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Article

9 Jan 2014

Author:
I-fan Lin, Global Voices

Voices from the Victims of Naphtha Cracker Pollution in Taiwan

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[Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Formosa Plastics Group to respond to the report, the company has not responded yet] Residents in the area of a petrochemical processing plant in Taiwan's western Yulin County are at risk for exposure to several toxic air pollutants…[A] report by researchers from the National Taiwan University… on the impact of Formosa Plastics Group's naphtha cracker No. 6, released in July 2012, found that among the pollutants to which residents are likely to be exposed is the carcinogenic and liver-damaging vinyl chloride…The findings echo those of the US Environmental Protection Agency, which saw “extensive” violations at Formosa Plastics' plants in Louisiana and Texas in 2009. The Taiwanese company paid a settlement worth 13 million US dollars in that case to the US Department of Justice. The Yulin Country naphtha cracker was met with public opposition over its possible health consequences from the start of construction in 1992…Their damning results have inspired residents to take up a possible lawsuit against the Formosa Plastics Group…