Pacific Magazine > Magazine > January 1, 2008

Letters

Opposition to Asbestos Dumping

‘How Can That Be Possible?’

I read an article in your magazine that brought up the topic of asbestos being dumped into the ocean. This article referenced the Cook Island government.  In the article, they were defending the dumping of asbestos laden building materials into the ocean. This really offended me while I was reading it.

The ship, Miss Mataroa, was dumping over 300 tons of cement sheeting that contained asbestos. The government, knowing that asbestos has been shown to dangerously affect humans, agreed that these people could dump the materials. This seems so wrong to me.  In the article, it is stated that these materials are not harmful to the environment.  However, how can this be?
 
We all rely on every natural resource that we have to live. I consider our marine/ocean life to be one of our natural
resources.  They decided that it would be harmful for them to keep the materials on the island, but not harmful to dump them into the ocean.  How can this be possible?  They even sited the London Convention that was written to prevent marine pollution in 1972.  This sounds to me like they are twisting the rules on this policy to fit what they want to do.

To support my opinion, I found a case where the captain, Mr. Cook, was convicted for illegally dumping asbestos into the sea.  He was indicted by a federal jury for dumping the asbestos into the Gulf of Mexico.

I don’t understand how these two cases can be handled so differently. The ocean is constantly moving and when you pollute in one area, it seems like that would just progress to the next area and so on. Therefore, how can it be right on one ocean and not right on another ocean?
 
I’m not sure what other opinions might be on this subject, but I definitely think that this should be illegal.  If we don’t take care of our oceans and other wildlife, we won’t have anything to offer our children and grandchildren.  By the time they are old enough to enjoy these great wonders of the world, they are going to be so polluted that they won’t even be considered wonderful. That seems like a waste to me.

Jessie Rae Carpenter
Parkersburg, WV

Corrections

GHRA president, Mary Torre

In the Pacific People feature of the November December 2007 issue of Pacific Magazine  we incorrectly identified the president of the Guam Hotel & Restaurant Association as David Tydingco. He is the former president. In fact, the new GHRA president is Mary Torre.