SHIPBREAKING

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

SHIPBREAKING DISASTER

As moviegoers flock to watch the re-enactment of one of history's best
known seafaring disasters, a smaller but steady stream of workers is
dying or suffering serious injury in the deliberate dismantling of old
U.S. warships. In an exhaustive three-part series, the BALTIMORE SUN
describes how what could be a model for recycling and conversion has
become an environmental nightmare. The domestic shipyards that are
scrapping unneeded Naval vessels are releasing environmental toxins and
exposing the largely Latino workforce both to acute injury and
slower-acting but equally potent hazards such as asbestos.

Thinks are likely to change however, now that the Navy has received
permission to export the ships for shipbreaking. In the future old U.S.
Navy ships are likely to be torn apart in South Asia, where conditions
are much worse!

The SUN series is available on the World Wide Web at 
http://www.sunspot.net/shipbreakers/ndx_fr.shtml

Lenny Siegel
Director, SFSU CAREER/PRO (and Pacific Studies Center)
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@igc.org