Monday 17 September 2007

World's Worst Polluted Places 2007

Hugh Pickens writes on Slashdot 
"Blacksmith Institute has published their list of the most polluted sites in the world 
compiled by comparing the toxicity of the contamination, the likelihood of it 
getting into humans and the number of people affected. For example, 
ninety-nine percent of the children living in and around the poly-metallic 
smelter at La Oroya in Peru, owned by the Missouri-based Doe Run Corporation, 
have blood lead levels that exceed acceptable limits. 
Scientific American says that despite the massive pollution, 
it would be relatively cheap and easy to clean up the most dangerous hazards
For $15,000, the radioactive contaminated soil from the Mayak plutonium facility 
on the shore of the Techa River in the Russian town of Muslyomova could be 
dug up, saving an estimated 350 lives. 'For about $200, the cost of a refrigerator, 
we are able to save someone's life,' says Richard Fuller, founder of Blacksmith."

The original info is at: 
and makes frightening reading.


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