Sir: It is important to control the import of hazardous waste as it pollutes the environment and causes health hazards. Relevant government agencies need to be vigilant in this regard, as well as the local industry, especially companies producing PVC resin in Karachi, because vinyl chloride (VC) gas is a known human carcinogen attached to neurological disorders. The population and the industry located around the PVC plant in Karachi are exposed to a grave environmental threat due to possible VC emissions in the air. If safety measures are not in place, the possibility of a VC gas explosion can be a disaster on the pattern of the Formosa plastics explosion in the US in 2004, in which many people died. As China has recently become the hub of plastics recycling and imports $ 4 billion worth of plastics waste from all over the world, we can learn much from it how the import rules are made as well as their compliance methods. If the local industry is encouraged, Pakistan can also become an important centre of a recycling industry like India and China. However, the culprits responsible for possible health hazards should be produced before the competent authorities and the case sent to the higher courts. M R VOHRA Karachi