Archived press release

Green watchdog to tackle environmental injustice

5 September 2000

The Environment Agency will pledge to tackle the problem of environmental equity at its AGM today(2.30 pm, Tuesday 5th Sept). The move will be warmly welcomed by Friends of the Earth. Last year FOE revealed that the poorest suffer most from industrial pollution. Six hundred and sixty two of the UK's largest factories are located in areas with an average household income of under £15,000 a year, whilst only five are in areas with an average household income of over £30,000. Britain's biggest factories release over 10,000 tonnes of cancer-causing chemicals annually, according to the latest pollution data. FOE is calling for a national target to reduce the release of hazardous chemicals into air, water and land by 80 per cent by 2005.

FOE is also calling on the Agency to highlight those companies in England and Wales which have the greatest impact on the global environment through:
* producing league tables of companies that contribute most to climate change. Climate change is thought to be partly responsible for the devastating floods in India which have killed over 400 people and left at 4.5 million without homes;
* highlighting those chemicals companies whose products cause or may cause significant damage to the environment or human health across the w-orld. For example, Associated Octel in Ellesmere Port, manufactures 80 per cent of the global production of tetraethyl lead for petrol and markets it heavily in developing countries (tetraethyl lead is now banned in most of Europe and the USA). The World Bank suggest that 200,000 - 500,000 cases of hypertension in developing countries are caused by lead and that in Cairo, for example, more than 800 infants die annually owing to maternal exposure to lead.

Mike Childs, Senior Pollution Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:
“If the Environment Agency really wants to tackle environmental injustice then it must significantly reduce health-threatening pollution in the poorest parts of Britain.Furthermore, it must do more to force UK companies to reduce their global impacts. The poor in developing countries suffer most from the effects of environmental damage, and the Agency regulates some of the companies which are partly responsible.”

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust