PAULINIA, BRAZIL

In 1975, at a time when dieldrin and aldrin were being banned in the US, Shell Chemical was building a plant in Brazil to produce them. For a decade or more, beginning in 1977, Shell produced aldrin, dieldrin, endrin and other pesticides at this plant, located near Paulinia, Brazil, about 75 miles (126 kms) northwest of Sao Paulo. During that time, there were spills and mishandlings of the chemicals at the plant, at least three incidents of which were cited by government officials.

In 1985, the sale of the drins was prohibited for most uses in Brazil, but apparently their production for export continued at the Shell plant until 1990. Three years later, Shell began the process of selling its Paulinia chemical plant to American Cyanamid and BASF. As part of the sales agreement that followed, Shell acknowledged there was contamination of the factory grounds, for which it took legal responsibility.

Off-site contamination, however, was another matter. Studies of the area later revealed that contamination had moved into the surrounding area, and could reach the nearby Atibaia River, one of the most important tributaries of the Piracicaba River, which provides water to half a million people.

Levels of dieldrin contamination at some off-site locations were recorded at 12 times the maximum limits set by Brazilian federal law. However, no decontamination work had be-gun in the area.

In February 2001, Shell admitted it had contaminated the ground-water and sections of the nearby community, and was ordered by the Sao Paulo State Environmental Protection Agency (CETESB) to begin a clean up.

Shell began providing clean drinking water to local resi-dents and also began buying up vegetables produced at local farms that previously were sold in Sao Paulo for many years. The Paulinia City Hall, meanwhile, produced a report by August 2001 showing that 156 of the 181 residents examined had some degree of contamination from metals or pesticides which could result in various cancers, liver disorders, or neurological problems. That prompted the Public Minis-try of the state of Sao Paulo in November 2001 to accuse Shell of negligence in exposing the people of Paulinia to pesticide residues, as well as possibly others at Vila Carioca where Shell also produced pes-ticides between 1950 and 1978.

Shell dismissed the Paulinia report, saying it used very low thresholds to measure contamination compared with those recommended by the World Health Organization.

Shell also claimed its own tests showed no human contamination. "If there is proof of contamination with the products that we handled there, we will assume the responsibility immediately, which is our policy worldwide," said Jose Cardoso, a Shell manager in Brazil. "But so far, there is no data indicating that."

Local residents, however, were calling for compensation and relocation. Sao Paulo officials, meanwhile, began looking at Shell’s operations a bit more closely. In May 2002, they ordered the shut down of Shell’s 11-million-liter fuel storage and distribution terminal, located in Vila Carioca.* Sao Paulo charged that Shell lacked the proper license to operate the terminal, and had in fact been using a license that expired in 1985. Shell attributed that to a "misinterpretation of terms" by its local unit, and had a court order overturn the shutdown within hours.

Shell also charged the shutdown was an over-reaction to the pesticide situation. A month later, Brazil’s environmental agency, CETESB, found unacceptably high levels of dieldrin in wells near the Vila Carioca, and fined Shell $38,963 (105,200 reals) for its "grave fault" of pollution at the site. As this book goes to press, there are continuing deliberations over the Shell contamination at both Paulinia and Vila Carioca, as well as potential claims and lawsuits being drafted by local residents in those areas.

The drin legacy in Brazil, however, is only part of Shell’s pesticide history.

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