Thanh Nien News
23 September, 2013
Authorities in the northern Thanh Hoa Province have fined a military-owned pesticide firm more than VND420 million (US$19,900) for discharging toxic waste into the environment and other violations of environmental laws.
Nicotex Thanh Thai Joint Stock Company based in Cam Thuy District was also temporarily closed down.
The province People’s Committee, the local government, said the company had not submitted to relevant authorities documents about stocks of toxic wastes it held or classified them and failed to make plans to mitigate the impacts of toxic waste on the environment, label them, or meet safety requirements while transporting and storing them.
It ordered the company to quickly collect and treat pesticides it had illegally buried as well as those it kept in its premises after they had expired.
Two weeks ago nearly 1,000 residents of three local communes submitted a petition to online newspaper VietNamNet saying the company should compensate them for illegally burying tons of toxic pesticides, which they said has seriously affected their health and farming activities