Indoor Air Pollution & Untreated Sewage Cited Among Most Dangerous Pollution Problems – Study

By Eric McLamb, January 14, 2009

Indoor air pollution and contaminated surface water top a list of the world’s most dangerous pollution problems, according to findings by the US-based Blacksmith Institute and the Switzerland Green Cross. 

Both international environmental groups jointly issued a top ten list of the world’s most dangerous pollution problems recently, naming pollution as a leading contributing factor to death and disability in the world.   The report also highlights the disproportionate effects of pollution on the health of children.

Twenty pollution problems were cited as having a serious impact.  The Top Ten of the twenty includes commonly discussed pollution problems such as urban air pollution as well as more overlooked threats like car battery recycling. The problems listed have a significant impact on human health worldwide and result in death, persistent illness, and neurological impairment for millions of people, particularly children.  According to the report, many of these deaths and related illnesses could be avoided with affordable and effective interventions.

The goal of the report, according to Richard Fuller, founder of Blacksmith Institute, “is to increase awareness of the severe toll that pollution takes on human health and inspire the international community to act. Remediation is both possible and cost-effective. Clean air, water and soil are human rights.”

The Top Ten

Following are the top ten pollution problems as presented in the collaborative report,  “The World’s Worst Pollution Problems: The Top Ten of The Toxic Twenty.” The report surveys a total of 23 issues across a broad range of pollutants and pollution sources. It is the result of an analysis of over 600 sites in Blacksmith’s database of polluted places as well as recommendations by relevant experts.

The top ten list, which is unranked, includes:

  • Indoor air pollution: adverse air conditions in indoor spaces.
  • Urban air quality: adverse outdoor air conditions in urban areas.
  • Untreated sewage: untreated waste water.
  • Groundwater contamination: pollution of underground water sources as a result of human activity.
  • Contaminated surface water: pollution of rivers or shallow dug wells mainly used for drinking and cooking.
  • Artisanal gold mining: small scale mining activities that use the most basic methods to extract and process minerals and metals.
  • Industrial mining activities: larger scale mining activities with excessive mineral wastes.
  • Metals smelting and other processing: extractive, industrial, and pollutant-emitting processes.
  • Radioactive waste and uranium mining: pollution resulting from the improper management of uranium mine tailings and nuclear waste.
  • Used lead acid battery recycling: smelting of batteries used in cars, trucks and back-up power supplies.

The Rest of the Toxic Twenty

The rest of the toxic twenty are (eleven are actually listed):

  • Abandoned mines.
  • Agrotoxins and POPs (Persistant Organic Pollutants).
  • Arsenic.
  • Cadmium.
  • Coal power plants.
  • Chromium.
  • Garbage dumps.
  • Indsutrial estates.
  • Oil refineries and petrochemical plants.
  • Old and abandoned chemical weapons.
  • PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls).

The issues cited in the Top Ten were chosen according to criteria developed by a team of international environment and health experts – including faculty members from Johns Hopkins, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Emory University and City University of New York – serving on Blacksmith Institute’s Technical Advisory Board.  The full report is available at www.worstpolluted.org.

 

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