Archived press release

Bristol People Kept More Ignorant than Americans Protest at Cabot Tower

16 April 1997

Early this morning Cabot Tower - erected to celebrate the heroic voyage of John Cabot to the Americas 500 years ago [1] - will be occupied between 8 am and 10 am by Friends of the Earth. Large banners will be unfurled and colourful flares released. The protest is against people in the UK being kept in the dark about health threatening pollution.Information about much toxic pollution is kept secret in the UK (see below), whilst in the USA, Cabot's direct descendants - who live in Massachusetts, USA) are much better informed.

Bristol FOE is today twinning with pollution campaigners in Bristol County, Massachusetts to share information, experience and inspiration.

Jim Simmons of Hands Across the River Coalition [2], Bristol County, USA said:
" Everyone has the right to know - after all every one of us has to breathe the air.Our work in Bristol County has shown that ordinary citizens can get involved and can win campaigns against pollution. We got hold of information and educated ourselves- and then we set about educating the politicians and the regulators. "

Belinda Stonehouse of Bristol Friends of the Earth said:
" We are delighted to be twinning with people in the Hands Across the River Coalition in Bristol County, USA. We hope to learn from their experience of cleaning-up industry through being active and informed citizens. In turn we hope our enthusiasm and commitment will inspire them further in their campaigns."

Mike Childs, Senior Pollution Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
" It is unacceptable that people in the UK don't have a legal Right to Know about all toxic and health-threatening pollution. If people in the USA can have this information so can people in the UK. The next Government must give people the Right to Know and must make sure the information is understandable, through,for example, league tables of the worst polluters."

. The worst polluters. In the USA the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)produces "top tens" of polluters and has a legal duty to ensure wide public access to all the information. For example the EPA organises conferences on using the data, produces data on paper, CD-ROM, computer disk and micro-fiche for only the cost of reproduction. The Environment Agency does not produce league tables of the worst polluters nor does it pro-actively disseminate information to local people.

. Details of the receiving facilities where toxic waste is taken for disposal (landfill or incineration) or treatment. In the USA, the names and locations and method of disposal of a company's toxic wastes are available.

Friends of the Earth research has also revealed that some pollution is kept secret and declared 'commercially confidential'. In a recent report on Avonmouth industry we found that the identity of certain substances released is kept secret [3].

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] In 1497, King Henry VII commissioned Giovanni Caboto, an Italian sailor, to sail west and claim new lands for England. The voyage led to an unexpected new land - not the Far East, as Caboto had hoped, but the eastern coast of an immense continent. Giovanni Caboto would go down in history as John Cabot, the explorer who claimed the New Founde Land for a British King. We can credit John Cabot for both taking the English Language to North America. Contrary to popular belief, Columbus had not found the mainland, having reached the West Indies and much later what we now know as Venezuela. [Source: The Matthew Project, Bristol on the Internet - URL http://www.cabot.ac.uk/Matthew}

[2] Hands Across the River Coalition is based in Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA. The group has successfully opposed plans for a hazardous waste incinerator and landfill. In 1996 they won an American Rivers Urban River Restoration Award "for outstanding work in Grass Roots Activism on the Acushnet River".

[3] For example, Albright & Wilson released 4,683 tonnes of 'solvent B' and 10.67 tonnes of 'carrier solvent' to air in 1996. The names of these chemicals have been kept secret because Albright & Wilson say the information is 'commercially confidential'.

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