Greenpeace yesterday denied a special meeting in London was set to approve Bermuda's bid to dump asbestos at sea.

And Greenpeace spokesman Kenny Bruno insisted his group would still take action if Bermuda attempted to dispose of containers holding tons of the deadly dust in the ocean.

The move came after Environment Minister Pamela Gordon said a special meeting of the London Convention on the prevention of pollution by dumping of wastes was likely to recognise the special circumstances of small island states and allow the asbestos to be dumped from barges.

But Mr. Bruno said: "When Government announced it was deferring ocean dumping last July, we deferred our campaign.

"But if they are going to resume, it's very simple. So will we and the reasons are the same as they were then.'' And he added: "The Minister wants us to go away, but we won't go away.'' He added the working group's proposals referred to "bulky items primarily comprising iron, steel, concrete and similarly unharmful materials for which the concern is physical impact and limited to those circumstances where such wastes are generated at locations, such as small islands with isolated communities, having no practicable access to disposal options other than dumping''.

But Mr. Bruno said the view of a Greenpeace observer at the special meeting was that the island exemption would not apply to materials like asbestos.

Mr. Bruno added: "He has told me that at least two or three countries at this special meeting expressed the belief this asbestos is industrial waste and is still not exempt from the ban on dumping.

"Pamela Gordon's interpretation is very different from ours. In our view, nothing has changed in regard to this material as a result of this special meeting.

"As far as we are concerned the ban should still hold and this special meeting should not reverse that position.

"Yes, there will be some allowance made for small islands -- but there is no allowance for this material. There just is not.'' And he added that the UK, which is responsible for Bermuda under the terms of the Convention, should have been helping the Island to find a better alternative, probably burying the waste in the UK itself.

Mr. Bruno said: "Bermuda has been undermining opposition to ocean dumping. As far as we have been informed, they have not been spending this time seriously looking at other options.'' Ms Gordon reported to the House of Assembly on Friday that the Convention was prepared to recognise the problems of small islands and that special allowance for the dumping of bulky wastes at sea was made for them.

She added the special meeting achieved its goal of adopting the 1996 protocol to the London Convention and that it would be available for signing in April next year.

Ms. Gordon said: "It is my intention to report back to the honourable House when the protocol is available for signing and we have every reason to believe that the United Kingdom will be one of the early signatories to the protocol.'' Greenpeace has always refused to discuss precise details of actions against polluters -- but the group is most famous for disrupting dumping by using small Zodiac-type inflatables to harrass waste-carrying vessels.

Group members are also specialists at mounting potentially embarrassing protests.

Earlier this year, two Bermuda tourism offices in the USA were picketed by placard-waving protestors wearing dust masks.

Ms Gordon could not be reached for comment yesterday.