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white phosphorus
Missouri Puts Profits Over People's Lives With New Israeli Chemical Limited Facility
A new ICL facility would further establish St. Louis as a hub of militarization and an exporter of global death and destruction while threatening the health and well-being of residents.
May 08, 2025
Early this year, as snow froze into sheets of solid ice, covering the ground for weeks, almost 20% of St. Louis Public School students were unhoused. Meanwhile, in warm town halls, former city Mayor Tishaura Jones praised a proposed new hazardous chemical facility, displaying the city's economic priorities.
St. Louis's northside has long been subjected to the environmental effects of militarization, from the radiation secretly sprayed on residents of Pruitt Igoe and Northside communities in the 1950s, to the dumped cancer-causing Manhattan Project radioactive waste that poisoned Coldwater Creek. A proposed new Israeli Chemical Limited (ICL) facility in north St. Louis would not only be another colonial imposition, but it also poses disastrous environmental risks for the entire state.
A new ICL facility would further establish St. Louis as a hub of militarization and an exporter of global death and destruction. In St. Charles, Boeing has built more than 500,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits, known as JDAMS. An Amnesty International report tied these to attacks on Palestinian civilian homes, families, and children, making our region complicit in war crimes. In addition to hosting the explosives weapons manufacturer Boeing, Missouri is home to Monsanto (now Bayer), which produced Agent Orange.
Why does a foreign chemical company with almost $7 billion in earnings need so much funding from our local and federal government at the expense of our residents?
What's lesser known is that Monsanto is responsible for white phosphorus production in a supply chain trifecta with ICL and Pine Bluffs Arsenal. White phosphorus is a horrific incendiary weapon that heats up to 1,400°F, and international law bans its use against civilians. From 2020 to 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense ordered and paid ICL for over 180,000 lbs of white phosphorus, shipped from their South City Carondelet location to Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. White phosphorus artillery shells with Pine Bluff Arsenal codes were identified in Lebanon and Gaza after the Israel Defense Forces unlawfully used them over residential homes and refugee camps, according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Another ICL facility, combined with the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency that analyzes drone footage to direct U.S.military attacks, would put North St. Louis squarely on the map for military retaliation from any country seeking to strike back against U.S. global interventionism.
Within a mile of the Carondelet ICL site, the Environmental Protection Agency has identified unsafe levels of cancer-risking air toxins, hazardous waste, and wastewater discharge. The new facility would be built within five miles of intake towers and open-air sedimentation ponds that provide drinking water to St. Louis. An explosion or leak could destroy the city's water supply and harm eastern Missouri towns along the Mississippi. ICL has committed multiple Environmental and Workplace Safety violations, including violating the Clean Air Act at its South City facility. In 2023, it was declared the worst environmental offender by Israel's own Environmental Protection Ministry after the 2017 Ashalim Creek disaster, and were fined $33 million.
ICL claims the new North City site is a safe and green facility for manufacturing lithium iron phosphate for electric vehicles; however, lithium manufacturing is hardly a green or safe process. Lithium and phosphorus mining require enormous amounts of freshwater—a protected resource—resulting in poisoned ecosystems and a limited water supply for residents and wildlife in the local communities where they are sourced.
In October 2024, a lithium battery plant in Fredericktown, Missouri, burst into flames, forcing residents to evacuate and killing thousands of fish in nearby rivers. The company had claimed to have one of the most sophisticated automated fire suppression systems in the world, yet it still caused a fire whose aftermath continues to affect residents today, with comparisons being drawn to East Palestine, Ohio. Meanwhile, in January, over 1,000 people in California had to evacuate due to a massive fire at a lithium facility, the fourth fire there since 2019. Despite ICL claiming that the new site will use a "safer" form of lithium processing, it's clear that lithium facilities are not as safe as profit-driven corporations claim them to be.
Missouri leaders repeatedly prioritize corporate profits over people via tax abatements. ICL is receiving $197 million from the federal government. The city is forgiving a $500,000 loan to troubled investors Green Street to sell the land to ICL and is proposing a 90% tax abatement in personal property taxes for ICL, plus 15 years of real estate tax abatements. This is a troubling regional trend, considering that in 2023, St. Louis County approved $155 million in tax breaks to expand Boeing, also giving them a 50% cut in real estate and personal property taxes over 10 years.
Corporate tax breaks in the city have cost minority students in St. Louis Public Schools $260 million in a region where 30% of children are food insecure. Over 2,000 people in St. Louis city are homeless. Enough babies die each year in St Louis to fill 15 kindergarten classrooms. Black babies are three times more likely to die than white babies before their first birthday, and Black women are 2.4 times more likely to die during pregnancy. Spending public funds on corporate tax breaks instead of directing them toward food, housing, and life-saving medical care for Black women and babies is inexcusable. Why does a foreign chemical company with almost $7 billion in earnings need so much funding from our local and federal government at the expense of our residents?
Officials cite "job creation" as a major reason to expand ICL. Still, the new facility is only expected to create 150 jobs, and there is no evidence that these jobs will be given to people in the community where it is being built. Investing in Black and minority businesses would lead to actual self-sustaining economic development.
Despite receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government, local tax breaks, the backing of former Gov. Mike Parson, and approval from city committees, the facility's opening is not a done deal. The St. Louis City Board of Alders could still intervene. Stopping a facility with this much federal and international backing would require massive pushback from Missourians. Residents deserve more information and input in this process, especially considering the city's resistance to hearing public comments. Notably, when locals submitted a Sunshine request for the ICL permit in March, it was so heavily redacted that it was unreadable.
This facility would turn local Black neighborhoods into environmental and military sacrifice zones, and our response to city, state, and federal leaders should be a definitive and resounding No!
CODEPINK Missouri has a petition to stop the building of the ICL facility in St. Louis.
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Israeli Use of White Phosphorus in Lebanon Injured UN Peacekeepers: Report
One observer said the illegal use of the devastating chemical agent is "yet another reason" why the Biden administration "must halt offensive weapons shipments to Israel."
Oct 22, 2024
Israel Defense Forces troops recently forced their way into a United Nations peacekeeper base in southern Lebanon and fired white phosphorus munitions in close enough proximity to injure 15 U.N. personnel, according to a report published Tuesday.
The Financial Times reviewed "a confidential report outlining a dozen recent incidents in which the IDF attacked international troops in Lebanon." The newspaper said the report was prepared by a country contributing troops to the 10,000-strong U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
UNIFIL forces and facilities have been repeatedly attacked by Israeli troops since the IDF launched a ground invasion of Lebanon earlier this month amid heavy aerial bombardment that has killed or wounded thousands of Lebanese. UNIFIL has condemned attacks on its positions and personnel as a "flagrant violation of international law."
According to the confidential report, Israeli forces began directly firing on UNIFIL bases on October 8. Two days later, two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured when an IDF tank fired on an observation tower.
In a separate incident that same day, IDF troops opened fire on a UNIFIL bunker where Italian peacekeepers sought refuge.
"This was not a mistake and not an accident," Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said following the incident. "It could constitute a war crime and represented a very serious violation of international humanitarian law."
On October 13, UNIFIL said two IDF tanks crashed through the main gate of one of its bases and fired on a watchtower, destroying cameras and damaging the structure. The tanks left the base after about 45 minutes, following complaints by UNIFIL officials.
However, the report states that within an hour, IDF troops fired what UNIFIL believes were white phosphorus rounds approximately 100 meters, or 328 feet, north of the base, injuring 15 people.
Israel denies deliberately targeting UNIFIL troops and claims without evidence that U.N. peacekeepers are being used as human shields by Hezbollah, which has launched nearly relentless volleys of rockets and other projectiles at Israel in solidarity with Gaza. Israel has demanded the U.N. evacuate its peacekeepers from southern Lebanon. UNIFIL and countries contributing troops to the mission have steadfastly refused.
"Despite the pressure being exerted on the mission and our troop-contributing countries, peacekeepers remain in all positions," UNIFIL said on Sunday. "We will continue to undertake our mandated tasks to monitor and report."
White phosphorus is banned for use in civilian areas but is commonly deployed on battlegrounds as a smokescreen or to smoke out enemy forces. It burns as hot as 1,500°F. Water does not extinguish it. Upon contact, white phosphorus burns thermally and chemically straight through to the bone.
It can also enter the bloodstream and cause organ failure. Dressed injuries can reignite when bandages are removed and the wounds are reexposed to oxygen. Relatively mild white phosphorus burns are often fatal. Survivors often suffer various physical disabilities.
Israeli forces have used white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon since last October, when Israel retaliated for the deadliest-ever attack on its soil by obliterating the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave in a war for which it is now on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
Israel has also used white phosphorus in past wars, including during the 2006 invasion of Lebanon and at a United Nations school during the 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead invasion of Gaza. Responding to a 2013 petition to Israel's High Court of Justice filed by human rights groups including Human Rights Watch, the IDF said it would no longer use white phosphorus in populated areas, with "very narrow exceptions" that it would not disclose.
Other nations also use white phosphorus, including the United States, whose forces fired munitions containing the chemical agent during the invasion of Iraq and elsewhere across the region during the post-9/11 so-called "War on Terrorism."
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Israel Again Accused of Illegally Using White Phosphorus in Lebanon
"If Hezbollah rained white phosphorus over Tel Aviv there would be wall-to-wall coverage and every major leader would be saying it's the worst war crime," said one critic.
Oct 01, 2024
Israeli forces were accused Tuesday of the war crime of firing white phosphorus artillery munitions over populated areas of southern Lebanon as Israel escalates an assault on its northern neighbor that has killed or wounded thousands of people.
Video footage published on social media and reported by Middle East Eye shows distinctive explosions that appear consistent with the use of white phosphorus rounds over civilian areas of southern Lebanon, including the village of Kfar Kila.
While white phosphorus munitions are not completely prohibited under international law, their use in populated areas is forbidden. White phosphorus rounds are primarily used to create smokescreens. However, when used as an incendiary weapon, white phosphorus—which ignites on contact with air and burns at nearly 1,500°F (815°C)—can maim and kill by burning flesh straight through to the bone, often causing a slow, agonizing death. Water does not extinguish it.
There have been multiple confirmed reports of Israeli forces firing white phosphorus munitions in Lebanon since the political and paramilitary group Hezbollah began attacking Israel with rockets, drones, and other weapons in solidarity with Gaza after Israel's assault on the Palestinian coastal enclave in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.
Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice over its military assault of Gaza, which has left more than 147,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing.
Israeli forces have also used white phosphorus in previous wars, including during the 2006 invasion of Lebanon and over a United Nations school during the 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead invasion of Gaza. Responding to a 2013 petition to Israel's High Court of Justice filed by human rights groups including Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Israel Defense Forces said it would no longer use white phosphorus in populated areas, with "very narrow exceptions" that it would not disclose.
U.S. forces used white phosphorus following the invasion of Iraq and elsewhere across the region during the post-9/11 so-called "War on Terrorism."
Responding to Israel's earlier use of white phosphorus in Gaza, HRW Middle East and North Africa director Lama Fakih said: "Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering. White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians."
"To avoid civilian harm, Israel should stop using white phosphorus in populated areas," Fakih added. "Parties to the conflict should be doing everything they can to spare civilians from further suffering."
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