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Subject: Ethanol producers killing workers


Author:
Larry
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Date Posted: 10:26:03 09/29/07 Sat
In reply to: Duncan7 's message, "Re: biofuel produces more greenhouse gas than oil" on 08:34:38 09/26/07 Wed

it is way past time to look in to this fuel, also the farming methods. but when your paying legal and illegal workers $1.35 an hour. you can afford to pay off family's.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=acy...Sk0Y&refer=exclusive

Brazil Ethanol Boom Belied by Diseased Lungs Among Cane Workers
Suddenly, he feels dizzy and has to stop. It's not the first time this has happened. He's had headaches and pains all over his body for a week and has already been hospitalized once. Silva, who's 45 and started cutting cane this year, says he's reluctant to stop working. His pay and his job hinge on how much cane he can cut in a day.

The cane Silva slashes feeds an ethanol plant owned by Cosan SA Industria & Comercio, Brazil's biggest exporter of a fuel that politicians around the world trumpet as a clean, renewable alternative to gasoline.

Halfway through Silva's 10-hour shift, the slender, 5-foot- 2-inch-tall (1.6-meter-tall) worker collapses. He takes shelter under a bus, where he trembles with fever. That's where Sao Paulo state labor prosecutor Mario Antonio Gomes finds him as he inspects the plantation.

Gomes orders Elton Rodrigo Franco, a driver for the plantation, to take Silva to a hospital in Capivari, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. The sick laborer endures the one- hour trip in the only vehicle available, a two-seat Ford Pampa pickup with no room in which to lie down.

A doctor at the hospital diagnoses Silva with lung fibrosis, a scarring of the lungs that often afflicts cane cutters, according to the labor inspector's report. He may die if he keeps cutting cane, the report says.

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Replies:
Subject Author Date
Re: Ethanol producers killing workersDuncan716:06:53 09/29/07 Sat
Ever heard of coal miners' black lung?Ex-bushy14:21:06 09/30/07 Sun


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