by Bill and Ann Woodhouse
I would repeat again what I have previously written and had published in the local papers. The EU were so concerned at the dangers of using mercury that they closed down our traditional barometer and thermometer instrument makers, both repairing antique instruments and replacing modern replicas, by refusing to grant them further use of mercury. They were in fact using 39 lbs a year as a total industry on average.
Nevertheless Osram and Mazda in the EU were using 10 tonnes per annum of Mercury to produce the new mercury filled, supposedly energy efficient bulbs. Mazda and Osram between them were only managing to supply 10% of the EU market as dictated by the new directives. The bulk of 90% was being supplied from China. It therefore follows that China must have been using 90 tonnes of Mercury per year to meet the EU requirements. As is so often the case with our Greens, Friends of the Earth and other so called “environmentalists”, they are more than happy to turn a blind eye to the pollution and devastation that is taking place at the other end of the earth to make them feel they are doing their bit for the planet and able to rest at night feeling righteous.
As another example just take “Neodymium”, which is an essential rare earth in the magnets for wind turbines. In the extraction of such rare earths China is polluting thousands of square miles, AND their water courses through the leakage from the tailing lakes that hold the pollutants from extracting these rare earths, some of which lakes are five miles long. The Greenies as again are happy to turn a blind eye to this.