RP FILES TOXIC-WASTE CASE VS US BEFORE UN BODY

[Polly Parks <pparks@igc.apc.org>]

.From: "Campaign for RP Bases Clean Up" <basecleanup@hotmail.com>
.
.Newspaper: TODAY
.Date     : April 17, 1999 Saturday
.Title    : "RP files toxic-waste case vs US before UN body"

The Commission on Human Rights yesterday elevated the Clark Air
Base toxic-land case, filed by 421 families, to the United Nations Human
Rights Convetion in Geneva, Switzerland.

Members of these families are sick with cancer and other illnesses
linked to the toxic contamination of ground water at Clark that dates from
the time it was being used by the United States Air Force.

Commission chairman Aurora Recina said elevating the case may force the US
goverment to clean up the toxic waste its military left in the former air
base.

The annual meeting of the heads of human-rights groups in member countries
of the UN starts today and in part will tackle human-rights problems in
these countries.

Recina said, "This is a serious problem of our poor families in the
resetlement sites in Pampanga where the children and adults are infected
by cancer and other diseases owing to toxic contamination I will bring
this up to the convention so we can address this problem not only locally
but also internationally".

Recina was interviewed during a visit to the Clark area where many Mount
Pinatubo victims have been resettled. She was with Nasser Marohomsalic, a
fellow commissioner.

They found many chidren and adults are suffering from serious illnesses
suspected of resulting from drinking contaminated well water.

The People's Task Force for Bases Cleanup has confirmed that
some 30 people, mostly children aged four and below, have poisonous
levels of mercury, a heavy metal, in their blood and are suffering 
from diseases of the lung, kidney and central nervous system.

Dr. Renate Basas, commission director for forensics, found most of them
suffering from serious growth diseases and malignant physical features as
a result of mercury poisoning.

One of them was identified as four-year-old Micah Rose Pabalan, whose
condition was diagnosed by Dr. Basas as suffering from mercury poisoning.

The cleanup task force had urged the immediate transfer of the families to
a safer and healthier evacuation site.

Recina said the commission will discuss this proposal with President
Estrada, who can order such a transfer and allocate a site.

She said the right to a safe and healthy life is embodied under
international covenants such as the Stockholm Declaration on
Intergenerational Equity, the Conventions on the Rigths of the Child, and
the Rio Declaration.

By: E. Torres