No hospital waste here! Yankees, go home!
The Brazilian Federal Revenue Service has contacted the Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate how two vessels carrying toxic waste were sent from the United States to the Port of Suape; the importer, from the textile hub of Pernambuco, may face criminal charges.
Fernando Porfírio_247 - Brazil is not, or should not be, the backyard of the Americans. Brazilian authorities are outraged by the discovery of hospital waste that arrived at the port of Suape, in Pernambuco. The government is preparing to prevent the United States and other European countries from turning Brazil into a toxic waste dump.
The Federal Revenue Service contacted the Public Prosecutor's Office this Friday (14) to investigate the case of the containers of hospital waste that arrived at the Port of Suape, in Pernambuco.
This week, two vessels sent from the United States to Brazil by a textile company were caught carrying toxic waste. The last one arrived in Suape on Thursday (13), and the first one on Wednesday (12).
The importation of toxic waste is legal, but it must be preceded by a license from the environmental authority of each country, as determined by the Basel Convention and Article 23 of the National Environment Council (Conama). These regulations govern the transport of hazardous waste.
In 2009, 290 tons of toxic waste produced in England were found in the Port of Santos (São Paulo). In this case, the imported waste did not have prior authorization from Brazilian authorities and had to be returned.
According to the chief inspector of the Federal Revenue Customs Office at the Port of Suape, Carlos Eduardo da Costa Oliveira, the involvement of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the case is fundamental not only for the progress of the investigations, but also for deciding what to do with the seized material.
The complaint was filed with the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Pernambuco. The Federal Prosecutor's Office may initiate administrative proceedings or open an investigation to look into the case.
According to Oliveira, the tax authorities are looking for ways to return the containers, but there are cases where this return is not possible, and the contents must be destroyed. The tax official recalled a case in which a company from England sent toxic waste to Brazilian ports. On that occasion, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama) and the Public Prosecutor's Office managed to find legal ways to return the waste without assuming the responsibility (and costs) of destroying it.
Oliveira also reported that the authorities involved in the case (Revenue Service, Police and Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, in addition to Ibama) are investigating whether other vessels from the same company that docked in Suape also contained hospital waste.
In the import documents, the company states that the material was defective cotton fabric, shipped from the state of South Carolina (USA). The two containers seized this week were only inspected because the declared value was inconsistent with the volume and type of cargo. The six containers that the Pernambuco-based company had previously received were not inspected.
The company's name is being kept confidential, but the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has already confirmed that it is a company from Santa Cruz do Capiberibe, one of the cities in the Pernambuco clothing manufacturing hub, 185 km from Recife.
According to Oliveira from Customs, three hypotheses will be investigated: whether the company did not know what was inside the containers coming from the United States; whether it knew and intended to improperly dispose of the material in Brazil; or whether it knew it was hospital waste and, even so, planned to use the fabric in its production.