Reply #20: Australia’s big export – lead poison

[Lasher]

7 June 2002

Australia’s Federal and State Governments and lead producers should be held accountable for the export of poisonous lead and the high rates of contamination in humans and environments in third world countries, according to the country’s leading campaigner on the issue. We exported 672,000 tonnes of lead worth A$637m in FY 2000 - 2001.

Elizabeth O'Brien said the 4th international lead poisoning prevention conference in Washington DC - "Global Dimensions of Lead" - run by the National Safety Council of the USA, heard that the rate of lead poisoning in India, where many lead batteries have been exported for recycling, was massive.

A survey found that half of the 32,000 Indian people so far blood tested had been found to be lead poisoned, and 90 per cent of the children involved in recycling lead acid batteries were also found to be poisoned.

http://www.lead.org.au/mr/20020607No%201.html

That was back when you exported one third of your lead acid batteries to other countries. Australia has only recently developed adequate domestic capacity to recycle these batteries so that none of them would be shipped overseas.

Australia shipped their used batteries to countries where children did the actual recycling work and you have the guts to preach to me because the USA sends batteries to be recycled in Mexico? Shame on you.

And what happens when you outsource lithium batteries to your responsible recycler? Do you even know they are being 'dumped', as you characterize it, in another country?