A Dutch court has fined an oil trading company $1.28m for exporting toxic waste to the Ivory Coast, and concealing the dangerous nature of the material.

The company - Trafigura had carried out what European regulations aimed to prevent: "Namely the export of waste to the Third World and harming the environment".

At least 17 people were reported to have died and more than 100,000 sought medical help after the illegal dumping took place, according to the Ivory Coast government.

This brings to my mind the recent incident in New Delhi where severe cases of radiation injuries caused due to radioactive waste material in New Delhi scrap market. The authorities were absolutely clueless about what had caused the injuries and also the horrifying fact that the extremely dangerous radioactive material was allowed to fall into the hands of a clueless and hapless scrap merchant. The sheer differences in these two incidents again throws light on the general apathy of the Indian governement where public health and safety is concerned.