Group cautions poll bets from use of harmful tarps
A waste and pollution watch group has urged candidates in the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to be cautious in using tarpaulin posters laced with cadmium, a cancercausing chemical.
The EcoWaste Coalition issued the toxic alert amid the hype of the start of the official nine-day campaign period on May 4.
Cadmium, according to the World Health Organization, "exerts toxic effects on the kidney, the skeletal and the respiratory systems, and is classified as a human carcinogen.”
Thony Dizon, Chemical Safety Campaigner of the EcoWaste Coalition, in a statement said that tarpaulins such as those made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic often contain cadmium, a chemical that is deemed extremely harmful to human health and the environment.
As the campaign period is limited to nine days and will only cover a small geographical area, the EcoWaste Coalition encouraged Barangay and SK candidates not to focus their resources on the quantity of tarpaulins and other campaign materials to be made and disseminated.
"Voters will surely remember candidates who have taken the trouble of visiting their homes and neighborhoods not only to shake hands but, more importantly, to chat with them about their concerns and how the Barangay and the SK could be of assistance to their lives,” Dizon said.
Dizon added that they are concerned that cadmiumcontaining tarpaulins are adding to the growing toxicity of the waste stream that our society generates.
He explained that the PVC plastic scraps from signage makers, as well as the used tarpaulins, are disposed of like ordinary trash and hauled to dumpsites and landfills for disposal where their cadmium and other chemical additives can be released as the materials degrade.
These chlorinated materials may also end up being burned in dumps, cement kilns and incinerators triggering the formation and release of even more toxic pollutants such as dioxins and furans, the statement read.
Dizon further said that it's high time for government regulators to adopt a chemical control order for cadmium so as to reduce, if not eliminate, their use in the production of plastic and other materials and lessen their health and environmental impacts.