Angry rap video roiling Indians against mercury poisoning

Washington

A NEW, angry, three-minute rap song in English has a simple message for the global consumer product company Unilever - clean up.

The video, which was viewed and shared online by tens of thousands of people on social media networks in India on Friday, is the latest tool in the environmental battle against mercury poisoning being waged by the residents of the southern Indian hill town Kodaikanal and a band of activists.

The rap song, sung by Sofia Ashraf, exhorts Unilever to clean up the toxic site of its abandoned mercury thermometer factory and compensate hundreds of its workers who have been exposed to mercury poisoning. As…