| The international literature on the export or migration of hazards from developed to developing countries, has for the most part focused on the perspectives of exporting countries. This research adds to that literature by studying the process of importation of petrochemical hazards and controls by Cetrel, the waste management company for the Camacari Petrochemical Complex, located in Bahia, Brazil, from the perspective of the importers, i.e., Brazilian social actors.;Based on initial evidence that indicated Cetrel's long-term cooperation with the Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority, the waste management company for the Gulf Coast area of Texas, three case studies were conducted to describe and analyse the process of importation: the first is a case study of two benzene-related occupational and environmental health crises that affected the complex in the eighties; the second is a case study of the environmental policies adopted by Cetrel; the third is a case study of the environmental policies carried out by the Gulf Coast Authority. These case studies used key informant interviews and secondary sources of data to reconstruct the social history of the policies adopted in both companies.;Comparative analyses of social actors and policy outcomes in Bahia and Texas show the similarities and differences between the actors and the policies adopted in each case. As a result of historical and structural developments in Bahia and Texas, Cetrel operates under pollution control standards and technologies for protecting the environment and workers that are similar to GCA's. This trend is characterized as dependent convergence between developing and developed countries.;Recommendations are made for stronger international solidarity among progressive forces in developed and developing countries to promote preventive alternatives to pollution control. |
