The question in question appears to be:
61. Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura
For more see ministryoftruth.me.uk/2009/10/13/trafigura-and-the-minton-report/ [ministryoftruth.me.uk/2009/10/13/trafigura-and-the-minton-report/]
The concentrated sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) is one, as anyone coming into contact with it on the waste dump would be likely to suffer severe chemical burns to the skin or lungs, from vapour inhalation, and as, I'm afraid to say, scavenging from waste dumps is not that uncommon a practice in the developing world… Do I really need to spell out the rest?
The other problem lies in the sulphur compounds in the naptha, some of which would, when dumped, break down and release hydrogen sulphide gas.
Now, at low concentrations, hydrogen sulphide can be readily detected by its characteristic `rotten eggs' smell, which is unpleasant by not particularly dangerous.
At high concentrations, however, that smell isn't present and if the gas get into your lungs or your eyes it will react with the water molecules present to form sulphuric acid.
Once you understand that very basic bit of chemistry – and this is first year GSCE stuff – you can fully appreciate why the report notes that the potential health problems arising from the dumping of this waste include nausea, breathing difficulties, vomiting and good old diarrhea.
Section three of the report sets out a much list of the likely chemical constituents of these slops and their potential impact on the environment and on the health of people coming into contact with them, and it doesn't make pleasant reading.
That, it seems, is what Trafigura don't want us to know, that the toxic crap that was dumped in Abidjan was certain capable of causing the adverse health effects reported, hence it concludes that:
9.3 The compounds listed above are capable of causing severe human health effects through inhalation and ingestion. These include headaches, breathing difficulties, nausea, eye irritation, skin ulceration, unconsciousness and death. There would also be a strong unpleasant odour over a large area. All of these effects were as reported in this incident.
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