ABSTRACT
Yet Greenpeace has even attacked New Labour’s cherished Millennium Dome, saying it must not contain PVC. As usual, it got its way; PVC is being replaced with PTFE (the coating on frying pans). Greenpeace claimed this as a victory, but more than four times as much chlorine is used to produce PTFE as PVC. Furthermore, the original German contractor Koch Hightex is suing the New Millennium Experience company for £3.5 million ($5.7 million) in damages following the change in specification. The British Industry Minister John Battle had to defend the U-turn by explaining that a PTFE-based material would last longer than a PVC-based one, and hence was the sensible choice. But the decision to change was only made after the Greenpeace campaign, and months after the original specifications, leading one to be sceptical of these claims. Like the Brent Spar fiasco before it, the taxpayer will again eventually pay for a groundless Greenpeace campaign.
