LEAD Action News Volume
14 Number 1, October 2013, ISSN 1324-6011 Incorporating Lead Aware Times ( ISSN 1440-4966) and Lead Advisory Service News (ISSN 1440-0561) The Journal of The LEAD (Lead Education and Abatement Design) Group Inc. Editor-in-Chief: Elizabeth O’Brien, Editorial Team: Hitesh Lohani, Anne Roberts and David Ratcliffe |
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Innospec Nomination by The LEAD Group for Public Eye Awards 2014 - By Elizabeth O’Brien, BSc (Sydney), Graduate Diploma of Health Education Name of the nominated company - Innospec Inc Short description of the company
Information relating to the conduct of the company
Cause of nomination Offence committed / facts of the case in detail (max 8,000 keystrokes): Innospec Inc (and its precursors Octel Starreon, Octel and Associated Octel) has been directly responsible for the last 60 years, for the totally preventable lead poisoning via the use of leaded gasoline, of my children, my entire family and every other organism on the planet, via manufacturing, fraudulently marketing and bribing officials in order to sell the lead additive for petrol/gasoline. The company continues to manufacture tetraethyl lead (the essential ingredient to turn unleaded petrol/gasoline into leaded gasoline/motor fuel) up to the present day, and to fraudulently market the product by not revealing:
Graphic: Entry in Volcano Art Prize 2013. Artist: Zac Gethin-Damon. Title: Lead kills catalytic converters. Lead-Safety Message: Catalytic converters reduce auto-emissions by 50-90% and when leaded petrol is no longer sold in a country, catalytic converters can be made mandatory in new vehicles. In defiance of the truth, Innospec claims: „Our fuel additives... reduce harmful emissions“ (http://innospec.ir.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingCONVPDF1?SessionID=n-kl6Q15KiV7f1v&ID=8422270 ). The lost opportunity for cars and whole countries to switch to using unleaded petrol and thus catalytic converters to reduce emissions, has not been costed. In 1968, British CLEAR Campaign for Lead Free Air campaign leader, Des Wilson, described the UK producer of lead additives, Associated Octel [now Innospec] – at the time owned by Shell, BP, Chevron, Mobil and Texaco – as “the biggest mass child poisoners in the world today”. “Decreases in blood lead concentrations in the United States closely followed the downward trend of leaded fuel sales [once unleaded fuel (enabling use of catalytic converters) was introduced in the early 1970s]. Between 1976 and 1994, the mean blood lead concentration in children dropped by 75%, in direct proportion to the amount of TEL [used]. As late as 1980, Octel’s company medical director, claimed at lead conferences that a causal relation between lead from car exhausts and adverse effects had not yet been proven. The facility earned UK Friends of the Earth’s 1996 award as Britain’s filthiest factory as it continued to produce toxic lead compounds. (Ref BOOK “Only One Chance: How Environmental Pollution Impairs Brain Development -- and How to Protect the Brains of the Next Generation” by Prof Philippe Grandjean, published by Oxford University Press 2013 - not web-published) In April 2011, the estimated global annual impacts of human lead poisoning from the lead in vehicle fuels were found (by Hatfield and Tsai in a United Nations-commissioned report published in 2011) to be significant:
At the beginning of 2013, Kevin Drum wrote:
“Gasoline lead may explain as much as 90 percent of the rise and fall of
violent crime over the past half century” and the cost benefit of lead
abatement? Invest US$20bn annually in lead abatement and the return is
US$210bn annually [in the USA]. Even after every chemicals policy forum on earth has declared lead from petrol to be the greatest cause of universal lead poisoning of children and adults, Innospec continues to make (in the United Kingdom) and fraudulently market (via its website) tetraethyl lead (TEL) for motor gasoline (MOGAS). For example, the OECD wrote in 1990: OECD’s work on lead began shortly after Member
governments [including UK and USA] approved a Decision-Recommendation on the
Co-operative Investigation and Risk Reduction of Existing Chemicals in
1990… From the beginning, the work on lead has focused on priority
products/uses of concern (e.g., lead in gasoline,…) …. Member countries,
industry and NGOs were active partners in every step in the process 1998 – The World Bank reports: “the exposure of
adults to atmospheric lead has been connected to elevated blood pressure
causing hypertension, heart attacks and premature death. No lower threshold
of exposure exists under which the adverse effects of lead on children and
adults cannot be detected”… “the magnitude of benefits estimated in
the United States suggests that phasing out lead from gasoline is likely to
produce substantial benefits in all countries.” 2000 - European Union bans leaded gasoline at the pump (http://www.thenation.com/article/timeline ) yet Innospec continues to export TEL for MOGAS from UK. 2002 – World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) results in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) setting up
the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV) with the primary goal of
global elimination of leaded petrol. Canada also produced TEL for MOGAS up
until 2002, but Innospec went on producing it after the UNEP PCFV resolved
to eliminate leaded petrol globally by 2008. Today, Innospec still claims to
be the world’s only manufacturer of TEL. In 2010, Innospec was found guilty but only fined $40.2 million, for bribing Indonesian and Iraqi officials to purchase TEL for MOGAS, despite the bribery netting Innospec $60 million – thus proving that even after being caught bribing, they can turn a profit from TEL for MOGAS. Innospec is an inspiration to its own staff and other corporations, to bribe foreign officials to buy their toxic products, no matter what the public health and crime increase consequences. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (March 18, 2010): “From 2000 to 2007, Innospec routinely paid bribes to sell Tetra Ethyl Lead (“TEL”), a fuel additive that boosts the octane value of gasoline, to state owned refineries and oil companies in Iraq and Indonesia. TEL was a significant source of revenue for Innospec; however, TEL sales were declining due to the passage of clean air legislation in the U.S. and abroad. Innospec also paid kickbacks to Iraq to obtain contracts under the United Nations Oil for Food Program (the “Program”). Innospec’s former management did nothing to stop the bribery, and in fact authorized and encouraged it. In addition, Innospec’s internal controls failed to detect the illicit conduct, which continued for nearly a decade. In all, Innospec made illicit payments of approximately $6,347,588 and promised an additional $2,870,377 in illicit payments to Iraqi ministries, Iraqi government officials, and Indonesian government officials in exchange for contracts worth approximately $176,717,341 in revenues and profits of $60,071,613.“ ( http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2010/lr21454.htm ) In Innospec’s Sustainable Development Report 2011 – (their most recent and only online Sustainability report as at 23 September 2013), “Sustainable Development” apparently means only Innospec’s financial sustainable development: “Octane Additive sales in 2011Increased 5 percent to $76m With our extensive market knowledge, built up over
many years, we are in a great position to help developing countries make the
transition to unleaded fuel smoothly. We ensure the continuity of tetra
ethyl lead (TEL) supply during their phase-out period and provide
comprehensive advice and guidance on how best to manage the changeover.” Their profit motive is clear – it’s in the heading – and they are very careful to state they are in a “position to help developing countries make the transition to unleaded fuel” without providing any evidence that they actually are helping developing countries make the transition to unleaded fuel, eg by telling their purchasers that other companies make non-lead octane additives which could, within a matter of weeks, enable the phase-out of leaded fuel in their country, thus enabling the introduction of regulations requiring all new cars to be fitted with catalytic converters, to further reduce auto emissions. While Innospec’s website makes claims that they are assisting countries with their plans to switch to unleaded petrol, the focus of their annual and quarterly reports is always on postponing that switch, in order to maximise Innospec’s profits, by continuing to supply as much TEL as possible, for as long as possible. Innospec's record of putting profits before people and
proudly claiming to be the world’s only manufacturer of TEL, shows
flagrant disregard for the UNEP Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV)
to achieve the UNEP Partnership’s major goal of global elimination of
leaded gasoline, which the PCFV had planned to achieve in 2008! 2008 Feb 25 – Innospec state in their annual report
for 2007: “We intend to manage the decrease in the sales of TEL for use in
automotive gasoline to maximize the cash flow through the decline” and
“The Company expects that it will cease all sales of TEL for use in
automotive gasoline at some time in the next several years.” 2009 Feb 20 – Innospec reports on Market Watch
Website: “We expect that we will cease all sales of TEL for use in
automotive gasoline in 2012." (10-K: INNOSPEC INC. - Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations:
"legal expenses incurred relating to Oil for Food Program" -
previously at Innospec Inc. stated in its 2009 "FORM 10-K
ANNUAL REPORT" - "We intend to manage the decrease in the sales of
TEL for use in automotive gasoline to maximize the cash flow through the
decline." Innospec Inc. stated in its 2010 "FORM 10-K
ANNUAL REPORT" - "The Company expects that it will cease all sales
of TEL for use in automotive gasoline in 2012." Innospec Inc. stated in its 2011 "FORM 10-K ANNUAL REPORT" - "The Company expects that it will cease all sales of TEL for use in automotive gasoline in 2013." ( http://innospec.ir.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingCONVPDF1?SessionID=n-kl6Q15KiV7f1v&ID=8422270 ) Further back-pedalling is evident in the 2012 "FORM 10-K ANNUAL REPORT" - "We expect to cease sales of TEL for use in automotive gasoline in 2013, however this is dependent upon the phase out plans of the remaining countries as they transition to unleaded gasoline." „...Sales of TEL for use in automotive gasoline are
made principally to state-owned refineries located in the Middle East and
Northern Africa.“„We believe our Octane Additives segment is the
world’s only producer of TEL and accordingly is the only supplier of TEL
for use in automotive gasoline.“„We are continuing to responsibly manage
the decrease in the sales of TEL for use in automotive gasoline in line with
the remaining countries’ transition plans to unleaded gasoline“ On 14 January 2013, after Friends of the Earth and
Greenpeace called on the UK Government to ban Innospec Ltd, from further
exports of TEL; Innospec told The Independent: "We have no comment to
make [on UNEP’s findings of TEL linked to death and crime]" and
confirmed that it continues to provide the TEL used in motor fuel in Yemen,
Algeria and Iraq. Unabated, Innospec’s most recent web-published
report to investors states:“Innospec – Summary of 2nd Quarter
Performance…- Octane Additives gross margin improves to 53.1%” By 2014, six years will have passed since the UN
target for the global elimination of leaded petrol. In the three countries
Innospec admits to still supplying TEL for MOGAS, 88 million people continue
to be totally unnecessarily exposed to lead from petrol every day. How many more millions have to die so that Innospec can keep raking in the profits? Soft-law-commitments Is the company a member of:
Concerning the nomination
Nominating Organization
Supporting documents/evidence/references Folder containing pieces of (hard) evidence, research findings, proposals for improvement, sources, links, etc. Folder name: Innospec PEA |
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