Paul Kirk
A group of United States pollution experts has described the air south of Durban as “toxic soup”, saying that the oil refineries around the city are emitting up to eight times the internationally acceptable amount of benzene.
The survey by an American NGO, Communities for a Better Environment, detected a variety of other chemicals in the air, all of which created a “toxic soup” that the group claims is far more damaging than any of the chemicals in isolation. Benzene is a carcinogen.
The group came to South Africa in April at the invitation of local NGO Groundwork to train local residents in the use of air-sampling devices. Until now South African air had never been independently tested.
The American sampling devices, called “buckets”, are used to suck in air samples. These are then shipped to Los Angeles where an environmental protection agency-approved labora- tory conducts the testing.
Denny Larson, director of Communities for a Better Environment in San Francisco, said he was alarmed by the levels recorded. “The benzene concentration is the highest detected in a bucket air sample around a petroleum refinery,” he said.
The air sample showed benzene pollution was 30 parts per billion. The American Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry adopts an intermediate guideline of four parts per billion. Recently England adopted a five parts per billion standard.
Durban environmental activist Bobby Peek told the Mail & Guardian the figures were especially alarming as benzene is a confirmed carcinogen, impairs development and affects the nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems.
Peek said that while no formal testing has been done on cancer levels in South Durban, there is much narrative evidence to back high levels of cancer and tests have shown lung disease is rife in the area.
“What worries me is the combination of chemicals may be far worse than any of the chemicals on their own. Research has shown that some fairly milpollutants, when combined, become a very, very nasty toxic soup,” said Peek.