How Corporate Polluters Use State--Investor State Provisions of Free Trade Agreements and Bilateral Investment Treaties To Undermine Environmental Protection www.gjae.org a AE PRINCIPLES
! ÷ at are Free Trade Agreements? Tariffs and Quotas
- State ± Investor provisions undermine environmental protection
- State-state c allenges to non-tariff barriers to trade vs. import bans
on unsustainable & in umane products
- Agricultural liberalization expands industrial and animal-based
agriculture
- Transportation± roads, fuel, roadkill, resources for ve icles
- Live animal exports (dolp ins, fig ting cocks)
- lack of indigenous consultation
- Outsourcing and offs oring to escape protective regulations
Y Y
- Corporations allowed to sue governments directly for profit loss under Investor Protections (C apter 11).
-Agriculture Included! jY Y
NAFTA C apter 11 arants New Protections to Corporate
Y Investors §etalclad sues §exico - In t e mid-1990s, t e US firm, §etalclad, attempted to build an incredibly environmentally azardous landfill in San Luis Patosi, §exico but was prevented by repeated political opposition. - §etalclad sued §exico in 1997 under C apter 11 of NAFTA, winning t e case and over $16 million dollars in compensation for lost profits. Et yl Corp Neurotoxin Protected ! "##$% &
"" '(
&
&
)*++
&
% ,
-. &
/
%
. 2 2
2
A group of Canadian cattlemen and feedlot owners soug t compensation for losses incurred w en t e U.S. alted imports of live Canadian cattle after t e discovery of a case of BSE (mad cow disease) in Canada in §ay 2003. 4 Claim dismissed on procedural grounds. Tribunal ruled t at t e cattlemen did not ave standing to bring t e claim because t ey did not ave an investment in t e U.S., nor did t ey intend to invest in t e U.S. §et anex sues t e US
- California p ased out use
of §BTE in fuel after finding it was contaminating water. - §et anex, maker of §TBE, sued under C apter 11 of NAFTA, tying up t e State of California for over 7 years before finally losing t e case in 2005 T e alamis T reat - alamis aold, a Canadian mining firm, sued t e United States in 2003 for $50 million under C apter 11 of NAFTA, because t eir open pit mine was refused. - Several people ave been killed after protesting alamis's mine in auatemala, and if t e country attempts to stop t e corporation's corruption, it could face a similar lawsuit.
j A Canadian company is seeking damages over t e 1998 U.S. Tobacco Settlement, w ic requires tobacco companies to contribute to state escrow funds to elp defray medical costs of smokers. urisdictional ruling dismissed some of t e claims as time-barred, but permitted ot er claims relating to cigarettes sold on Indian reservations to proceed to a earing on t e merits.
! T anks to NAFTA± , Canada will soon be mine!!!
S.D. §eyers, a service company focused on transformers, c allenged Canadian
ban of PCB exports t at complied wit multilateral environmental treaty on toxic- toxic- waste trade.
* Expropriation claim dismissed.
* Claims of discrimination up eld and qualified as a violation of t e ³minimum
standard of treatment´ foreign investors must be provided under NAFTA.
* Foreign firm¶s ³market s are´ in anot er country could be considered a NAFTA-
NAFTA- protected investment.
* Canada petitioned to ave t e NAFTA tribunal decision overturned in a
Canadian Federal Court, but t e court dismissed t e case. | Probable Carcinogen, linked to melanomas, liver cancer, gall bladder cancer, biliary tract cancer, gastrointestinal tract cancer, and brain cancer, and may be linked to breast cancer.
Acute toxic effects - irritation of t e
nose and lungs, skin irritations suc as severe acne (c loracne) and ras es, and eye problems. Developmental effects - C ildren born wit significant neurological and motor control problems, including lowered IQ and poor s ort-term memory, decreased birt weig t and ead size, and psyc omotor and be avioral impairment. Disrupted ormone function - s ortened menstrual cycles, reduced sperm counts, altered sex organs, premature puberty, c anged sex ratios of c ildren.
Immune system and t yroid effects
± PCBs upset t yroid balance, may affect growt , be avioral & psyc omotor development. PCBs bind to receptors t at control immune system function, disturbing t e amounts of some immune system elements like lymp ocytes and T cells. PCB levels tied to an increased prevalence of ear infections and c ickenpox and wit lowered immune system function, and t us greater susceptibility to disease *
Pesticide §anufacturer Sues Canada U.S. c emical company Crompton/C emtura, a producer of t e pesticide lindane, a azardous persistent organic pollutant, is suing for $100 million, c allenging a voluntary agreement between manufacturers and t e Canadian government to restrict production. Claims involve discrimination, performance requirements, expropriation and a violation of t e ³minimum standard of treatment´ rule.
"
###
"$%
&
'&
#
&
Lindane is a persistent organic pollutant: it is relatively long-lived in t e environment, it is transported long distances by natural processes like global distillation, and it can bioaccumulate in food c ains, t oug it is rapidly eliminated w en exposure is discontinued. T e production of lindane generates large amounts of waste exac lorocyclo exane isomers, and it is estimated t at "every ton of lindane manufactured produces about 9 tons of toxic waste." ÷ en lindane is used in agriculture, an estimated 12- 30% of it volatilizes into t e atmosp ere, w ere it is subject to long-range transport and can be deposited by rainfall. Lindane in soil can leac to surface and even ground water and can bioaccumulate in t e food c ain. However, biotransformation and elimination are relatively rapid w en exposure is discontinued. [12] §ost exposure of t e general population to lindane as resulted from agricultural uses and t e intake of foods, suc as produce, meats and milk, produced from treated agricultural commodities In 2009, governments around t e world added t e lindane to t e list of c emicals targeted for global ban under t e Stock olm Convention (POPs treaty). All agricultural uses of lindane will be p ased out under t e treaty, and any production of t e neurotoxic pesticide is banned. P armaceutical uses for control of lice and scabies will (using existing stocks) are sc eduled for full p ase out by 2014. So Crompton/ C emtura dropped t e suit, rig t...? ³At t e end of t e day, C emtura seeks to old t e [Canadian Pest §anagement Regulatory Agency] responsible for t e fact t at it can no longer profit from t e sale of a toxic c emical t at as been internationally banned based on demonstrated ealt and environmental concerns´ -- Canada¶s counter memorial. ³÷ en you read t roug a lot of t ese cases, you find somet ing missing ± namely common sense.´
± im §ays, Sierra Club Responsible Trade Program
±
Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of t e U.S. Dow C emical
Company is suing Canada for $2 million under C apter 11 for losses it alleged were caused by a Quebec provincial ban on t e sale and certain uses of lawn pesticides containing t e active ingredient 2,4-D. Ot er Canadian provinces are considering similar bans.
- B opal disaster
- Birt defects from Agent
Orange in Vietnam
- Toxic 2, 2,4-D Symptoms of 2,4-D poisoning in exposed people include irritation and inflammation of eyes and skin, ives, nausea, vomiting, t roat irritation, eadac e, dizziness, coug ing, and difficulty breat ing.
New studies indicate t at 2,4-D reduces fertility in several ways. 2,4-D exposure is associated wit low sperm counts. 2,4-D (and t e entire family of p enoxy erbicides) is classified as possibly carcinogenic by t e International Agency for Researc on Cancer. Studies of exposed farmers support t is classification.
According to t e most recent data collected by t e U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, some 2,4-D is contaminated wit 2,3,7,8-TCDD, a potent dioxin. §onitoring by t e U.S. aeological Survey s owed t at 2,4-D is frequently found in rivers and streams. It is also often measured in air samples. 2,4-D causes genetic damage in plants in amounts too small to cause visible damage to t e plants.D causes genetic damage in plants in amounts too small to cause visible damage to t e plants.
§onitoring by t e U.S. aeological Survey s owed t at 2,4-D is frequently found in rivers and streams. It is also often measured in air samples. 2,4--D use on lawns is linked 2,4 wit an increased risk of cancer in dogs. Y
! &
!(
( & )! '
" & & * &
+ &
, )-
& .+ /)
&
* '
Ë , Y
Ë !
Ë
& Ë &
Ë , ) ' & &
Y , Y0 Y,Y 1 j 0 4 Y Y
Tar sands mining is licensed to use twice
t e amount of fres water t at t e entire city of Calgary uses in a year.
-At least 90% of t e fres water used in
t e oil sands ends up in ends up in tailing ponds so toxic t at propane cannons are used to keep ducks from landing. - Processing t e oil sands uses enoug natural gas in a day to eat 3 million omes. - T e toxic tailing ponds are considered one of t e largest uman-made structures in t e world. -T e ponds span 50 square kilometers and can be seen from space. -Producing a barrel of oil from t e oil sands produces t ree times more green ouse gas emissions t an a barrel of conventional oil. ,Y 2
Y
" j
Y % !
%
%
Y
%
j
&
'& ' '
' Pacific Rim vs. El Salvador Canadian mining company, Pacific Rim is already bringing a law suit against El Salvador, because El Salvador cancelled t eir permit to mine to conduct open pit cyanide leac gold mining near El Salvador's major river, t e country's primary source of water.. a AE and Trade ustice NY §etro activists give away mock cyanide tainted water in front of t e Canadian Consulate in New York City on t e first day of earings on Pacific Rim's case against El Salvador at t e ÷orld Bank's International Center for t e Settlement of Trade Disputes, w ic arbitrates DR-CAFTA cases. j
Pelosi's Big Deal! Top Contributers in 2006 Total$
1) Occidental Petroleum 17k
2) Kleiner, Perkins, et al 16.7k
3) Intl. Brot er ood of Electrical ÷orkers 15k
4) S eet §etal ÷orkers Union 15k
5) Time ÷arner 13.2k
Occidental is notorious for poisoning t e Peruvian Amazon rainforest t roug its oil extraction operations and refusing to fund an adequate cleanup. , )
'
U , &
U
U % % | m
m
House ÷ays and §eans C air C arlie Rangel grabs corporate cas and colludes wit an Occidental Petroleum corporate lobbyist to pass Cowboy Bus 's US-Peru Free Trade Agreement in a Trade ustice NY §etro street t eater performance in front of Representative Rangel's office. Y
2
