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Ear to the Ground

The 10 Most Polluted Places in the World

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Posted on Sep 14, 2007
pollution
spmedia.canada.com

The Blacksmith Institute, a U.S.-based environmental group, has identified the 10 most polluted places on the planet. Cities in Russia, China, India, Zambia, Peru, the Ukraine and Azerbaijan made the list, which focuses on the impact pollution has on the local population.


BBC:

Sumgayit in Azerbaijan was also included in the report, which said the former Soviet industrial base was polluting the area with industrial chemicals and heavy metals.

According to the report, cancer rates in Sumgayit were as much as 51% higher than the national average and that genetic mutations and birth defects were commonplace.

The Blacksmith Institute’s director, Richard Fuller, said: “The fact of the matter is that children are sick and dying in these polluted places, and it’s not rocket science to fix them.

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By purplewolf, September 17, 2007 at 7:19 pm Link to this comment

#100509 Louise:

I agree with you,and if it isn’t the most polluted place on earth,then it must be from all the cocaine and booze these bush/cheney boys who run this country(into the ground) imbibed during their college days that has caused their brains to dissintegrate until there is nothing left. This explains why G.W., Alberto and Dicko can’t remember, the answer they always give when backed up against the wall.

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By riya, September 17, 2007 at 1:07 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

The river’s tent is broken; the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank.  The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard.  The nymphs are departed.

T.S. Eliot, “The Wasteland”.

I always thought that the ultimate joke on us, the humans, was how we pondered the La Brea tar pits, the demise of the dinosaurs, fossilized ancient history but really not ancient at all, the lesson of the dinosaurs, we, like vampires, drinking the blood of the oil from their prehistoric doom, are also doomed.  Unless we get the jist of the lesson. Please, people, exercise a little wisdom… The only good thing we got out of this was a brain, and probably only part of it is any good, so let’s quell the gargantuan T-Rex killer winner-take-all part and imagine, that if there is some kind of god, what would be instilled in us to make us finer creatures…Imagine what it would really mean to be the caretakers,the keepers of the Garden. Who would be able to fill the position?

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By QuyTran, September 16, 2007 at 6:55 pm Link to this comment

The White House at the very first day of Bush’s dynasty !

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By Cannabis oglalas, September 15, 2007 at 7:28 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Pine Ridge is pretty polluted too, though nothing like Iraq. Perhaps the Lakota will someday help use their industrial hemp to bio-remediate the toxic wastelands in Iraq.

http://www.cannabisoglalas.com

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By George, September 15, 2007 at 12:59 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

What the Russians don’t talk about is the quantity of nuclear material that has gone to the bottom of the sea around Murmansk. Nuclear submarine reactors etc.
I watched a documentary awhile back that showed an innocuous building in one of the ‘stans’, inside an unlocked room, a fridge held together by duct tape. Open the door and ‘voila’, large jars of viable botulinum toxin.
Where do you think this stuff is now folks? It’s probably waiting for the opportune moment in NYC.
These are unusual times, the American Eagle is preparing to ‘shit’ on the world, and we get to watch it all on CNN with Wolf Blitzer’s pathetic schtick journalism.We don’t deserve to live on this glorious planet anymore! Pity our children, they have been betrayed.

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By FFURKS, September 15, 2007 at 8:28 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Conditions are far worse in the Bangladesh ship breaking yard at Chittagong, The population of this country is 150,448,339, and potentially all inhabitants could be effected by the pollution from Chittagong   There are few (if any) environmental strictures in the country.  Women and young girls recycle asbestos by hand, Men work barefoot and shirtless,  knee-deep in a toxic stew of used oil, hydraulic fluid and septic-tank waste.  There are no child labor laws, and laborers are often younger than 14. The area stinks from the smell of burning rubber, plastic, and Styrofoam. The torches used to cut the metal are old, and inefficient, and belch smoke into the air.  The slop oozes into the bay, and you can see the oil/trash-line when the tide recedes.

It is no wonder this site didn’t make the list.  Although the US Navy no longer uses this site, there are still plenty of US ships in line, including (reportedly) “The Love Boat.”

Unfortunately, most U.S. Citizens don’t even know where Chittagong is located!

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By toophat, September 14, 2007 at 10:32 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

The whole world is polluted… what are they trying to convey?

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By Louise, September 14, 2007 at 9:30 pm Link to this comment

The article fails to mention one of the most polluted places in our society!

Washington D.C. of course.

Where cronyism, corruption, lying, malfeasance, stealing, ass covering [and kissing] are so rampant you can smell the rotting stench from all corners of the nation!

And beyond!

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By 1drees, September 14, 2007 at 9:14 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Just another of the Typical Zionist LIES, or just another LYING ZIONIST institute, coz if anyone even has half a brain then one can easily realize that IRAQ is POLLUTED BEYOND ANYTHING DUE TO US GENEROSITY IN USING THE DEPLETED URANIUM. JUST CANT STOP LOVING THE ZIONISTS ENUFF, I MEAN THEIR LIES ARE NEVER ENDING, that is one typical ZIONIST trait that everyone can see clearly. In the years to come when and if TRUTH does become common , we wil all be able to read about the DELIBERATE IRAQI Genocide that the USA is wreaking over the rest of the world.

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By HeavyG, September 14, 2007 at 5:13 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

It’s “Ukraine” NOT “the Ukraine”.

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By voice of truth, September 14, 2007 at 3:51 pm Link to this comment

Funny, but all of the countries listed above are exempt from the Kyoto Treaty.  Exactly how will it help???

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By Mudwollow, September 14, 2007 at 3:08 pm Link to this comment

“This year, there has been more focus on pollution in the media, but there has been little action in terms of new funding or programmes.”

Well Duuuh! Money war is much more important.

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