Call to Compensate Chileans
Updated 4:53 PM
The former top environmental official for the Swedish mining company Boliden says the company and the Swedish state have a responsibility to help people poisoned by waste dumping in Chile 25 years ago.
Rolf Svedberg, who today is part of the Swedish environment court, writes in the newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” Sunday and is involved in a documentary on the issue being shown on Swedish Television Sunday evening.
In the mid-80’s, he says, Boliden sent large quantities of toxic wastes to Chile, ostensibly for recycling. Instead, the waste was just dumped, which has caused severe health problems for the local population.
Boliden’s head of information Marcela Sylander tells Swedish Radio News that they have no responsibility for the waste dumping. The local company that was supposed to recycle the wastes dumped them instead, she says, and Boliden’s attempts to contact the Chilean authorities in 1998, 2001, and 2003 offering help went unanswered.
