JAPAN-ENVIRONMENT: Sickened by Pollution, Citizens Sue Automakers

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jun 10 1996 (IPS) - Between coughs and sharp intakes of breath, members of a group of mainly middle-aged and old people assembled outside government offices in the Japanese capital and slowly explained their plight and made their demands.

“The government is turning a blind eye to the awful problems created by air pollution and we are demanding officials and Japanese auto companies take responsibility,” said Shinya Yamnouchi, a member of the citizens group at last week’s protest rally.

wheeze They are suing government, seven leading Japanese auto- makers and the Metropolitan Expressway Public Corthat the government has refused to acknowledge the right to compensation of several Japanese who claim to be suffering from air pollution related diseases.

The plaintiffs, all Tokyo residents living near busy main roads, say their monthly medical bills are high fis because of the polluted air they breathe.

While lawsuits against the government have bt time civilians have decided to take Japan’s powerful car manufacturers to court.

And not only are the plaintiffs suing for cor target: diesel fueled vehicles which discharge much more nitrogen oxide than gasoline-fueled ones.

‘int the responsibility of auto companies in environmental pollution and force them to carry oresently working on new environment legislation which had been due to be passed in April, but has been delayed, environmentalists charge, by the powerful auto- manufacturing lobby.

The new legislation, which would come into e that would retain 80 per cent of harmful exhaust dust.

Yoshinobu Ise, an air pollution expert at Icion to force auto companies to take responsibility for air pollution stands as a landmark in the long fight by Japanese people for a higher qurce companies to respect our health. The case is a step in this direction,” he adds.

Auto companies are yet to publicly resptomobile industry.

Auto industry sources say the air pollution The tougher regulations would require truck manufacturers to come up with new and better engine designs and execycling systems.

“The required technologies are something that with. The costs are incalculable,” says Tadayuki Suzuki of Hino Motor the past five years.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp, another leading prodearch to comply with the requirements of the planned le standard we will have to double that amount in the next three years,” said a spokespeoffices, say the health of the Japanese public must be the main priority.

So far, 86 of the plaintiffs have been officialy recognised as suffering from pollution-related diseases and arerecognised and two are bereaved family members who claim their relativeshers suffering with pollution-related diseases to come forward.

“There are thousands of people across Japanvictims of air pollution,” said Yamanouchi. “We sincerely hope we win our lawsuich will encourage these desperate people to come out,” h to quit their jobs because they became too ill to work.

“It is very hard for them, but the governmeand not the rich manufacturers, that are regarded as the polluterseled vehicles weighing more than 12 tons on the road. They are blamed foed a record 340 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air in fiscal 1994. About 20 per cent of this figure is attributed to transport emissions.

Unless there is a sharp reduction in carbon diurb emissions to 320 million tons by the year 2000 in keeping wed a treaty at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to cut gre that contribute to global warming, to 1990 levels by the year 2000.

Government officials admit Japan is likely t-HE/SK/CPG/96)