Mga insidente ng hazardous wastes contamination

BINIGYANG-DIIN ni Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada ang pangangailangang magkaroon ng programa ang pamahalaan tungkol sa madalas na nagaganap na mga oil spill at iba pang insidente ng hazardous wastes contamination o pagkalat ng nakalalasong kemikal sa karagatan at iba pang bahagi ng kapaligiran.

Aniya, “Base sa karanasan, ang ganitong mga pangyayari ay nagdudulot ng napakalaking epekto sa pamumuhay ng maraming kababayan, sa daloy ng ating lipunan at ekonomiya, gayundin sa kalikasan.

Kadalasang nabibigla ang pamahalaan sa ganitong mga sitwasyon laluna dahil walang nakalatag na detalyadong sistema at mekanismo (preventive and critical response) para sa mga ito. Kailangang magtatag ng isang ahensIya ng gobyerno na pangunahing tututok sa usaping ito.”

Kaugnay nito, isinusulong ni Jinggoy ang Senate Bill 1667 (Establishing the Hazardous Waste Bureau).

Alinsunod sa panukala:

A.) There shall be established a Bureau on Hazardous Wastes and Environmental Spills and Disease Registry to be known as Hazardous Waste Bureau, which shall be placed within the Department of Health, and in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Bureau of Food and Drugs and other appropriate agencies.

B.) The Bureau shall identify certain sites, facilities or business industries like factories and other manufacturing establishments, known or believed to harbor, use, or contain hazardous substances.

C.) The Bureau shall conduct health assessments regar-ding the potential risk to human health posed by individual sites and facilities, based on such factors as the nature and extent of contamination, the existence of potential pathways of human exposure (including ground or surface water contamination, air emissions, and food chain contamination), and the size and potential susceptibility of the community within the likely pathways of exposure.

D.) Any local government unit or political subdivision carrying out a health assessment for a facility shall report the results of their assessment to the Bureau.

E.) The Bureau shall, on the basis of the assessments, determine further actions which need to be carried out.