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Toxic Hot Spots: A Global Health Threat
By The Editors Toxic Hot Spots are areas where the concentration of toxic substances, which may be present in water, soil or air, is significantly higher than background levels. In these areas, the risk of adverse health effects is elevated. Toxic hot spots are often located in the vicinity of landfills, car battery recycling sites, sewage treatment plants, refineries, tanneries, mines, and numerous other operations. Living nearby these sites may cause serious adverse affects, as for example cancer and retardation in children.. We usually think of infectious diseases as the major global health problem. However, a new study by Kevin Chatham-Stephens and collaborators, published this month in Environmental Health Perspectives, shows that living near a toxic hot spot may…
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The Plastic Footprint
By The Editors Plastic pollution is a major global threat. Plastics are durable, degrade very slowly and may persist in the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years, resulting in the increasing accumulation of plastic debris in our seas. The best solution to the problem would be to produce and consume less plastic. However, plastic production is on the rise. According to PlasticsEurope, worldwide plastics production rose to 280 million tonnes in 2011, representing around 4% increase from 2010, when 270 million tonnes of plastics were produced. From 2010 to 2016, global plastics consumption is expected to grow by an average of about 4 % each year. What to do then? The…
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“The Throwaway Society Cannot Be Contained – It Has Gone Global”
By The Editors The title of this post says it all, and it says it all through the words of Charles J. Moore, the oceanographer and racing boat captain that first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In the video below, a 2009 TED TALK, Captain Moore focuses on the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas. You can visually see the harm caused to different life forms. The extent of this problem is enormous, and we’ll be talking more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in posts soon to come. In the mean time, please watch this.
