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WATCH: Unilever Needs To Clean Mercury Mess In Kodaikanal, Says Raptivist Sofia Ashraf

"We ask you to look at science, not commerce."
File photo of Indian rapper Sofia Ashraf.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo of Indian rapper Sofia Ashraf.

Raptivist Sofia Ashraf is out with a new video on mercury poisoning in Unilever's Kodaikanal plant, but this time, she wants to talk hard science. The Chennai-based rapper's five-minute video is very different from her previous 'Kodaikanal Won't' clip, which went viral last year and helped push the British-Dutch multinational goods company to a settlement with the affected workers.

The 29-year-old has challenged assertions made by Unilever, which has claimed that it did not dump mercury in Kodaikanal. Ashraf alleged that the company had not only dumped the poisonous chemical, but it had also sold it to scrap dealers who made marbles for children, effectively endangering their health.

She also alleged that Unilever CEO Paul Polman had claimed that his company had "removed any risk of contamination to the ecologically sensitive region", which she alleged was simply not true. "We ask you to look at science, not commerce," she asks of Polman.

In the past week, around 14,000 people have sent emails to the environment minister asking him to direct Unilever to do a through clean-up of Kodaikanal.

Watch her video below.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.