A near-disaster involving toxic waste in the southern Perth suburb of Hamilton Hill has revealed that working class neighbourhoods are exposed to potential carcinogens local resident and Socialist Alliance candidate Sanna Andrew said.
The Fremantle Steam Laundry in Hamilton Hill burst into flames in the early hours of May 13. Fire fighters ordered some nearby residents to evacuate because the factory had a stockpile of the dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene (PCE).
A Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) spokesperson was quoted in the May 13 on-line edition of the West Australian as saying that there was a concern about stocks of 鈥渂erchloroethylene鈥 at the factory. People living in a 1km radius were advised to close doors and windows and turn off evaporative air conditioners.
鈥淯nfortunately it is all too common in WA that toxic chemicals are piled up in working class areas鈥, Andrew told 麻豆传媒 Weekly.
鈥淒EC said that one of the chemicals is berchloroethylene鈥, Andrew said. 鈥淭hey 鈥 or the West Australian 鈥 couldn鈥檛 even spell the name correctly; it is really perchloroethylene, which is terribly dangerous.鈥
DEC understated the danger, she said. 鈥淒EC said that the chemical doesn鈥檛 burn, which is true. But when it gets hot it breaks down into other products which the DEC said are hazardous when breathed in.鈥
鈥淭hat is the greatest understatement of all time! Heated PCE breaks down into phosgene, one of the poison gases used in World War I. When it isn鈥檛 heated to a deadly gas it is one of the worst carcinogens around.鈥
Hours after the DEC statement the Fire and Emergency Services issued an all-clear, saying that the PCE stacks had been isolated from the fire.
This isn鈥檛 the first time that Perth residents have faced a PCE emergency, Andrew said. 鈥淚n 2001 about a half a million litres of this stuff and worse went up in a massive disaster in Bellevue, a working class area in Perth鈥檚 eastern suburbs.鈥
鈥淭here was a Parliamentary inquiry into that, which studiously avoided talking to any of the workers employed at that site, so the full story never got heard.鈥
Since the Bellevue inquiry the situation has not improved, Andrew believes.
鈥淭he government has avoided facing up to dealing with these chemicals. There is no dump for them, there is no legal disposal in WA, nobody knows how much is piled up in the back of suburban dry cleaning shops or stored in factories like this one.
鈥淵ou never hear of stockpiles of these chemicals in Peppermint Grove or Cottesloe, but it is relatively common in working class suburbs. They are only ever found after a disaster happens. We need a royal commission into toxic wastes in WA and if the government won鈥檛 agree, then we need the trade unions to take up the issue.鈥