アメリカの排出物、廃棄物関連情報
1999年4月22日
CSN #037
＜アメリカのルイジアナ州モスヴィレの住民に高濃度のダイオキシン＞
アメリカのＮＧＯからのメッセージ
（Multinationals Resource Center： MRC）
１９９９年４月１９日のプレスリリースでアメリカのモスヴィレ（Mossville）の住民に高濃度のダイオキシンが検出されたと発表された。アメリカのモスヴィレに住む２８人住民の血液をATSDR（連邦毒物疾病登録機関）が測定した。その結果１２人から５８ｐｐｔものダイオキシンが検出され、そのうち４人からはその数倍のダイオキシンが検出された。
モスヴィレ近郊には石油化学工場や精製工場が密集しており、その排出ガスの影響が懸念されている。ATSDRのドクターによると、食品からの摂取の可能性もあるが、大気や土壌からの摂取の可能性も否定できない。ドクターによると、血液の詳細分析で発生源を特定できる可能性はあるとしている。しかし工業界は一斉に排出ガスの安全性を宣言している。
＜ゴア副大統領に意見書を提出して下さい＞
アメリカのＮＧＯからのメッセージ
（Multinationals Resource Center： MRC）
欧州連合のＥＣ委員会によって開発された「Ｔａｋｅ−Ｂａｃｋ指針」がＷＥＥＥ（電気電子機器廃棄物）に対して製造物責任としての税法上の適用が検討されている。また現在、国連環境計画（ＵＮＥＰ）がＥＰＲ（拡大製造物責任）というＰＬ法を拡大した規格を検討している。これは、製造者は製造物を責任持って回収し、リサイクルなどへ応用するというものである。ＷＥＥＥの問題はＥＰＲの枠組みにも影響する。アメリカ電子協会（ＡＥＡ）は、ＷＥＥＥへの「Ｔａｋｅ−Ｂａｃｋ指針」適用検討に対して猛反発しているが、欧米のＮＧＯなどがこれに対抗している。以下にゴア副大統領への意見書と電子メールアドレスを記載するので、意見書を送付してほしいとのこと。
ホワイトハウスファックス番号、White House Fax Line - 202-456-2461
ゴア副大統領の電子メールアドレス：Vice President Gore's e-mail: vice-president@whitehouse.gov
USTR - Ms. Charlene Barshefsky, US Trade Representative - fax 202-395-3911;
E-mail: cbarshefsky@ustr.gov
US EPA - Ms. Carol Browner, Administrator - fax: 2002-260-0279;
E-mail: Browner.Carol@epamail.epa.gov
To contact your representative : http://www.house.gov/writerep/
以下、ゴア副大統領への意見書
Dear Vice-President Gore:
We are writing to request your immediate assistance to help defend an important environmental initiative, the draft European Commission Directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). This draft directive -- which is designed to address the growing problem of obsolete electronic equipment -- will help protect environmental health and safety on both sides of the Atlantic by phasing out some of the worst toxic chemicals, cleaning up the life-cycle of computer manufacturing, promoting Producer Responsibility and encouraging similar Clean Production initiatives outside Europe, particularly within the United States.
However, rather than defending and protecting our health and environment, the US Trade Representative (USTR) is lobbying on behalf of the electronics industry to oppose this directive as a barrier to international trade. We ask that you intervene to put an immediate stop to the USTR's lobbying activities.
We have learned that the American Electronics Association (AEA) -- whose members include Microsoft, Intel, IBM, and Motorola -- is using international trade law as a weapon to dictate global health and environmental policy. In a 15 page legal position paper, the AEA asserts that various provisions of the WEEE are "illegal" under international trade law and, therefore, violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
In his March 15, 1999 statement at a high-level WTO symposium on trade and the environment, President Clinton said, "We must do more to ensure that spirited economic competition among nations never becomes a race to the bottom. We should be leveling environmental protections up, not down." The draft WEEE directive is an excellent opportunity to place these words into action.
We urge you to join us in working to make sure that weaker environmental standards are not forced upon the European Union by unfair global trade laws. At stake in this controversy are three vital environmental principles.
1. Producers must be ultimately responsible for their products. The WEEE Directive's premise is that the producer of all electronic products and electrical equipment must be financially responsible for managing their products throughout their lifecycle, including at the end of life. The public should not have to pay extra taxes for waste management costs of hazardous materials that producers choose to use in electrical and electronic equipment.
2. Trade Associations must not be allowed to dictate environmental health policy. It is vital to support the WEEE directive's provisions for encouraging the recycling of plastics and phasing out toxic chemicals that are persistent in the environment and known health hazards. We must leel environemtnal standards up, not down. This will help clean up the entire product chain, alleviate worker health problems, and reduce hazardous emissions to the environment not only in Europe, but in America as well.
3. U.S. policy must represent all of us, not just large corporations. The USTR has no right to lobby on behalf of corporations against the interests of the American public. We are offended to learn that the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the American Electronics Association (AEA) are using the World Trade Organization (WTO) to undermine important and beneficial environmental initiatives.
The USTR is pushing the US government to take a position opposing this regulation behind closed doors and without the benefit of public notice and comment period required for proposed new regulations under US laws. Since US law requires that the federal government involve the public in setting domestic environmental standards, surely the federal government should also involve the public before attacking the positive environmental standards of other countries that will directly benefit the American public.
We call on you to reign in USTR's interference in the legitimate environmental decisions of the European Commission. Given the direct health and environmental impacts of the WEEE Directive on both sides of the Atlantic, the US government should refrain from any further official comment on this initiative until it has consulted all interested parties through public notice and comment rule-making procedures.
Yours sincerely
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以下の組織へCC（カーボンコピーを送って下さい。）
USTR Representative Charlene Barshefsky
EPA Administrator Carol Browner
US Senators
US Representatives