African Activist Archive

This ICCR Brief reports that, since 1986, American Cyanamid has shipped at least 10 tons of mercury waste to Thor Chemical, a British company, for reprocessing at its plant in Cato Ridge in the province of Natal, just outside the government-designated homeland of KwaZulu. The Brief says Thor's incinerating of the mercury releases some mercury gases into the atmosphere, some recovered mercury is buried in landfills, and mercury-contaminated holding ponds overflow or leach into tributaries of the Mngeweni River. The pamphlet reports on mercury levels in soil and sediment samples at the head of the Mngeweni taken by Greenpeace U.S.A. The pamphlet says an investigation by the Chemical Workers International Union (CWIU) uncovered a host of complaints about employment practices and working conditions at Cyanamid plants in Isando and Witbank. The pamphlet quotes Taffy Adler of the CWIU and Rod Crompton, General Secretary of CWIU. • Partner of Apartheid • Too Dangerous for the U.S. • Contaminated Water Source • Signs of Mercury Poisoning • Mercury Wastes Called Raw Materials • Pollution Continues • Working at Cyanamid in South Africa • Looking for a Better Deal • The Pension Fund Struggle • Using Repressive Legislation • 1990 Layoffs • Fair Disinvestment • The American Cyanamid Campaign • American Cyanamid Consumer Products Sold in the U.S. • The Widening Campaign • Annual Meeting Protests • Sustained Investor Pressure • The Struggle for a New South Africa • What You Can Do

African Activist Archive

Profits, Apartheid and Pollution: AMERICAN CYANAMIC in South Africa

ICCR Brief

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