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Article

25 Jun 2015

Author:
Sipho Kings, Mail & Guardian (So. Africa)

So. Africa: Boipatong residents allege that ArcelorMittal’s operation is responsible for their health problems

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'Big business shrugs off health concerns', 25 Jun 2015: “I loved sport…[n]ow I can’t…walk…without breathing heavily.”…[says] Florence Molete...[of] Boipatong…in southern Gauteng...[T]he 60-year-old says the struggle…[is due to]…constant air pollution…[from] the smokestacks of ArcelorMittal’s Vanderbijlpark plant…Her granddaughter, 30-year-old Semakaleng Molete…[says]“We suffer because of that factory…[my] four-year-old son…is on medicine to ease his chest pains…“If I cannot afford the medication…he must go to hospital…[and be] put on a machine to help him breathe.[”]..ArcelorMittal…maintain[s]…that it is not responsible for health problems in…Boipatong…ArcelorMittal did not respond in…detail to questions about the health impacts of their operations…[c]iting problems around having inherited old plant equipment… Several new laws have been enacted, including a substantial overhaul of air quality legislation. Mittal is one of the large polluters that asked for, and got, a five-year postponement in complying with this law. “ We have…great new legislation which should be forcing companies to lower their emissions, but in practice there is little to ensure they do,” says Robyn Hugo…[of] the Centre for Environmental Rights...