Toxic Justice

In a newspaper interview (Dagens Nyheter), the former minister of energy, Birgitta Dahl admits that she approved Boliden’s export of toxic waste to Arica. In the article she describes it as one of her career’s biggest mistakes. Since the Swedish government many times has described the shipments in the mid 80’s, as solely the responsibility of Boliden, we called her up to ask her more about her role in the affair.  How did the matter become your repsonibility in the first place? – I was responsible for export of hazardous waste.  Were there many matters like this? –       No, this was…

The human rights organisation Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos Chile-Suecia, (National Commission for human rights Chile-Sweden), together with several organizations in Sweden and Europe, is now demanding that the authorities in Chile and Sweden take responsibility for the toxic waste that Boliden sent to Chile causing damage to people and the environment in Arica.  They refer to the accusations made by a group of UN experts towards the governments of Sweden and Chile and towards the Swedish mining company Boliden and demand, among other things, that those affected should be compensated. This is what they write: “We want to make…

In August 2019 two Femen-activists performed a manifestation outside the Swedish embassy in Paris.The message was ”toxicjustice” and they presented claims that Sweden shall take responsibility for Boliden’s toxic waste in Arica, Chile. FEMEN is an international group of activists fighting sexism, homophobia, prostitution and religion. Their messages are written on their bodies and bare breasts which gets attention and is meant to mobilize people.Read about their demands here (the text is recently updated): ”SWEDEN MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!Two Femen activists demand #ToxicJustice outside of the Embassy of Sweden in Paris and Sweden’s delegation at OECD the Organisation for Economic Co-operation…

Arica in campaign for Corporate Responsibility Swedwatch and the European Coalition for Corporate Justice launch a campaign for stricter EU-regulations for corporate responsibility. The goal is to make EU-law include: A corporate duty to prevent harm European civil cause of action Fairer burdens of proof Reasonable time limits Financial risk mitigation Reform of the EU legislation on corporate due diligence and corporate responsibility is currently discussed and is expected to be decided during 2022. Read more at corporatejustice.org…

In a debate in Swedish Parliament, the Swedish Minister of Environment suddenly changed the Swedish position towards supporting Chile in cleaning up the contaminated areas in Arica, Chile.  In a non-scripted part of the discussion Bolund says: ”We have a lot of clean up work to do for our own part, and we spend much resources on that. This means that are we also developing techniques and solutions, and here we are of course willing to support Chile if such support is asked for. We have not received any request from Chile for Swedish support. I also want to make clear…

The Senate demands that President Sebastián Piñera instruct the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to ask the Swedish government to take back toxic waste from the Scandinavian country that is currently located in Arica. Between 1984 and 1985, the Swedish company Boliden Mineral AB transported the equivalent of 19,139 tonnes of mining waste with high levels of cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic and other heavy metals, from Sweden to the city of Arica. These imports were made through Computador Metalúrgica (Promel) Ltda, a company that would process this material to extract gold, silver and arsenic, even though they were not able to…

They defend toxic emissions in the rainforest, have questioned the benefits of seat belts and deny that passive smoking causes cancer. Exponent, the American consulting company that Boliden hired to defend itself against accusations of having poisoned people in Arica in northern Chile, often presents controversial research results. Exponent is sometimes called the research world’s mercenaries and is considered to specialize in producing so-called “doubt science”, intended to be used in trials to cast doubt on established research. As a journalist, I have for a long time covered trials of various kinds. Some of them have been about disputes related…

They’re Everywhere! Big Companies in Legal Scrapes Turn to Science-for-Hire Giant Exponent The Fall of Icarus is the Greek myth about a youth who gets a pair of wax-and-feather wings but soars too close to the sun–melting the wings and casting him into the sea. In the 1990s, a consulting firm called Failure Analysis Associates ran tongue-in-cheek ads aimed at corporate lawyers that retold the myth as a courtroom drama. The arty-looking promos boasted that Failure’s expert testimony in “Icarus vs. Wax Aviation” would put the onus on pilot error, getting the company off the hook. The formula has turned…

Swedish law magazine Dagens Juridik (Law Today) publishes a feature report about Boliden’s controversial consultants and the ”science for hire”-firm Exponent. …

Professor Jonas Ebbesson, member of the Arica Victims’ legal team in the trial vs Boliden Mineral, writes an Opinion Editorial in Dagens Nyheter, the most significant newspaper in Sweden. Referring to international law, Ebbesson says Sweden has an obligation to involve to resolve the situation. The article is in Swedish and behind a paywall, but will soon be available in English and Spanish.https://www.dn.se/debatt/regeringen-duckar-for-sitt-ansvar-for-giftskandalen-i-chile/…

This week, the film about the victims of the toxic waste scandal in Chilean Arica premiered in Amsterdam. At the same time, Boliden sent a letter to the Arica lawyers stating that the Swedish lawyers themselves may be sued for the legal costs of more than 40 million Swedish crowns. It is through the documentary that SVT initially received the information that Boliden had threatened to sue the Arica side’s lawyers. – They report that they have not been reimbursed for legal costs, just over 40 million crowns, and that they reserve the right to make claims for damages corresponding…

Documentary maker William Johansson Kalén is upset about Bolidens complaints against the lawyers of Arica Victims. The documentary Arica recently premiered and the film deals with the lawsuit following Bolidens dumping of arsenic dust in the Chilean town Arica in the 1980’s. One of the filmmakers, William Johansson Kalén, claims Boliden has gone after the lawyers of the Arica-side and that this could have major consequences. – You don’t come across these kinds of cases very often and it’s an incredible sacrifice the lawyers make by taking them on the terms that if win, they get paid and otherwise they…

In a note to the film team the Embassy states:  ”The Embassy of Chile recognizes the importance of responsible handling of toxic substances and the consequences for humans, the subject of the documentary, and we deeply value that this production serves to raise awareness and prevent similar situations in other places in the world. ”…

The Chilean town Arica has since the 80’s been polluted by chemicals like lead, arsenic and mercury. This has led to death and sickness in the community. Now the Environmental Justice Atlas has placed the town on its list of ecological conflicts around the world. – I believe the Arica community will be greatly favored to assume a greater position of commitment to the community directly affected by pollution, says community leader Rodrigo Pino Vargas. Environmental Justice Atlas, also referred to as EJ Atlas, is a website that documents and catalogues social conflict around environmental issues. They aim to make mobilization…