Germany: Envio workers contaminated with both PCB and dioxin;" Kazakh "criminal elements" involved

[Hannah Bell]

The extent of Dortmund’s environmental scandal is assuming ever greater dimensions. Research by an editor of the Westfälische Rundschau newspaper has shown that the employees at the Envio recycling company were poisoned not only with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), but also dioxins, which are almost as dangerous...

The authorities had long ignored anonymous complaints from employees who provided information about criminal activities replete with insider details. PCB levels measured in the blood of Envio workers exceeded standard levels by up to 25,000-fold. Residents and workers in nearby companies were also contaminated, as well as children and relatives who apparently came into contact with the poison through clothing washed together with the employees’ work clothes...

In recent weeks, further details and background information have come to light, indicating that the horror stories of the last few months were only the tip of the iceberg.

On September 24, the Westfälische Rundschau (WR) reported that the Envio company had cooperated with criminal elements. The newspaper declared, “he Dortmund PCB firm had even worked together with criminals from Kazakhstan to import thousands of contaminated capacitors and to dispose of them at Dortmund’s Hartmannstraße port in a very improper way”.

According to the WR, this has already led to the imprisonment of a minister and several government leaders in the former Soviet Republic. The paper stated, “Documents available to this newspaper prove that over 10,000 capacitors were transported from Kazakhstan to Envio by air and rail. Were the sources of these transports to be traced, they would lead to internationally operating criminals”.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/dort-n02.shtml