The hard hitting investigative team of Heilbuth and Bulow who have exposed international injustices in such films as Battle of the Titans, The Continent that Overslept, and Endgame Europe now turn their cameras on a major environmental/human rights issue. They focus on India, where thousand of workers are risking their lives breaking up the ships the West has discarded.

The scrapping of ships is a perfect example of the "have" nations exploiting the" have nots". As European ships raise their safety standards to protect their passengers, older ships become obsolete. The shipping companies, anxious to make the last revenue from these aging vessels, sell them to India and other impoverished countries for scrap. They know full well that the laborers who break up the ships will be exposed to asbestos and other toxins, and subject to industrial accidents. The ill-equipped workers are expendable and despite their pitiable wages, there are ten workers to take the place of any that are killed or disabled.

While the head of Greenpeace in India deplores the situation, the Minister of Environment piously points to safety standards written into India's laws. These laws however are on paper only since enforcemnt officials are bribed by the owners of the scrap yards. There are international treaties forbidding the dumping of toxins onto other nations, the European shipping lines circumvent them by claiming the old vessels are ships, not trash. This film should be viewed by classes in environmental studies, Asian studies, international economics and human rights.

Association for Asian Studies, 2001