EcoWaste Coalition Welcomes Effort to Curb Toluene Sniffing Addiction

Quezon City. A non-government organization pursuing a chemical safety agenda has commended the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for its latest move to curb the use of toluene-based contact cement (TBCC) or what many simply call as “rugby.”

PDEA on Thursday announced a ban on the over-the-counter sale of TBCC that does not contain at least five percent mustard oil, an additive that will make “rugby” unattractive to sniffing addicts because of the obnoxious smell.

“As a group dedicated to public health and safety, we find PDEA’s decision laudable as added mustard oil will make toluene-based inhalants unappealing to users,” retired nurse Elsie Brandes-De Veyra of the EcoWaste Coalition stated.

“It pains us to see our young people, especially out-of-school children and youth, getting addicted to harmful substances like TBCC because of easy access to this toxic adhesive,” she lamented.

“We know that repeated exposure to toluene can lead to irreversible damage to the brain and the central nervous system,” De Veyra said.

“To further eliminate sniffing as a health and social issue, we further hope that the government through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will issue a chemical control order for toluene and promote toluene-free consumer adhesives that will be less injurious if misused,” she suggested.

Toluene, a colorless, flammable and toxic liquid obtained from coal tar or petroleum, is included in Table II of the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

“Considering its extremely damaging effect to the health of child and youth users, we urge the government to consider scaling up the campaign versus TBCC with industry, civil society and community support,” De Veyra appealed.

According to the Dangerous Drugs Board, TBCC is one of the top three substances among drug abusers. A significant number of users belong to the youth group, majority of whom are children.

“We also hope that the government, working hand in hand with the churches, charities and civic groups, will extend compassionate assistance to TBCC-users to help them get rid of the toxic habit, providing them with counseling, rehabilitation, educational and skills-building opportunities,” the EcoWaste Coalition stated.

EcoGroups Reiterate Call to Close Payatas Dump Nine Years After Disaster

QUEZON CITY - Residents and ecogroups reiterate their call for the local government of Quezon City to implement the ecowaste management law by closing down the illegal Payatas dumpsite as communities commemorate the ninth year of the garbage slide disaster that buried and killed a still undetermined number of people.

"Every year, they keep on promising us that they will close the Payatas dump but they have not kept their promise," said Nita Panoy, a member of Bangon Kalikasan.

Aling Nita and her family lived beside the Payatas dump for more than twenty years and survived the horrific July 10 garbage disaster that buried and killed an estimate of more than thousand residents and transients and only 300 bodies were retrieved.

"We are appealing to Mayor Sonny Belmonte to please close the Payatas dump. Instead of a toxic environment, he should give us proper housing, health care and clean and alternative livelihood,” said Panoy.

The Payatas dump receives garbage from Quezon City. It is one of the biggest dumpsites in the country. Under the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act or Republic Act 9003, the Payatas dump should have been closed since 2006.

"Instead of closing the dump as mandated, the Quezon City government is even expanding the dumpsite. They are again dumping mixed waste on the same garbage hill that collapsed nine years ago. Communities below the dump again fear for their safety especially now that we are enduring harsh rains and typhoons," said Panoy.

Panoy said that they witnessed the demolition of hundreds of houses around the dump to clear the area for expansion of the dumpsite.

According to the EcoWaste Coalition, Payatas dump releases huge amounts of methane and other toxic emissions to the environment that further aggravate the already worsening climate and relentlessly prey on the health of the people, even those in other communities beyond Payatas.

Children and pregnant women living around the dump are vulnerable to the toxic fumes that trigger and cause the development of respiratory complications, hormone disruption and other ailments.

"The communities around Payatas have suffered enough. Let us not wait for another disaster,” said Rei Panaligan of the EcoWaste Coalition.

A study of the Asian Development Bank in 2004 says that Payatas dump releases leachate into the groundwater and river system an amount of 2 liters per second or 63 million liters per year. Also, Greenpeace in a 1999 study found out that the leachate or "garbage juice" from the Payatas dump contains elevated levels of heavy metals such as lead, chromium, copper, and zinc.

Payatas dump is adjacent to La Mesa Watershed, a drinking source of Metro Manila, and tributaries of Marikina River that flow directly to the Laguna Lake.

The national government and private entities are now undertaking various housing projects around the dump. Ecogroups believe that it is imperative to close the dump to ensure the safety and health of the people and the protection of the environment.

Chemical Safety Advocates Laud DENR’s Move to Seize and Ban Deadly Silver Jewelry Cleaners

Quezon City. Chemical safety advocates lauded the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for taking decisive action that will hopefully make cyanide poisoning from silver jewelry cleaners a thing of the past.

“We welcome the assurance made by the DENR that the toxic concoction for cleaning silver jewelry will no longer be sold in the market and cause lethal harm to consumers and the ecosystems. We will keep a tight watch on its enforcement to protect human and ecological health,” Manny Calonzo, President of the EcoWaste Coalition, said.

“This should send a clear signal to manufacturers and retailers to be mindful of the toxic chemical contents of their products and ensure that only safe goods are sold and consumed by the public,” he added.

For her part, Dr. Lynn Panganiban, head of the University of the Philippines – National Poison Management and Control Center (UP-NPMCC), said: “We commend the EMB for taking action against the cyanide-containing silver jewelry cleaners. However, the strength of the law is measured by the effectiveness of its implementation.”

In a letter sent today to the EcoWaste Coalition, Environmental Management Bureau Director Julian Amador informed the waste and pollution watchdog that the DENR has instructed “the confiscation of these jewelry cleaners” in line with DENR Administrative Order No. 1997-39, or the Chemical Control Order (CCO) for Cyanide and Cyanide Compounds, which describes cyanide as “highly toxic to humans and aquatic life even at low concentrations.”

“The risk that these jewelry cleaners containing cyanide pose to public health is extremely high, as evident in the reported casualties, thus its ban for commercial use will be strictly enforced,” Amador said in his letter to the EcoWaste Coalition.

Amador pointed out that the toxic cleaning solutions “have no proper labeling necessary for items containing regulated hazardous substances” like cyanide.

It will be recalled that the EcoWaste Coalition wrote to the DENR on May 19 this year and again on May 20 and June 30 to appeal for action to stop, once and for all, the rising incidence of chemical poisoning due to accidental or intentional ingestion of cyanide-laced silver cleaning liquids.

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, Jr. had earlier joined the EcoWaste Coalition in pushing for an outright ban on silver jewelry cleaners, the ingestion of which has become the number one form of suicide in CAMANAVA. This highly populated district of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela has the most number of suicide incidents in Metro Manila.

In response to the EcoWaste Coalition’s call for action, the EMB bought samples of silver jewelry cleaners and had them tested for cyanide. Laboratory analysis, according to the EMB, showed “high content of cyanide which is fatal to humans when ingested.”

Amador informed the Coalition that, in a preventive move, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza has instructed the Environmental Law Enforcement Task Force to conduct surveillance of silver jewelry cleaners being sold in jewelry stores, malls, tiangge (flea market) and sidewalks.

In 2008, the UP-NPMCC ranked silver jewelry cleaning agents as the fourth most commonly ingested chemical poison, and the third most common toxin swallowed by children.

Between January to April 2009, the UP-NMPCC handled 99 cases of silver cleaner poisonings involving 11 accidental and 88 non-accidental poisoning that resulted in the untimely death of six victims - all less than 19 years of age.

On May 15 and June 25 2009, the EcoWaste Coalition monitored two more suicide cases involving the intake of silver jewelry cleaners by a 20-year-old female university graduate, and by a male amateur basketball referee, 25, both from Tondo, Manila.

“The ban on cyanide-laden silver jewelry cleaners, we hope, will usher a movement for the elimination of harmful chemicals in consumer products and lead to more collaborative action to advance the right of consumers to chemical safety,” the EcoWaste Coalition said.

Bishop Iñiguez and EcoWaste Coalition Seek Ban on Deadly Silver Jewelry Cleaners

Quezon City. A Catholic Church leader and a public interest group campaigning for chemical safety urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to impose an outright ban on cyanide-laced silver jewelry cleaning agents.

Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, Jr. and the EcoWaste Coalition aired their shared plea after learning about two new cases of suicidal ingestion of silver jewelry cleaners involving a 20-year old woman and a 25-year old man, both from Tondo, Manila.

“The suicidal intake of cyanide-bearing silver jewelry cleaners is an act of violence against oneself. We are all made in God’s image and likeness, so we must strive to glorify Him in our bodies and protect, not harm, ourselves from health-damaging substances like cyanide.,” stated Bishop Iñiguez who heads the Public Affairs Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

“I therefore join the call of the EcoWaste Coalition to ban poisonous silver jewelry cleaners as I remind those facing hardships in life not to despair, but to find hope and love in our living faith,” the Bishop of Caloocan pointed out.

The Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela (CAMANAVA) area, according to police sources, has the most number of suicide incidents in Metro Manila with 68 suicide cases in 2008 alone. Driven by depression and poverty, CAMANAVA suicide victims reportedly drank silver jewelry cleaning liquids, hanged or shot themselves.

“Cyanide is a very toxic substance that can cause lethal harm if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through skin. To avoid injuries and deaths due to accidental or deliberate poisoning, we urge the government to immediately ban this deadly poison,” Manny Calonzo, President of the EcoWaste Coalition, said.

“We likewise call on the authorities to popularize eco-friendly and non-toxic ways of cleaning silver jewelry to prevent and reduce health and environmental risks,” he added.

In lieu of cyanide-bearing cleaning solutions, the EcoWaste Coalition has identified toothpaste, baking soda, liquid dish soap and mild detergents as safer substitutes that can remove stains and cleanse silver jewelry.

Banning cyanide-laden cleaners, the EcoWaste Coalition asserts, will promote the Filipino’s people right to health as well as advance the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), a global policy to protect human and ecological health from the damaging effects of toxic substances, including chemicals in products and wastes.

According to the Chemical Control Order (CCO) issued by the DENR in 1997, cyanide and cyanide compounds are highly toxic to humans and to aquatic life even at low concentrations.

The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says that exposure to high levels of cyanide harms the brain and heart, and may cause coma and death. Exposure to lower levels may result in breathing difficulties, heart pains, vomiting, blood changes, headaches, and enlargement of the thyroid gland.

Data provided by the University of the Philippines-National Poison Management and Control Center (UP-NPMCC) show silver jewelry cleaner landing fourth in 2008 in the top 10 most commonly ingested poisons. It ranks third in the list of most commonly ingested toxic substance by children.

From January to April 2009, the UPNPMCC assisted 99 victims of silver jewelry cleaner poisoning, including 52 children. The center also recorded six deaths, all below 19 years of age, due to accidental and intentional ingestion of toxic cleaning solutions.

PRESS RELEASE: Groups Urge DENR to Halt High-Risk Projects within Marikina Watershed

San Mateo, Rizal. As the country observes Disaster Awareness Month this July, eco-groups Buklod Tao and the EcoWaste Coalition pressed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to immediately stop all land conversion and waste disposal activities within the Marikina Watershed.

“The massive land conversion of the Marikina Watershed and the mountains of Rizal is putting families in danger, especially those living near riverbanks and mountain slopes,” warned Noli Abinales of Buklod Tao “As the country is in the brink of more climatic disasters due to global warming, we are appealing to the DENR to act quickly and stop the further destruction of the environment,” Abinales added.

Buklod Tao, a community-based organization based in San Mateo, Rizal, asked Secretary Atienza to strengthen environmental management by integrating disaster prevention to enhance the protection of citizens living in high risk disaster areas like San Mateo.

A study conducted by the National Institute for Geological Studies of the University of the Philippines in 2000 reveals that the surrounding mountains of San Mateo are classified as Zone 1 or high risk for landslides and “mass wasting”.

The environmental constraint map of San Mateo’s comprehensive land use plan classifies 13 of the town’s 15 barangays as prone to flooding.

Buklod Tao complains that the mountains of Rizal have been leveled for years by powerful corporations engaged in housing projects and quarry operations.

“These corporations should be held liable for their environmental crimes as they forced out legal tenants and farming communities out of their lands, killed waterways, covered rivers with soil and boulders and cut down hundreds of trees for the sake of profit,” lamented Abinales.

For his part, Rei Panaligan of the EcoWaste Coalition assailed the construction of a new “sanitary” landfill in San Mateo that could contaminate the water supply with leachate, the toxic “garbage juice” which forms within waste materials.

“The construction of the engineered dumpsite is an added environmental risk for San Mateo, which is already badly impacted by unrestrained housing and quarrying operations. We’re afraid that the leachate will ooze into the soil and into the groundwater,” Panaligan said.

“Aside from leachate migration, we are concerned about methane pollution and its effect to the climate crisis,” he added.

The Buklod Tao and EcoWaste Coalition are jointly urging the national and local authorities to make the protection of the Marikina Watershed from destructive and polluting activities a top priority.