The 10 Most Toxic Places in the World….

The 10 Most Toxic Places in the World… Toxic substances emitted into the environment threaten approximately 200 million people around the world. Lead in the soil, chemicals in the air or toxic electronic waste thrown into the river waters… These are just a few examples from the report prepared by the Green Cross Foundation in central Switzerland.

1: Landfill in Ghana

Countless old satellite satellite dishes and broken televisions are piled up at the landfill site in Ghana's Agbogbloshie region, where scrap is collected. Electronic waste poses a great danger as the cables are burned to remove the copper inside. The lead released during this time poses a health hazard.

2: Citarum River in Indonesia

The Citarum River on the Indonesian island of Java is about a thousand times more polluted than ordinary drinking water. Water contains high levels of aluminum and iron. This is not a surprising result: While nearly two thousand factories use the Citarum River as their main source of water, they also dump industrial wastes into the waters of this river. But this is a disaster for the public. The river is also an important source of life for them.

3: Dzershinsk industrial district

Dzershinsk is one of the most important chemical industry centers in Russia. Between 1930 and 1998, approximately 300 thousand tons of chemical waste was disposed of incorrectly in this region. Many chemicals got into both the groundwater and the air. In this region, women live an average of 47 years and men 42 years.

4: Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine

Chernobyl is one of the worst nuclear reactor accidents in history. On April 25, 1986, an accident with fatal consequences occurred during an experiment at a nuclear power plant. No one lives within 30 kilometers of the area since the accident. The soils around the nuclear power plant are still toxic and this is threatening food production in the area. Many people living in the area contracted leukemia.

5: Leather mills in Hazaribagh

Hazaribagh is the region where leather factories come together in Bangladesh. Many factories here use old methods. Every day, approximately 22 liters of toxic waste is dumped into the Buriganga River, which is both the most important river and the main water source of the capital Dhaka.

6: Lead mines in Kabwe

Kabwe is one of Zambia's major cities. Children living here have high levels of lead in their blood. Lead has been mined in the city for nearly a century. Due to the smelting process, heavy metals turn into dust particles and mix with the surrounding soil.

7: Gold mines in Kalimantan

Kalimantan is the Indonesian part of Borneo Island. This is a region famous for the uncontrolled plundering of nature. Gold mines in Kalimantan are producing toxic mercury metal. Approximately 1000 tons of mercury enters both nature and groundwater annually.

8: Matanza-Riachuelo River

In Argentina, nearly 15 factories discharge their wastewater into the Matanza-Riachuelo River. According to the Green Cross report, chemical manufacturers are responsible for one-third of the pollution in the river. River water contains high amounts of zinc, lead, copper, nickel and other heavy metals. Local people especially suffer from intestinal and respiratory diseases.

9: Niger Delta

With its dense population, the Niger Delta constitutes about 8 percent of the general population in Nigeria. Groundwater and soil in the region are polluted by oil and hydrocarbons. Due to oil production, approximately 240 thousand barrels of oil are released into the nature annually. The main reasons for this are accidents and oil thefts.

10: Industrial city Norilsk

In addition to approximately 500 tons of copper and nickel oxides, 2 million tons of sulfur dioxide is released into the air annually in Norilsk, Russia. The pollution rate is so high that the life expectancy of factory workers is 10 years below the Russian average.

 

Source :Deutsche Welle Turkish http://www.dw.de

📩 20/11/2013 23:57