The chemical industry is highly regulated and in my opinion Unilever is a very responsible organisation.
Would that be the same Unilever that ten years ago finally agreed to close its polluting mercury thermometer factory in India, the largest in the world, my heavy metally frriend? Although Unilever agreed to undertake a clean-up of 5.3 tons of mercury wastes it illegally dumped at a local scrapyard, it refused to accept that local people and workers at the factory in Kodiakanal may have been exposed to the highly toxic metal.
And more recently:
"According to local Chinese media, Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer products conglomerates, has been involved in a smuggling scandal in China.
It is reported in various media that from October 2002 to February 2008, Unilever's purchasing department imported 74 quotas of steroid through Bronson and Jacobs (Shanghai), thus evading paying CNY2.19 million in tax. In addition, from January 2005 to April 2006, the company used a similar approach and imported 15 quotas through Shanghai Zhao Heng Industrial Company and eight quotas through NK Chemicals (Nanjing), which helped it evade paying a total of CNY980,000 in tax." http://www.chinacsr....gling-in-china/
The same Unilever that strongly supports the use of biotechnology in agriculture? "Biotechnology is used as a tool to create uniform, standardized crops convenient for industrial processing, or crops with a long shelf life. Unilever tried to create genetically uniform palm trees through tissue culture. The company wanted to expand its palm oil operations (palm trees are grown for the oil in their seeds; the seeds are used for snack foods and industrial lubricants), but the trees were too variable in size to be industrialized. Unilever created large plantations of genetically identical palms -and bought out small farmers, cut down tropical rainforests and displaced indigenous people in the process. Also, processing factories for palm oil caused severe water pollution."
Unilever is one of the world’s leading consumer goods companies with operations in around 100 countries and sales in over 150. Its products are present in half the households on the planet.
Here's a list of corporate crimes levied at Unilever from http://www.corporate...org.uk/?lid=260
