World's Most polluted hotspots mapped
Pastor Dale Morgan
*World's Most polluted hotspots mapped*
BBC - A US-based environmental charity has documented what it calls the
10 most polluted places on the planet.
The Blacksmith Institute says three of the hotspots are in Russia, with
the remainder dotted in various countries.
Heavy metals such as lead are the main sources of pollution, with 10
million people affected across the locations.
The institute surveyed scientists and environmental bodies across the
world to compile its list, and is running clean-up projects in some of
the sites.
The charity has focused largely on locations where people are affected
by the pollution.
"A particular concern of all these cases is the accumulating and long
lasting burden building up in the environment and in the bodies of the
people most directly affected," said the institute's director Richard
Fuller.
"There are places where life expectancy approaches medieval rates, where
birth defects are the norm not the exception, where children's asthma
rates are measured above 90%, and where mental retardation is endemic,"
the report says.
"In countries where life expectancies may be half that of the richest
nations, the unfortunates in these areas do not even survive that long
or if they do, it is in suffering."
Research by UN agencies suggests about 20% of premature deaths worldwide
may be attributable to environmental factors.
Urgency needed
Chernobyl, site of the best known industrial accident in recent years,
is on the list; but the remainder would be largely unknown to the
uninitiated.
They include:
* Dzerzhinsk in Russia, a Cold War chemical weapons site
* Linfen, heart of China's coal industry
* Kabwe in Zambia, site for mining and smelting of metals including lead
* Haina in the Dominican Republic, where battery recycling and
smelting have left huge concentrations of lead in residents
* Ranipet in India, where more than 3m people are affected by
tannery waste
"The most important thing is to achieve some practical progress in
dealing with these polluted places," said Dave Hanrahan, Blacksmith
Institute's chief of global operations.
Dzerzinsk, once a major site of chemical weapons manufacture
"There is a lot of good work being done in understanding the problems
and in identifying possible approaches.
"Our goal is to instil a sense of urgency about tackling these priority
sites."
The institute is involved in starting remediation programmes in about
half of the 10 sites, and hopes to stimulate action in the others.
In some cases, remediation means installing new plant such as water
purifiers.
In others, the top priority is to educate people, particularly children,
so they avoid heavily contaminated sites.
Beyond the top 10, there are a further 25 sites around the world
requiring swift action, the institute believes.