The Blacksmith Institute has created a list and interactive map of the Top-10 worlds worst polluted places.
The list was compiled with the help of a technical advisory board including experts from John Hopkins, Hunter College and Harvard University. The Top-10 were selected from more then 300 potential sites by evaluating where human health is most at risk and where children’s lives are especially threatened.
The report available also for download from the Blacksmith Institute also notes that …most of the worst places are not generally known, even in their countries…
In difference to general assumptions, except one site (Doe Run Corp in La Oroya), none have involvement from major multinational companies. Instead, the worst pollution is from a range of sources:
- Old companies now long defunct and untraceable
- Government companies and activities, especially cold war activities
- Local or regional businesses, not international ones.
- Clusters of small artisanal activities
In some of the places life expectancy approaches medieval rates (half that of the richest nations). Birth defects are the norm not the exception and in other places children’s asthma rates are measured above 90 percent, or mental retardation is endemic.
The Top-10
- Linfen, China: active site, water/air polluted by various industries, no cleanup status known
- Haina,Dominican Republic: not active anymore, soil polluted by lead from battery recycling, no cleanup
- Ranipet, India: not active anymore, water/soil polluted by chemicals from tanning industry, cleanup planned but not started
- Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan: not active anymore, water/soil polluted by radioactive waste from Soviet-era uranium plant, cleanup planned with World Bank support
- Dzerzhinsk,Russia: still partly active, water/soil polluted by chemicals from Soviet-era chemical weapons production and others, currently planning cleanup
- Norilsk, Russia: active site, air/water/soil polluted by chemicals and radioactive materials from platinum production and other mills, no cleanup status known
- Rudnaya Pristan, Russia: still partly active, soil polluted by lead from lead mining, no cleanup
- Chernobyl, Ukraine: not active anymore, water/soil polluted by radioactive materials from Soviet-era power plant accident, ongoing cleanup
- Kabwe, Zambia: not active anymore, soil polluted by lead from lead mining, cleanup beginning with World Bank support
- La Oroya, Peru: active site plus not active areas, soil/air polluted by lead from metal mining and production, no cleanup status known
The full report with details plus summaries of 25 additional sites including sites in Europe and USA, is available from the Blacksmith Institute online.
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January 13th, 2008 at 2:01
POLLUTION TO THE OROYA CITY The years 2006 and 2007 the Blacksmith
Institute have accomplished a research about the cities more contaminated to
the world and arrived to the conclusion that the Oroya City was between the 10
cities more polluted of the world: Blacksmith Institute have was benevolent;
according to my researchs to many years that I come publishing, the Oroya is
the more polluted to Peru, Latin America and of the world and every day is being more polluted: lead in blood in
children in the Ancient Oroya in average 53.7 ug/dl ( DIGESA 1999); pregnancies
women 39.49 ig/dl ( UNES 2000), new borns children 19.06 ug/dl, puerperal 319
ug/100 grams/placenta ( Castro 2003) and workers 50 ig/dl ( Doe Run 2003). Top
lead in blood accepted 10 ug/dl; present day is 0 ug/dl ( Pediatric of Academy
to USA)When the Oroya city was in hands to the
CentroMin eliminated only by the upper chimney to 167.500 meters, in average by
day in tons: sulfur dioxide 1000, lead 2500, arsenic 2500, cadmium, particulate
matter 50 and so on, more 24,000 to toxis gas product to the incomplete
combustion of the coal, without count it is eliminated by industrial
incinerator y by the 97 smalls chimneys, it is estimated 15,000 (PAMA . El Complejo Metalúrgico de la Oroya, 1996);
they add 45,000 tons by day, Doe Run envoy every three months the
concentrations of the heavy metals to
the Ministry to the Energy and Mines and
with the sames datums Ceverstav have demostrated the pollution was increased;
for example the sulfur dioxide it have increased in near to 300 %, by increment to the
production (Cederstav. La Oroya no Espera 2002 The
American Assotiation to the Environment say that the environmental quality to
the Oroya it is serius deteriorated since
that Doe Run was owner and the same
enterprise declared that the concentrations of the heavy
metals gas it is ncreased in the air: lead 1160 %, cadmium 1990 % and arsenic
6006 % (Portugal, et al. Los Humos de Doe Run 2003)
February 26th, 2008 at 23:04
I think water pollution is the worst thing ever. I wish I could stop it but it won’t be good. I’m doing a speech on it because I care about the world. I love nature and I wish this pollution stops so IT won’t affect anyones lives… it is spreading slowly… maybe in 3010, what will happen? Not a good thing. I think water pollution is one of the most worst things in the world.
January 9th, 2009 at 0:30
Reply to the commentary of Mr Victor Belaunde about Contamination of La
Oroya, Perú. Dr. Godofredo Arauzo
Blacksmith Institute visited the
Oroya city in May 2008. The observations about the achievements in the
pollution by this metallurgic complex, according to statements of The Inter
American Association for the Defense of the Environment (AIDA) by its name in
Spanish.are DECEIVING, because such statements have no basis; is a summary
presented by Doe Run. AIDA sustain that the environmental quality and the fulfillment
or the degree of protection for human health of the Oroya city can not be
evaluated based on the quantity of investment made by the company but it should
be done based on the current data about the quality of air, lead level in the
blood and another environmental and health indicators, that the report does not
take into account (1).Critic that
Blacksmith is based on limited datum in order to evaluate, for example, the
sulphur bioxide (SO2) level in the zone. Blacksmith Institute affirms that the
SO2 concentration in the Oroya city has a day time average of 5.000 ug/m3
(maximum allowed is 13 ug/m3) (CDC); but during the day that Blacksmith was in the
Oroya, the SO2 concentration was 0.(1)Finally AIDA concludes that the
Blacksmith report undermines the efforts to really reach the remediation and
cleaning of Oroya city (1)AIDA express too that the quality of
air in the Oroya has deteriorated seriously after the metallurgic complex came
into Doe Run’s hands. Doe Run itself said that the lead concentration raised to
1.163%, the arsenic to 606% and the cadmium to 1990% (2). The concentrations of
lead, cadmium, arsenic, sulphur dioxide and others have substantially increased
since 1997, mainly due to the increasing of production; for example, the lead
production raised 25% (2). The inhabitants of Oroya city are contaminated by a toxic
cocktail (4); it is a living laboratory.
The cadmium concentration (Cd)
raised dramatically since the acquisition of the complex by Doe Run. In 1999
the Cd concentration was 0.22 ug/m3 in the Syndicate (the level allowed was
0.0055 ug/m3); it surpassed by more than 40 times the frontier and did not
inform anymore to the Ministry for Mines and Energy (MEM) since year 2000; in
the same way, the arsenic concentration soared meaningly since 1997. There is
not monitoring of particulate material smaller than 2.5 micra (PM 2.5), that
are the most dangerous to human health and move easily. Ceverstav says that the
parameters of air quality have been deteriorated dramatically after Doe Run
have in charge of the complex (5)The Environment Protection Agency of
USA (EPA), has 1467 chemical compounds registered as the most harmful and the
sulphur dioxide (SO2) is ranking number 16 in dangerousness (6). Cevestav showed
based on the same figures that Doe Run sends to MEM every 3 months, that SO2
emission had incremented in more than 200% since Doe Run has in
charge the complex (5).Blacksmith affirms that the SO2
concentration in the Oroya is in average 5,000 ug/m3 (1); another author
reports that this average is 934 ug/m3 (2); the level allowed is 13 ug/m3 (7).
The day time concentration is higher between 8 am and 5 pm and it reaches a peak of 2,100 ppb
(the allowed value is 280 ppb) (5). In August 13. 2008 the SO2 concentration arrived
to an historic and horrifying limit: 27,000 ug/m3 (8-9-10) (the allowed figure is 13 ug/m3 (7). Another
heavy metals and highly toxic compounds are not analysed in the Oroya:
vanadium, uranium, mercury, antimony, barium, selenium, chromium, cobalt,
molybdenum, nickel, and aluminum (2). The inhabitants of the Oroya are contaminated, not only with lead but too
with cadmium, arsenic, sulphur dioxide, and antimony, as well; the antimony
concentration is 30 times higher than in USA (11): . There has not been any decrease in
the air concentration of lead in the last 5 years in the Oroya; in Huanchan
such concentration is above 15 times the level permitted; in the months of
January and February 2007 it was an excess of 245% above the allowed level in
Huanchan station; in 2006 the cadmium concentration exceeded 48 times the
levels allowed by the WHO (12): lead production increased by 25% (2). Doe Run monitors only specific
sources; it does not monitor the toxic agents that are emitted through the 95
small chimneys neither it monitors to the deposits of concentrateds and deposits to arsenic
of Vados and Malpaso, as it does not monitor either the elimination coming from
the industrial incinerator and the cock plant that was emitting 23,800 meters cubits per day of toxic gases (PAMA). Doe Run explained that the pollution of the
Oroya had diminished; one attendant person spitted that the pollution has
increased; the lecturer answered: show me a document about your statement and
the person replied: the best document who I count of is my contaminated body’
(4).The SO2 emissions from the cooper
Peruvian smelting are among the production sources of the highest sulphur
dioxide concentration in the world and they are also among the most
contaminated production sources in the world (13).There is not concrete information
about the quality control systems to the sampling and to the analysis of the
monitoring procedure used by the company; we are not certain about the accuracy,
confidentiality and suitable of the information reported to MEM; the figures
reported to MEM could be considered as an approximation and are under valuated
and they are not in electronic neither
in graphic form (5). The contamination generated in La
Oroya is not only limited to this city, but it also pollutes distant areas like
Concepcion, 100 km far away of Oroya: University of Missouri found lead in the
blood of children with ages 0 to 6 years: 20 to 44 ug/dl in the 72.22% ; 10 to
19 ug/dl in the 16.67%; 45 to 69 ug/dl in the 8.33% and less than 10 ug/dl in
the 2.78%; it means that the 97.22% of the children of the city of Conception
are contaminated with more than 10 ug/dl of lead in their blood; the amount
permitted was 10 ug/dl; but, at present the Academy of Paediatrics of USA says
that the maximum allowed is 0 ug/dl of lead in the blood (14). In the rural zone near the Oroya, Cuchimachay
there is an amount of 59.26 ppm (the allowed level being 3 ppm) of cadmium in
the soil; there is no vegetal cap in this place (15). The metallurgic complex of Oroya has 37 liquid flows that go to the
Mantaro river; Doe Run monitors only 12. The rules of the Peruvian state about
monitoring of the quality of water in the mining works state that all the
liquid discharges that go to surface waters must be constantly monitored
(5-16).The 2006, 26 July Doe Run obtained the ISO
14001:2004 certificate (17) and the 2008, 11 March was removed because the
company did not fulfull the Peruvian environmental laws, and did not have
appropriate measures for preventing the pollution (18).Doe Run the 2007 commited 4
heavy and 1 simple violence environment
that the Peruvian state had to put to Doe Run a fine to $ 724,500 (The Comercio
08. 20-12) In Huancayo, 120 km far away from La
Oroya there is jurisprudence. In 1942 the Judiciary Power orders to the Cerro
de Pasco Copper Corporation, owner of Oroya at that time, to pay a compensation
of $ 200,000 to Bazo Velarde, because of
the harms caused to the Jatunhuasi Livestock, by the smokes of the Oroya (19).The Judiciary Power (20), the Constitutional Court (21) and the Inter American
Commission for Human Rights (CIDH, for its name in Spanish) (22), demanded that
the Peruvian state to be aware about the health of the inhabitants of Oroya..Oroya pollutes the surface and deep
waters, the soil, the air, and generates acid rain (23), factors that cause
damages to human and animal health, the ecosystems and biodiversity, in a way
greatly irreversible. The smokes of the
Oroya have affected 700,000 hectares around the Oroya (2-24).Doe Run will reduce its
contamination in two circumstances: when it uses up to date technology as put
in practice in Herculeanum, or when it reduces the refining tons. The Trial
plant, in Canada, decreased in 25% the lead concentration in the children
blood, and reduced the concentration of heavy metals in the air in more than
75%, by the use of clean technology; in the Paso when the foundry was closed,
the lead concentration in the air decreased immediately and the lead
concentration in the children’s blood plummeted by more than 75%; in Torreón
Mexico, the government ordered to refine only a 50%, and similar effects were
obtained (5). The damages must be paid by Doe Run according to the world
consensus THE THAT POLLUTE PAY, set in practice in Europe since 1972 (25); the
way as it does in Herculaneum can reply these actions in Oroya city (2-27)..The 2008 August 13 Oroya city has been confirmed as the most polluted
city to the world. This day the SO2 concentration in air in the Oroya reached
an historical and horrifying level: as journal The Comercio said (8); it arrive
27,000 ug/m3; while the allowed level was 13 ug/m3 (7) and the device that
measured the concentration got to its maximum limit probably if the device had
had more space in its scale that figure would have been higher (8-9-10), but
when Blacksmith was visiting the Oroya the SO2 concentration in air was 0
(zero) (1). Some other figures confirm that Oroya is the most polluted city on the earth:
according the report Mantaro Revive 2007: in the Ancienty Oroya has a soil concentration of 4713 ppm of
arsenic (As) while the allowed amount is 12 ppm, and the cadmium (Cd) has
193.87 ppm while the permitted amount is 14 ppm, according to the Canadian
Environmental Quality Guidelines (28).
January 14th, 2011 at 8:37
I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I don’t know who you are but certainly you’re going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already ;) Cheers!