Jean Factory Toxic Waste Plagues Lesotho

Locals Suffer Burns, Chest Infections from Noxious Waste at Factory Supplying Denim to Gap, Levi's

(CBS)  There's a disturbing report today of dangerous waste being dumped by a plant in Africa which manufactures blue jeans for American consumers.

Both Gap and Levi Strauss are investigating the alleged dumping at the plant in Lesotho in southern Africa, as CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports.

On the outskirts of Maseru, dozens of children - the poorest of the poor - scavenge at a huge municipal dump for anything useful - anything they can sell.

A months-long investigation by the London Sunday Times found tons of illegally dumped waste from garment manufacturers including suppliers of major denim manufacturers Levi Strauss and Gap.

Among the scraps of denim and discarded clothing tags are hidden dangers.

"We found razors, sharps and needles that are traditionally used in textile machinery. So there's a lot of hazardous waste," said Dan McDougall, Africa correspondent for the London Sunday Times.

The dump is constantly burning. Acrid smoke fills the air. Most of the children have chest infections. People complain of skin irritations.

One woman told CBS News that her hands and arms were covered in sores after she touched chemicals sometimes found there. "I couldn't stop the itching," she said.

The garment industry and international contracts with Gap and Levi have brought thousands of desperately needed jobs to Lesotho. In exchange for those contacts, manufacturers are supposed to adhere to strict codes of social and environmental responsibility.

The textile mill supplying the companies has installed a water purification facility, but the Sunday Times found that untreated wastewater, dyed deep blue and polluted with chemicals, is leaking into the water table and a local river.

"When you stand up on the ridge, and look down it is bright blue. It is unnaturally blue. And you can see right along the banks of the river there are strips of cotton material, slime, the mud is actually stained blue," McDougall said.

And just outside the plant, one of the pipes carrying wastewater was broken. Residents say it's been that way for years.

"The water smells terrible," a woman said. "And it makes us feel ill."

"It's polluting our land, it's polluting our air, it's polluting our water," said John Buaska, an environmental activist. "And on the other hand they say they are helping Africa."

Gap, which takes pride in its reputation for social responsibility, moved quickly.

"In just the few days since we found out about these troubling allegations," said Gap Senior Vice President Dan Henkle, Sr., "we have done the following: We have conducted an on the ground investigation of our own; We've commissioned an independent monitoring organization to conduct their own investigation; And we have put one of the factories involved on immediate notice until all issues are adequately resolved."

Levi Strauss has also promised action over conditions at the dump, saying in a statement, "We are committed to working closely with suppliers and government leaders to help protect the community."

People might feel differently about their favorite pair of jeans if they knew the hidden costs of what was happening half a world away.

[910isgangs]

lol i cant believe people are ACTUALLY doing work hha

[910isgangs]

neriah i owe you chips but i ate mine but i left crumbs hha

[910isgangs]

910 is so qanqs!!hha x

[odbu812]

I will give them ample opportunity to resolve/rectify the situation, I just won't give either of them a dime more till it is resolved, and guess what Levi's and Gap, It's back to school season too, Guess you better get this fixed fast and make sure nothing like this happens again!

[rsmik]

My jeans are made by little children working 12 hours a day in China, so I can't relate.

[dragontat2]

One of the main reasons Levi&Co, etc, moved their factories out of the US - taking my career along with them- was to avoid having to be bothered by such things as pollution and worker's rights. The quality of their fabrics have significantly declined, as well.
I haven't bought anything made by Levi&Co (including Koret) or anything at The Gap since they moved American jobs out of the country for reasons involving corporate greed.

[fgLesotho]

Foreign company?s manufacturing in Lesotho is the only reason why most of the people in Lesotho are not dying of hunger. Yes what is happening is incorrect, and is the governments responsibility?s to assist these companies with providing means of disposal of these waste as these company?s keep the economy going. At this moment they are too concerned about their own interests than to worry about their people.
The Basotho?s culture is a culture of waste. There are no waste management. All waste gets burned. Where ever you go you will see trash all over the streets, tyres burning, and cars serviced and oil just dumped on the ground.
Lack of education is the main problem. If government invest in the people and improving county?s infrastructure, you would not have these problems.
Take the factories away and see people Die of Hunger.

[mimcdo]

Gap and Levi Strauss are saving millions of dollars manufacturing jeans in an African city where local government and local families have the responsiblity to clean up the dumps and keep their children after from the toxins. CBS should direct their comments to the local government, media and families; not the U.S. people. If these groups cannot control waste; then, send the jobs back to Americans who lost their jobs and know how to handle industrial waste. Parents should control their children; not blame the Americans who lost their earnings.

[erasmus111]

Is there a reason why you felt the need to post this 3 times? Afraid someone might miss it?

[mimcdo]

Gap and Levi Strauss are saving millions of dollars manufacturing jeans in an African city where local government and local families have the responsiblity to clean up the dumps and keep their children after from the toxins. CBS should direct their comments to the local government, media and families; not the U.S. people. If these groups cannot control waste; then, send the jobs back to Americans who lost their jobs and know how to handle industrial waste. Parents should control their children; not blame the Americans who lost their earnings.

[mimcdo]

Gap and Levi Strauss are saving millions of dollars by outsourcing their production. This should be the problems of the local government where these plants are located in Africa. The outsourcing of many American manuafacturing plants will continue to cause problems that prepared for the problems associated with the production of goods. If this manufacturing were recalled to the U.S. their would be no problem in Africa and Americans would still have their jobs.

[Newster1]

"People might feel differently about their favorite pair of jeans if they knew the hidden costs of what was happening half a world away."

Could be worse, there could be NONE of those desperately needed jobs at all, then what!
The video shows that "broken pipe" gezus, are people THAT freaking helpless, the pipe made in 2 sections slipped apart, like it's real hard to push them back together again, good grief people are as helpless as it comes.

[Newster1]

"the worker ends up with around 9 cents in labor and gets to live in pollution and poverty.
by hatethatbitc "

Hmm, could be worse, they could be DEAD of starvation fromnot having work at all, but amazingly they choose to work in the jean factory, I'm sure under threat of being shot by those armed guards who FORCE them to work there...


"We found razors, sharps and needles that are traditionally used in textile machinery. So there's a lot of hazardous waste,"

"The dump is constantly burning. Acrid smoke fills the air. Most of the children have chest infections. People complain of skin irritations."

And somehow a burning dump is OUR problem?
The real problem in Africa is overpopulation to begin with, too many people in too smal an area with too few resources artificially sustained for decades by the US which enables them to expand even further.

[rf35]

I don't get how the dump is relevant to this story. Sure, there are dangerous things in dumps. That's true everywhere. Children aren't supposed to be rooting through dumps. If they were, people couldn't throw away anything that might be dangerous. And the burning issue...who's igniting the fires? I don't think it's the plant. More likely the local government or whoever is responsible for managing the waste. It really looks like two separate stories got scrambled up here and lots of facts were omitted from both. Sorry CBS, this has got to be the worst piece of "journalism" I've ever seen on your site.

[Meg003]

This is an example of where we need to level the playing field. Our laws force manufacturers and producers to pay minimum wage, follow environmental protection laws, and fill out reams of paperwork to operate in the U.S., yet goods produced with no such expensive requirements are allowed to be sold here.

[ibsteve2u]

Precisely.

Our corporations fled America for higher profits, secure in the knowledge that sub-contracting or running dirty factories offshore in nations without good environmental laws might result in millions more metric tons of pollution being emitted, but if Americans couldn't see it or smell it, they'd rake in loot.

The thing is the Earth is a closed system. It all comes back, eventually (ye old "what goes around, comes around).

This pouring crap into some other nation's rivers and dirtying some other nation's air is just an extension of Jack Welch's "The Hudson River is a self-cleaning system!" theory of "As long as it goes downstream and the only thing you can see in front of MY factory is clean water...".

We ALL live downstream. The only question is will the pollution being generated offshore in such quantities kill us, our children, or their children and grandchildren?

[ibsteve2u]

lollll.....I don't know why I took the time to type that.

Look: Pretty pictures! http://geology.com/nasa/monitoring-pollution-by-satellite.shtml

[nextgenman09]

Actually ibsteve2u, not ot detract from the spirit of your post, but the statement:

"The thing is the Earth is a closed system."

is incorrect from the thermodynamic (correct) definition of the statement.

[ibsteve2u]

by nextgenman09 August 3, 2009 5:20 AM EDT "Actually ibsteve2u, not ot detract from the spirit of your post, but the statement: "The thing is the Earth is a closed system." is incorrect from the thermodynamic (correct) definition of the statement."

So your allegation is that the only correct usage of "closed system" is when speaking of energy transfers?

lollll...well, pardon me for not saying:

"When looking at the Earth from the perspective of the distribution of man-made or even natural organic and chemical compounds, the planet is a giant lab flask and those compounds eventually are distributed globally - albeit unevenly."

That too, of course, is untrue if you remove thermodynamics, gravity, and the solar wind from the equation. On the other hand, if you remove those factors then life itself is also untrue.

[txlakeside]

republiCONS and the neoCON right will try to spin this as Africas fault and liberals fault and probably is not even real ... but a faked environmental clamity. Folks do not have to buy the jeans ... so we are just enabling them to "pollute" or better yet ... claim US biz is not polluting but being used .... yep just another liberal, socialist, commie plot to take your health care and ship it off to Africans who are out to take your guns away .... yeah, yeah, thats it ... it is a plot to bastardize our great health care that millions do not have just to benefit the poor African babies that Madona and A. Jolie want to adopt ... it is all a liberal, socialist commie plot to take your guns away, give them to the African commies so that they can shoot the Americans with health care .... thats it .... thats the ticket! ..... ROFLMAO! Why is it no republiCONS just say ... this is wrong and American Companies should not allow this?

[debinok1]

Here we have the reason so many companies CHOOSE to move their business overseas. NO REGULATION, NO RESTRICTIONS, NO OVERSIGHT. Oh sure, they will "investigate", but they will find that they are NOT responsible. Typical CORPORATE CROOKS.

[veteran71]

This is why our wonderful Corporations move jobs overseas, because the commie lib hippies won't let them dump their toxic waste in the rivers and streams......we could have had these fine jobs right here in 'Murica if it wasn't for those lily livered **** lovin' Dems.....*sniff*......

[GarmentGuy]

Took 30 Years to make the news! Ever wonder back in the 80's why they called Jeans "Acid Washed"..Yep! That water and chems flowed into water in LA, NC, Mexico. Notice that in the last 10 years or so the fashion look has been "Worn, Torn, Bleached, Sand Blasted, Chem Sprayed"...Still make and treat 1.000's of pairs every week in LA, Mexico and 100,000's in China. All are using the same stuff to get the look, what about the workers, what about the Jeans that do not get fully rinsed. The world is slow to find these things are find them.. it took a pile on fire for someone to notice. Try doing some water samples near these other factories...you might just freak everyone out and Denim might turn Dark blue again and look new!!

[martin9p2]

Actually I'm a Democrat and I'd like to turn this story into a prosecution of Chinese business tactics, not Gap and Levi Strauss for being their customers. I did a bit of googling for "Nien Hsing Textile Company Limited +Lesotho" and found that the water has been foul there for a long time, possibly even before the Chinese factory was completed, because Lesotho has the most lax pollution standards in Africa. Interesting? CBS? McVicar? Want to address this part of the story? It's all interesting.

[wogerwabbit]

martin9p2 August 2, 2009 9:53 PM EDT

CBS, are you going to remove the line "People might feel differently about their favorite pair of jeans if they knew the hidden costs of what was happening half a world away." ?

Why? Are they not in the least responsible? Are the hidden costs to the victims any less because there's a Taiwanese middleman now making the jeans that used to be made in America? Obviously you're a republican with a profit at any cost mindset and an enabler of the downfall of the American middle class.