A deadly toxic spill in Hungary has sparked a petition in Vietnam where prominent intellectuals and former officials want a bauxite development stopped, a prominent economist said Friday.

Le Dang Doanh, a former senior government adviser, said the petition to government leaders was initiated by Bauxite Vietnam website, which last year held a public appeal in a failed bid to stop the project in Vietnam's Central Highlands.

"This time it's much stronger than last year," said Doanh, a lecturer at the Economic College of Hanoi.

Among the other signatories is Ngo Bau Chau, who in September won the Fields Medal, the mathematics version of the Nobel Prize, said Doanh.

He also named Nguyen Thi Binh, a former vice-president of Vietnam, as among the signatories.

Bauxite Vietnam lists more than 1,700 names, from both inside and outside Vietnam, as signatories including former senior officials, intellectuals and war veterans.

"The catastrophe of Ajka in Hungary is a severe warning about the question of the red mud contained in the waste from production of alumina in the Central Highlands," the petitioners write.

On October 4 a burst reservoir of residue at an alumina plant near Ajka, 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Budapest, sent a wave of toxic sludge into the surrounding area, killing nine people and injuring 150.

Citing "uncontrollable risks", the petitioners ask authorities to stop construction of a factory to produce alumina from bauxite, suspend bauxite exploitation, and halt negotiations with a foreign partner over another proposed factory.

The petition says an independent group of researchers should examine questions surrounding the bauxite development, which is already under way.

Doanh said he understood the demands had already been delivered to top Communist Party leaders and to the president of the National Assembly.

The petition remains open for the gathering of more signatures.

In a one-party state where public protest is rare, the bauxite issue has since last year brought together a cross-section of society in opposition to the government's plan.

They fear its environmental and social damage will far outweigh any economic benefit, and object to Chinese involvement in the development.

earlier related report

Chinese smelter found leaking thallium into river
Beijing (AFP) Oct 22, 2010 –

A major state-owned industrial conglomerate in China said Friday it had been ordered to stop production at one of its smelters after it was found to be leaking highly toxic thallium into a river.

Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co Ltd (NONFEMET) said in a statement that environmental authorities had found excess thallium in the middle and upper reaches of the Bei River in the southern province of Guangdong.

"It was determined through expert consultations, investigations and monitoring by environmental authorities that the excessive thallium was caused by sewage from the firm's smelter in Shaoguan city," it said.

"The Shaoguan smelter completely stopped production on October 21 at the request of the provincial government, and is now actively coordinating with the government's investigations," it added.

Thallium is a highly toxic metal that enters the environment mostly through coal-burning and smelting. It can affect the nervous system, lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys, and even cause death.

China suffers from widespread water pollution after years of unbridled economic growth. According to government data, more than 200 million Chinese currently do not have access to safe drinking water.

But the Asian nation, which has pledged to slash its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010, is seeking to reduce pollution and clean up the environment.

It has implemented measures such as ordering the closure of thousands of highly polluting plants and threatening to rescind promotions for officials if they fail to meet environmental targets, but accidents still occur.

A toxic waste spill at a copper plant in July in southeastern China devastated marine life and earned its parent company Zijin Mining a 1.4-million-dollar fine.

NONFEMET, one of China's 500 largest companies, is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

It said in its statement to the exchange that the impact on the river had now been "effectively controlled" but gave no more details on the amount of thallium that was discovered.

Calls to the Shaoguan environmental protection department went unanswered.

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