Discuss toxic waste with Bush, GMA urged

Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda urged President Arroyo yesterday to discuss with US President George W. Bush the "urgent need" to remove lethal toxic wastes left behind by the American military in Subic and Clark.

"The removal of the environmental nightmare at Clark and Subic should be on top of the agenda of President Bush and President Arroyo. It is a matter of utmost urgency and importance," she said.

The US president is making a brief stopover in Manila on his way to Thailand to attend the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Legarda, a staunch environmentalist, is the author of Senate Resolution 141, which prods the Arroyo administration to come out with an official policy on the removal of toxic wastes in Subic and Clark.

She said scores of deaths and illnesses have been reported in the poor communities near the former US military bases.

A prevalence of kidney, liver and urinary problems has been reported among residents of these communities, which was confirmed by a study made by the Canadian Institute of Concern for Public Health, she said.

The People’s Task Force for the Bases Clean-up has established several cases of leukemia, breast and congenital health disease, nervous system disorders, and deformities among women and children that it has traced to toxic wastes, she added.

According to the Senate leader, Weston International, which was contracted by the government and the World Health Organization to do an inspection of toxic waste dumpsite in Subic and Clark, reported the heavy presence of the deadly DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls, and other high-toxic dioxins in these areas.

"We have to deal with the problem of toxic wastes in these bases before they kill and maim more Filipinos," she said.

She said the visit of President Bush would leave a lot of goodwill and good feeling if he orders the implementation of an action plan to clean up the toxic wastes in Clark and Subic.

"That will relieve the endangered communities near the two former American bases of a clear and lethal danger," she added. — Jess Diaz