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Greenpeace calls on future Prime Minister Canada to come clean on Toxic Ship

Toronto, November 25, 2003 - Greenpeace today released a report calling on the future Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin to "come clean" on the international trade in toxic ships. The environmental group documented the 2002 export of the Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) ship, "The Manitoulin," to a shipbreaking yard in Turkey, in possible violation of international regulations on the trade in hazardous waste. At the time of the export, Paul Martin was the owner of CSL.

"As the man about to become Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin will face many decisions about the shipping industry and toxic waste" said Steven Guilbeault of Greenpeace. Guilbeault pointed out that Martin must be concerned about potential conflicts of interest on these matters, and called on him to respect and strengthen international law on the trade in toxic waste.

Taking advantage of lax health, environmental and safety standards, the shipping industry today primarily utilizes Asian countries for ship scrapping. Beaches in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey have been turned into ship graveyards. Machinery parts, oil rags, open fires and leaking barrels are strewn all along the beaches. Shipbreaking is one of the world's most hazardous industries. Workers break ships without safety equipment, by hand, and many are killed.

The Greenpeace report documents the fate of the CSL ship the Manitoulin, launched in 1966 and possibly still containing toxic materials including asbestos and perhaps PCBs when it was exported to the Aliaga shipbreaking yard in Turkey.

"An export of a vessel that is not properly cleaned of contaminants, without the consent of the recipient country, is illegal under international laws" said Jim Puckett of the global toxic trade watchdog organization Basel Action Network (BAN). "Both the Canadian government and CSL, must shoulder the blame for neglecting the law. As a member of the government and the owner of CSL, Paul Martin is doubly accountable," Puckett concluded.

Under an OECD decision recognized under the Basel Convention on Hazardous Waste, CSL was responsible for notifying Turkish authorities of the existence of toxic material aboard "The Manitoulin". Turkish authorities never received such notification, according to research done by Greenpeace. Canada and Turkey are OECD members and signatories to the Basel convention.

"Mr. Martin would have Canadians and the rest of the world believe that he is a person of principle, concerned about the well being of people and our planet," Guilbeault said. Paul Martin is the co-chair of the United Nations Commission on the Private Sector and Development. "Paul Martin's credibility is clearly in question," said Guilbeault." Greenpeace demands that he come clean and that the Canadian government forbid all future exports of ships unless they have been properly decontaminated."

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