[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 59 (Thursday, May 2, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E704-E705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SMUGGLING BANNED CHLORO-FLUOROCARBONS IN THE UNITED STATES

                                 ______


                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 2, 1996

  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address smuggling 
activities occurring in the United States by Indian chemical 
manufacturing companies. A report, published in the Washington Times 
earlier last month cites India as the source of a multimillion-dollar 
ring, which is smuggling banned chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC's into the 
United States.
  According to this report, tons of banned CFC's are being smuggled 
into the United States by Indian manufacturers with government 
patronage, generating huge profits in illegal sales.
  CFC importation has become a serious problem. The Customs Service 
says that it is now the No. 2 problem behind illegal drugs. Until it 
was banned under the Montreal Protocol, CFC-12, or freon gas, was 
widely used to run refrigerators and car air conditioners. According to 
the article, Customs recently broke up an operation that was smuggling 
$52 million worth of CFC-12. The newspaper said that a substantial 
portion of CFC-12 in U.S. commerce has been smuggled. Much of it 
appears to have been produced by Mafatlal, an Indian chemical company. 
The report goes on to say that one Indian CFC smuggling operation 
involved 2,750 tons of gas. In this article, the newspaper reports that 
by labeling the CFC-12 for transshipment to a third country or 
identifying it as another gas, ``the smugglers can avoid the ban by 
delivering CFC-12 to unscrupulous distributors, auto chains, and others 
and make a fat profit.''
  In this light, it becomes more important than ever for the United 
States to stop providing assistance to the Indian Government. I urge my 
colleagues to pass H.R. 1425, which will end American development aid 
to India until human rights are respected, and House Concurrent 
Resolution 32, which calls for self-determination for Khalistan, the 
independent Sikh country declared on October 7, 1987. Both bills should 
be passed as soon as possible. We must make it clear to the Indian 
regime that smuggling, genocide, and repression are not acceptable.
  I am entering into the Record a press release issued by the Council 
of Khalistan, the government in exile of Khalistan, which deals with 
this scandal.

              [News release from the Council of Khalistan]

                   India Smuggles Banned CFCs to U.S.

       Washington, DC, April 23.--The Associated Press reported 
     recently that chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC gas, which is 
     banned in the United States, is being heavily smuggled from 
     India. CFC gas was widely used in car air conditioners, but 
     environmentalists contend that the gas is harming Earth's 
     ozone layer. Under terms of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, 
     industrial nations agreed to phase out CFCs. CFCs have been 
     banned in the United States since January 1. According

[[Page E705]]

     to the Customs Service, CFCs are now the number two problems 
     after illegal drugs.
       According to the AP report, CFC gas from India is 
     ``routinely marked as another gas or labelled as being 
     transshipped to a third country.'' CFC production remains 
     legal in India. In one single case, AP reports, more than 
     2,750 tons of CFC-12 were smuggled into the United States. 
     Authorities say that at least some of that gas came from 
     India. Another operation in Florida was worth $52 million. 
     Experts estimate that one-third or more of CFC-12 in U.S. 
     commerce, worth nearly $3 billion, may have been smuggled. 
     According to a U.S. prosecutor, quite a bit of the CFC-12 
     confiscated from smugglers ``was labelled as having been 
     produced by the Indian chemical company Mafatlal,'' the 
     report said.
       ``This is additional evidence of India's irresponsibility. 
     First it refused to sign the NPT and the Comprehensive Test 
     Ban treaty, and now we find out that it is complicit in the 
     smuggling of banned substances,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh 
     Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, the government 
     in exile of Khalistan, the independent Sikh country declared 
     on October 7, 1987. ``In 1994, according to a Heritage 
     Foundation study, India was the third largest recipient of 
     U.S. aid at that time. Should the U.S. be supporting such an 
     irresponsible country?''
       ``India is one of the worst human rights violators in the 
     world,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``It is a nuclear threat to its 
     neighbors in South Asia and was a strong ally of the former 
     Soviet Union,'' he said. ``Now we find out that it is an 
     environmental threat as well. Americans aid to this corrupt, 
     repressive country should be cut off immediately,'' Dr. 
     Aulakh said. He urged the U.S. Congress to pass two bills: HR 
     1425, the Human Rights in India Act, which would cut off U.S. 
     development aid to India until human rights are respected, 
     and House Concurrent Resolution 32, which calls for an 
     internationally-supervised plebiscite on independence in 
     Indian-occupied Khalistan. ``Clearly, India is unwilling to 
     allow these questions to be decided according to democratic 
     principles,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``In view of India's 
     repressive record, Congress should pass these two bills 
     immediately to help restore freedom, peace, and democracy to 
     the South Asian subcontinent. As Representative Gerald 
     Solomon said, `Isn't it time the United States stops dumping 
     American taxpayer money into this black hole?' ''

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