Fears of imported toxic waste spreading
Officials are to investigate reports that toxic waste may have been dumped in offshore fishing grounds, following the discovery of suspect material near Cambodia's main port.
Environment Ministry officials said the material, discovered this week 15km from Sihanoukville, was contained in triple-lined sacks bearing the skull-and-crossbones warning sign.
Customs officials said the 200 tonnes of waste was imported by a local company last week as part of a 3,000 tonne shipment from Taiwan described in documents as construction waste.
They said the shipment was approved by 'high officials' in Phnom Penh, but declined to give further details.
Taipei has instructed its representative in Vietnam to look into the export of suspected Taiwanese toxic waste to Cambodia, the semi-official Central News Agency reported yesterday.
Environment Minister Mok Mareth said it remained uncertain whether the material was toxic, but that he feared contamination of local water supplies.
Heng Narith, deputy director of the pollution control department, however, said the waste was not radioactive.
He said he believed the waste was from an industrial incineration plant and could contain dangerous heavy metals such as mercury, chromium and lead.
Mr Mareth said local people had emptied some of the sacks and had taken them home for use as bedding or to store rice.
Newspapers reported yesterday that at least four of those people had died after suffering severe bouts of diarrhoea, while others had reported severe skin conditions.
The reports could not be confirmed.
Mr Mareth has set up an inter-ministerial committee to investigate the dumping.
'If we discover this is toxic waste, it will be considered a crime against Cambodia and we will send it back to Taiwan,' he said.
But he conceded it might be difficult to find a shipping company which was prepared to return the material without the express approval of Taiwanese authorities.
