MCSCAN Australia
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY DATABASE
LINKS
Planning:
A Layperson's Approach
MCSCAN Australia: - database design requirements
Duty of Care
Corporate
Responsibility
Community understanding and awareness
MCS:- Related Issues; Community.
Personal Stories In the life of an MCS Victim or their Carers
Articles and Progress Reports.
MCS: Related; Questions-and-Speculation
Conclusions and
Recommendations
Self Help Links. Information on how to clean without using Harmful Chemcials.
Summary: Public Database summary
QUESTIONS AND SPECULATIONS
Once you begin to research into the history of MCS and Toxicity you begin to speculate on what lies out in some of our metropolitan areas and what damage has been done to the environment.
What is the history of those cities and what were they known for? Particularly going back a generation or so ago.
It would seem not unreasonable to make enterprise more accountable for the monitoring, cleanup and so forth and not leave it up to the government and ultimately the taxpayer to foot the bill to clean up some of these messes.
STEEL, ALUMINIUM, COPPER, CASTING AND ROLLING AND MOULDING.
Were they heavy manufacturing cities like Newcastle?
What lies not only in and on the buildings as a source of toxicity, but what is in the soils?
Were heavy metals and other chemicals or metals part of the processes.
Different grades of steels required heavy metals and other metals to achieve a particular grade of steel.
How much of that remains in the soil and also the old buildings?
CHEMICAL MANUFACTURE AND PROCESSING, INCLUDING PLASTICS.
Petro Chemicals (a major contributor to toxicity) and other chemical manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacture? On their sites have there been any monitoring of the soils and drainages or has it just been air monitoring?
PAPER MANUFACTURING, TEXTILES AND CARPET MANUFACTURING.
Paper manufacturing, carpet making, textiles, knitting mills and so on. What research has been done into the residues?
Smelting, Aluminium, copper or steel are sources of lingering pollution in building and in the soil.
What monitoring controls have been set up to monitor leakages or excess air pollution?
Farming. Many potato farms, horticultural farms have for years used dieldrin, DDT until the soils have built up an excessive amount.
What research has been done to ensure that is not travelling further into our farm lands and contaminating our waterways?
RESIDENTIAL, NEW CITIES DEVELOPMENT.
Let's examine a possible scenario. In a rapidly expanding metropolis such land has now been bought by developers and residences are being built on them.
If the land is rough then it is graded and the fill taken to become landfill. If the soil is of reasonable quality then it is sold to soil/potting companies to blend into their mixes. Now becomes an obvious problem.
This contaminated soils is then sold on to the gardener and used on their properties to improve? their soils. Thus we spread the contamination.
I would suspect little has been done to test these soils.
Maybe even the new residences on the development buy back this soil to build up their blocks and add Improved? soils to make their garden?
City and Municipal tips sites.
Until recently anything that was of no value was taken to a tip site across the country, even medical waste from the hospitals was dumped there; paint tins, poison containers; tires, construction materials including asbestos material.
These are potential time bombs, if any of that waste leached into the water tables or other material disturbed in any way. We do not know how far they would travel.
MINING
I understand some research was undertaken in one of our gold mining areas where cyanide was used to extract the gold. Research found traces of the cyanide 160.9 kms, (100 miles).
It was estimated that it had taken 2-3 years to travel that distance, via the prior streams under the ground.
I am not sure who undertook the research, it could have been the Department of Mines or perhaps the Bendigo University might have records.
MUNICIPAL AND CITY TIP SITES
As tips sites were filled, what records have been kept of their location and for how long.
A site I am aware of, was thought by the present community to be "Public Open Space & Crown Land" and as far as local memory could tell it was always so.
We would assume that the land was virgin country, as the people living there were not aware it had been anyway different.
Apparently the records had been lost over time.
Finally the government of the day leased it to a company to mine the top soils to be put into garden soils and potting mixes.
Once mining commenced, the dust from the trucks, dozers and front end loaders was such that it contaminated the residential area along the side of the land.
Shortly, there complaints of strange illnesses coming from the residences, gradually becoming more serious.
Local council testing stated everything was within "minimum standards" (that term again).
Finally an independent company carried out the tests and it was found that the dust that covered the properties was full of heavy metals and many other chemicals. The only source being the site that was being mined.
Further research into the history of the area found it was not virgin soil as thought, but had been a toxic waste dump. When filled it was then covered with top soil which was now being removed by the company.
Action? The company was fined a minimum amount for lack of dust control.
I am given to understand the company continued with its mining, receiving breach notices from time to time.
For obvious reasons, I cannot name the company or the location as the matter has now come before the courts.
However, I would stress that this a scenario that could easily be in any state of Australia.
Further questions I would raise in this matter, what is the potential "flow-on" outcome of selling this polluted material in garden soils.
I understand that one wine grower was sold a large quantity this potting mix to spread around his grape vines as a booster for his vines?!!!!
I think we can safely assume that will it be taken up by the vine roots and into the grapes that will become future wine or sold to the green grocery stores to be eaten as table grapes?
This also raises the question as to who should assume the responsibility for monitoring, testing or even any future litigation?
Long term, it will not only endanger the health of the people working there, but also nearby residents.
"NEARBY"
How close do we need to consider the term "nearby?"
Nearby is rather a loose term and can mean anything you wish. One hundred yards; 50 miles; 100 miles ????
Perhaps "nearby" is too close for our towns and cities and even our valuable food production farm lands.
ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE TRAINING BASES.
In researching this document I have found another source of pollution and that is the military training grounds.
Not only the explosives used are toxic but also their propellants. Similarly the fuel used for jets, land and naval vehicles.
The vapour trails can be seen from quite some distance
How much further does it travel once it starts to dissipate could be considerably further. In some states these training grounds are located close to large residential areas.
Why?
We have extended military training to other countries with little consideration to the Australian people.
TOXIC WASTE DUMPING?
We are extending and installing toxic waste dumps ad hoc with almost peripheral investigation into how the short and long time effects will have on the environment and the community.
Will the toxic and radiation waste be just buried with their containers or even without containers; just tipped into the land fill.
Perhaps a tax needs to be put on companies or any other user of taxic material to allow for the waste to be contained in impervious containers before they are just buried.
If they want the profits from manufacturing products from toxic chemicals, then there is also a responsibility that should go with it.
AUSTRALIA; A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY?
Are we to become just another third world dumping ground for Western countries?
Our pollution laws are pathetic. Tokyo, Japan has more strict laws than we have. A vehicle has a life of five years unless it can meet strict criteria to remain on the road. This means that motors usually are replaced e.g. 60,000 kms or even less.
These replaced motors are then on-sold to Australia for our second hand vehicle component market.
Why?
QUARANTINE AND QUARANTINE LAWS AND REGULATIONS.
Our quarantine laws have been to a certain extent reduced rather than strengthened.
Our quarantine staffing is under heavy pressure due to staff numbers not being adequate.
We allow products from other countries that have exotic diseases to come into the country
Or insects pest now find easier access to our shores. Look at fire ants as an example. There are many more examples that can be cited.
The world has become a much smaller place with the pressure of air transport.
With shipping we already have problems along our coast lines from ballast.
Our governments are approving the use of GE modified insect and plants.
We do not fully understand the long term implications of allowing them into our country.
Other countries have banned them, so why are we allowing it to happen?
An so it go on; Questions; Questions without satisfactory answers other than that of pandering to vested interests (big money and multi-national companies), greed.
These investors are quite happy to rape a country and then leave to move on to the next.
As long as the profit targets, (often exorbitant) of the company are met, so they can pay high returns to shareholders.
Is that what we want?
What do our governments do to protect this country and its population?
