Does Tata Steel’s lead make us stupid? | section Joris Brussels
IJmond
The village is not as black as it used to be. Colorful words from Hans Dellevoet of the Wijk aan Zee village council during a debate last Monday of the Provincial Council of North Holland.
Words that were recognized by Tata deputy Jeroen Olthof. In response to the recently published RIVM report of ‘the environmental pollution in the vicinity of Tata Steel that is dangerous to humans and animals, which remains unchanged’.
Read also: Provincial Council sweeps the floor with Tata claim ‘50% less paks’
A week before the report was released, Tata Steel itself indicated that fifty percent of the emissions from carcinogenic packages had been solved. A hope that many Members of Parliament were disappointed in, because this statement cannot be connected to the RIVM report. The RIVM indicated that no conclusion could be drawn from the previous RIVM report on Tata based on the current measurements. One conclusion was that ‘prolonged (low) loss of lead can lead to negative effects on children’s IQ’.
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Teasing
A friend who lives on the other side of the country texted me teasingly if I had one of these recently. As a born and raised Velsen-Noorder I have already become dumber? There you are as a blast furnace chauvinist with a mouth full of gears. Have we been fooled and fooled all these years that as loyal employees and their families we are proud of our steel mill? Or are the RIVM, the measurement experts and the environmentalists all wrong? Would you come from underwater and other nasty substances might become not only stupid but stubborn or chauvinistic? Is that it?
The Public Prosecution Service recently visited the steel plant as part of the massive criminal case against Tata, based on 1,100 reports from individuals and organisations. And four smaller criminal cases will also be heard against Tata at the end of December.
The municipality of Beverwijk will have playgrounds in the area contaminated by waste cleaned. And many hamburgers more than agree that the polluted factory itself should pay these costs. Add to that the RIVM report and the critical attitude of the Provincial Council. The fire-breathing metal dragon that spews out polluting clouds is under fire from multiple sides. And now for real.
As a journalist, I think it’s a historic moment. As an insured about the health of my loved ones and myself a relief. As a kind of the village where the blast furnaces are located and which feed us, I have a stone in my stomach. Or would that be the lead? The flooding that makes us oil stupid?
Football
It’s stupid anyway that I describe it this way. Because at football and in my group of friends or on family birthdays, people will not be pleased with what I write here. But it’s those people I don’t like to lose to health ailments caused by the factory they’re loyal to. And of course cleaning a slide, a critical Member of Parliament, a fine of any community service will not ensure that a steel magnate in India sleeps worse.
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But may it now please be the time when Tata Steel takes matters into its own hands and rewards its environment in turn with real sustainability? No loopholes, but real solutions. that is why someone like Dellevoet of the Wijk aan Zee Village Council can report in the future that his village no longer looks black but green.
Passport
Joris Brussels (1987) is a columnist, writer, (city) poet and communication strategist. He comes from Velsen-Noord and lives in Beverwijk. Every week he gives his opinion here.