BEIRUT, May 23 -- A Greenpeace officer has left Beirut for Germany with samples of toxic waste he claims are part of an Italian shipment dumped in Lebanon during the civil war. Fouad Hamdan, a spokesman for the environmental monitoring group, contended analysis of the waste collected in northern Lebanon will prove it is part of a shipment from Italy that Italian officials have said was removed or destroyed. The samples include household and industrial paints, soil suspected to be contaminated with buried waste and ashes from material that apparently was burned as part of a program to eliminate toxic and contaminated material, Hamdan said. Hamdan, a Lebanese-born German national who left Monday night for Hamburg after a 10-day visit, said before leaving that Greenpeace would analyze the material in Germany and release the results within a month. He said he was sure the samples would show the materials were part of toxic waste shipped from Italy and dumped in Lebanon since 1987. Hamdan said he collected the samples during a visit to areas of northern Lebanon, accompanied by environmental experts and witnesses to the dumping, where the waste was believed to have been buried. 'I saw nearly some 100 barrels of different sizes burned and leaking as well as burned ashes,' Hamdan said. 'Greenpeace believes the area is contaminated. Witnesses have affirmed that the toxic wastes were brought to these areas and some were burned, dumped and even left in open air until now,' he said.
Lebanese authorities should force Italy to take back the material, he said. 'We demand Italy decontaminate the polluted land and take back what can be found,' Hamdan said. Italian Embassy officials declined to comment on Hamdan's claims, but said they would respond to any requests made by Lebanese authorities after their investigation concludes. Italian ambassador Carlo Calia said in February that Rome had paid $10 million to remove all the Italian waste and clean up the waste sites. A Greenpeace report has said 16,000 barrels containing more than 24, 000 tons of hazardous waste were shipped from Italy to the Beirut port from September 1987 to June 1988, during Lebanon's 16-year war. Most of the material was from the Italian company Jelly Wax, which shipped about 15,800 barrels and 20 containers of highly toxic waste. The shipment included explosives, outdated pesticides, pharmaceuticals, solvents and toxic heavy metals, among them lead, mercury and arsenic. Most of the waste was either dumped, burned or sold as outdated industrial and agricultural raw materials. Greenpeace said Lebanon persuaded Italy to take back 5,500 barrels shortly after their arrival, but claims to have evidence that more than 10,000 barrels remain. Hamdan urged the Lebanese authorities to cooperate with environmental experts and witnesses who know exactly where the barrels were dumped and burned. Lebanese Prosecutor Saeed Mirza was expected to complete his investigation and release his findings within a few weeks. Hamdan said Greenpeace would 'react accordingly' to the report and predicted that Lebanese officials would be willing to demand that Italy take further action.
