Jean Factory Toxic Waste Plagues Lesotho

There's a disturbing report today of dangerous waste being dumped by a plant in Africa whichmanufactures blue jeans for American consumers.

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

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

A months-long investigation by the London Sunday Times found tons of illegally dumped waste fromgarment 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 lotof hazardous waste," said Dan McDougall, Africa correspondent for the London Sunday gouldspumps 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 touchedchemicals sometimes found there. "I couldn't stop the itching," she said.

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

The textile mill. The majority of installed pumps were not originally designed for their presentfunction. Often, a line in a facility is moved and the pump that at one time provided cooling fluid toan injection molding machine is now needed to move oil from a rail car to a tank. Unfortunately, thisis the cause of a substantial number of problems for the pump and the impellers for pumps facility.Pumps operate where the pump curve crosses the system curve. If you relocate a pump from onesystem to another, this means that the system curve is different. This new system may cause thepump to operate away from its best efficiency point, leading to noise and other component failuresthat are simply symptoms of a mis-matched pump and system.supplying the companies has installeda water purification facility, but the Sunday Times found that untreated wastewater, dyed deep blueand 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 cansee right along the banks of the river there are strips of cotton material, slime, the mud is actuallystained blue," McDougall said.

And just outside the plant, one of the pipes carrying wastewater was broken. Take note of severalsimple changes which can be madeto a typical

centrifugal or positive displacement pump. Regarding pumps containing overhung impellers,

replacing the shaft with a solid shaft is a easy improvement compared to the typical sleeved shafts.Mechanical seals are able to be enhanced by changing to silicon carbide faces, and elastomers oughtto be changed to Viton. In conclusion, magnetic bearing protectors are a vast improvementcompared to the lip seals that nearly all industrial pumps use to maintain clean bearing sump oil.

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, anenvironmental 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 VicePresident Dan Henkle, Sr., "we have done the following: We have conducted an on the groundinvestigation of our own; We've commissioned an independent monitoring organization to conducttheir own investigation; And we have put one of the factories involved on immediate notice until allissues are adequately resolved."

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

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

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