The Coalition for Public Health       Environmental Organizations for Public Health

Fighting high mortality from industrial pollution in Israel and in Haifa Bay in particular

Coalition for Public Health in Israel beckons Dr. John Farber to come make “Seder” (order) in his abandoned factory in Acre

Wednesday 20 April 2005 at 9:30 in the morning, a representative of the Coalition for Public Health in the north of Israel will arrive at the New York offices of ICC Industries to demand that owner Dr. John J. Farber take immediate responsibility for all of the environmental problems caused by the ICC held Electrochemical Industries Ltd (EIL) factory in Acre.

The factory claimed bankruptcy and has stood partly deserted ever since a 2003 explosion shook the Acre industrial area with a large cloud of poisonous VCM (Vinyl Chloride Monomer) hazards erupting from the bottom of one of the boilers. Dr. Farber ironically previously lived on a kibbutz 5 minutes from the factory, and today many of the residents of the kibbutz suffer from multiple health related problems.

EIL factory workers, and the residents of the surrounding area, have been exposed to some of the most serious industrial pollution hazards causing increased cancer morbidity among the population in the region. Water aquifers that supply drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents are at risk of permanent and irreversible damage as the water seeps through the soil down into the aquifer.

The former owners of the factory, who continue to administer transactions in multi millions, do so while former workers of the factory in Acre remain without compensation, without salaries, and without the ability to celebrate the Passover holiday. The residents of the area continue to live with the threat of the dangerous materials that remain from the factory. The State of Israel has allocated some tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to begin dealing with the factory’s harmful environmental effects.

Liora Aharon, representative of the Coalition for Public Health addressed Dr. Farber this week in writing: “I speak to you on the topic of the industrial electrochemical factories, in the name of the residents of the entire area, in the name of the workers and in the name of the head of the municipality of Acre to demand financial compensation for the costly problems that have resulted from the factory’s bankruptcy.”

Tomorrow, Aharon will arrive at the offices of the ICC in New York with a clear request: “Come do a “mitzvah”(good deed) in the abandoned factory in Acre - clean up your debts for the workers, clean up the hazardous materials that remain in the factory and its vicinity.”

Aharon comes to New York under the framework of an emissary of non-governmental organization for the United Nations sustainable development committee.

The Coalition for Public Health consists of 20 environmental organizations from the area of the Haifa Bay and the north of Israel, and committees of residents and health and environmental specialists.  The Coalition for Public Health works to reduce the high mortality rate caused from the heavy industrial pollution in the Haifa Bay.

       The article about the factory.