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HONDARRIBIA, Spain—“Stoppt die giftschulden”
(German for “stop toxic debt”) was the resounding plea
of public-health and environment activists in support of
the Philippine civil-society campaign to halt payment
for a controversial Austrian development aid package
that included the shipment of 26 extremely dirty
incinerators for medical waste.
The over
125 activists from 39 countries attending a global
meeting on incineration issues in Hondarribia, Spain,
signed a letter addressed to Dr. Alfred Gausenbauer,
Federal Chancellor of Austria, appealing to his
government “to rectify the gross injustice” by canceling
the loan. The Bank of Austria and the Department of
Finance of the
Philippines
signed the loan in 1997.
In their
letter, they slammed the loan package as “a case of
toxic technology transfer” that practically caused the
dumping of highly defective incinerators in 26 public
hospitals in the Philippines. Emission tests conducted
by the Department of Health and the World Health
Organization showed that the incinerators release
dioxins and furans and other harmful chemicals way
beyond the standards set by the Philippine government.
These incinerators were decommissioned in 2003 to comply
with the requirements of the country’s Clean Air Act.
“We find
it totally unjust and indefensible for both the
governments of Austria and the Philippines to be carting
off funds for the public coffers to pay for obsolete and
dangerous waste burners,” said Alan Watson, UK-based
member of the Global Alliance for Incinerator
Alternatives (GAIA).
“Why
should the country’s poor suffer from this apparent
dumping of dirty incinerators from Europe?” Watson
asked.
The
activists found it appalling that the $2 million per
year loan repayment is depriving Filipinos with funds to
improve health-care waste management in hospitals and
meet the people’s health needs. The allotted payment for
2007 is 25 percent of the Department of Health’s budget
for infrastructure and almost equal to the budget for
local health programs and the prevention of emerging
diseases.
They
emphasized the need for Austria to take unilateral
action in canceling the debt since the Philippines has
yet to rescind a controversial law that automatically
appropriates budget for international debt obligations
above all other public expenses. |
