skin problems, especially for children. Thousands of animals but no humans perished. A delegation from the EP visited the scene. Six years later the Seveso I Directive was born, tightening controls on chemicals production. Chemicals are a multi-billion euro export industry for EU companies. We need them everywhere, but they're volatile, produced often in high-temperature reactions. If the mix combusts, the explosive force can reach more than 1,000kph. In 2010 at least nine people were killed when a wave of caustic sludge breached its reservoir and swept through villages in Hungary. The President, János Áder, then an MEP, gave an address to Parliament at the time. What happened in Hungary is a tragedy. But if you look also at what's happened over the past ten years in Spain, France and Belgium, it reminds us that industrial accidents can happen at any time and anywhere. Nevertheless, this disaster draws our attention to the fact that the Union - and let's be clear about that - has no tools to handle these kinds of situations. Mr Áder initiated the upgrade to Seveso and handed the baton to colleagues trying to put citizens' safety first in the industry's planning. Normally the Seveso Directive should prevent the accident and quantify the chemicals substances there, both the tonnage and the toxicity. Then inspections have to be made. There was a whole discussion on that. We wanted at least two inspections a year on very toxic substances. But at the heart of Seveso III are new obligations on companies using or producing chemicals to inform the public on emergency planning in the case of accidents. It's very important that we limit the risks and that people are informed about the risks and, above all, about what they should do in case of an accident. The problem is that the companies often don't want to inform people. Seveso III comes into force in 2015. But although it increases the number of substances classed as dangerous, some MEPs believe it doesn't go far enough. We wanted to include industrial activities that are not included at the moment, for example offshore drilling that can cause huge damage to the environment, and other dangerous substances. In Italy, there's dissatisfaction at some companies' post-Seveso safety checks. They only carry out one check, on how the safety system is managed. They do it formally. They sit in an office and do an audit. On the ground, many applaud the tightening of controls but argue there are weak links in the chain of implementation: local administrations under commercial pressure from companies and facing massive spending cuts, companies under pressure to turn over profit. Risks will never completely disappear. The problem is overcoming the obstacles that often stem from the reluctance of local authorities to inform the population about dangerous situations.
EuroparlTV video ID: 1d738988-6546-4d6e-a0ce-a0c40096629e
Flashback: The menace of toxic spill hungary news | |
| 6 Likes | 6 Dislikes |
| 4,710 views views | 61.3K followers |
| News & Politics | Upload TimePublished on 12 Nov 2012 |
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét