A

Report
On
Mercury Poisoning by HUL
thermometer plant in Kodaikanal
The article ‘Poisoned Ground’ published in Frontline in an eye-opener for the real-world
operations of Hindustan Unilever. It provides the user a detailed report of the mercury
poisoning incident at the HUL thermometer manufacturing plant at Kodaikanal. The article
which came 9 years after the incident throws a light on the profit-centric approaches and
motives of these big players in the market. HUL is not only responsible for polluting the
environment but is also responsible for manoeuvring the case such that the case is still on
the trial in the court.

The incident, dating back to 2001, reports of the most dreadful mercury poisoning case in
the history of India leading to the death of 23 workers of the company coupled with severe
health damage of another 550 workers.

Mercury is the third most toxic element of the world. Even small doses of mercury in its
naturally occurring elemental forms of liquid or vapours can be poisonous. Organic forms of
mercury like ‘methyl mercury’ are known to be highly risky for humans as they tend to get
magnified along the food chain. Effects of mercury poisoning on humans include damage to
nervous system, vision loss, and loss of muscle coordination, paralysis, damage to intestine,
kidney damage and even death. Needless to say such a substance just cannot be allowed to
be percolated into the environment.

The workers labouring at the thermometer plant of HUL have shown severe symptoms of
mercury poisoning. Their health has been deteriorated because of the presence of mercury
in large amounts in the soil around the thermometer factory. On being tested by
independent experts in the field of toxicology several above mentioned symptoms of
mercury poisoning have been detected. In-spite of all these facts, Hindustan Unilever has
been categorically denying that it had anything to do with the plight of its workers. The
article accounts this with the profit mentality of corporates which do not care about the
repercussions of their decisions on human lives.

The thermometer plant was basically set up in India because of the stringent legislations
prevalent in US. The lax environment and health laws made the task of Unilever easier. India
was a safe haven for Unilever, where it neglected the standard safety measures like usage of
gas masks, protective clothing and gloves in order to increase profits and productivity. The
machines used in the plant were hand-me-downs, were dated and did not meet the safety
standards of such machinery. The company had also failed in educating its workers about
the hazards of working with mercury. All this shows the complete lack of caution on the part
of the company.

The article puts a final blow to Hindustan Unilever’s claim by showing that on discovery of
the incident it actually withheld the medical records of its workers to prevent itself from
litigation. It also shows how the company hired firms for contamination risk assessment to
produce reports that clear Unilever of all the blame related to the incident. Finally, the
article describes how the company utilized the absence of proper regulatory measures for
setting up the plant and for evading law enforcement after the incident.