BROKEN BY CAPITALISM

In the shipbreaking yards of Chittagong, Bangladesh there is something of a boom going on because some 250 ships from Europe are due to be broken up every year.But now, in a move that India, Bangladesh and other developing countries with major shipbreaking industries say could wreck local economies, the EU has proposed laws stating that ships registered in Europe should be broken up only in licensed yards meeting strict new environmental guidelines. It estimates that up to 1.3m tonnes of toxic materials on board end-of-life vessels are sent each year to Chittagong and other shipbreaking yards in south Asia from the EU alone, with "incalculable" risks to workers. "Figures are hard to verify but, say local Chittagong watchdogs, in the past 10 years hundreds of men working in the 70 breaking yards have died or been maimed or poisoned. Many are from the poorest communities in the country." (Observer, 6 May) The labourers in these yards work for as little as £1 per day and their plight would be unknown if it wasn't for the latest piece of proposed legislation. This is the fate of hundreds of workers risking their lives for a £1 a day. RD