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Selikoff, of Manhattan's
environmental disruption]
potential cancer-causing
Our
Mount Sinai Medical Center.
becomes," said one EPA
substances when it reacts
In the last 50 years a
chemist.
with other chemical
Dangerous
revolution has occurred in
Many of man's chemical
pollutants in water .
the chemistry of the air we
creations differ markedly
This points out an
Synthetic
breathe, in the water we
from those found in nature.
enormous dilemma. Many
Environment
drink, in the food we eat
Many are not readily broken
chemicals sometimes
and the places we walk,
down (biodegraded). They
behave totally unpredictably.
work and play. Modern
build up in tissues of plants,
As compounded and
Of all the assaults
chemists have developed
animals and man and are
intended for use they may
bombarding mankind, none
the capacity for an infinite
passed in ever increasing
be predictable. But when
is more subtle, yet more
variety of man-made
concentrations up food
they come in contact with
potentially devastating and
chemical compounds and
chains to affect the health
other chemicals in the
difficult to control than the
for varying existing ones.
and procreation of all things.
environment sorne act
accelerating tons of toxic
For relatively few man-made
By the time a chemical
synergistically-one
chemicals. We dump them
chemicals do we know the
suspected of risk emerges
chemical enhances the
into our air, water, land and
long-term effects on health
from scientific scrutiny, its
toxicity of another, or one
food.
or at what levels they cause
uses are often so
interferes with the actions of
Pesticides, herbicides,
health problems.
entrenched in modern lite
another.
plastics. synthetic food
As many as 1,000 new
that banning it is extremely
The World Health
additives, drugs and
chemical concoctions come
difficult no mattter how
Organization has estimated
thousands of chemicals now on the market every year .
dangerous it might be. DDT,
that between ·60 percent
exist that were never
Around 35,000 of the
chlorinated hydrocarbons in
and 90 percent of all
experienced by former
50,000 chemicals now
pesticides and many plastics cancers are the result of
generations. Industrial Age
available on the market have are examples.
"environmental factors." In
man is now polluting his
been classified by the U.S.
What's worse, sometimes
the broadest sense this
environment hundreds of
Environmental Protection
it takes several decades for
includes everything from
times faster than the
Agency (EPA) as either
the horrors of a particular
chemical agents to radiation,
generation of even a century definitely or potentially
chemical to show up.
to noise pollution and even
ago.
hazardous to human health.
Chlorine, the widely used
human stress.
" We're fouling our own
"The further chemists get chemical to kili waterborne
Scientists, long worried
nest, and we can't survive if
from natural chemicals the
bacteria, for example, is
about potential
we continue," says Dr. lrving greater the danger [of
now suspected of producing
cancer-causing chemicals in
In Ankara, Turkey, on a bad polluted. The Baltic and
sewer of Europe" -a slimy
No Nation
day, chimneys and industries Mediterranean seas are
river of sewage, 2,000
pour our lung-searing
dying from human and
chemicals, sediment, organic
Has
smoke, which, say sorne
industrial wastes. Lake
wastes and pesticides from
experts, have the same
Baikal in the Soviet Union is
agricultura! runoff. Yet it is
Escaped
effect as smoking 200
beginning to slowly recover
still a major source of
cigarettes. They predict the
only after decades of
drinking water for millions of
There are few places on
city will not be able to
poisoning by wastes from
Europeans.
earth with growing
sustain lite in a decade or
pulp milis and industries was
All over Latin America
populations that are not
so at present rates of
reduced.
many nations struggling to
burdened down with
pollution.
Coastal waters of the
industrialize are strangling
worsening human or
In Athens. Greece, carbon South Seas are fouled by
on the wastes of the very
industrial effluent.
monoxide, lead and other
human and chemical wastes. industries its leaders hope
Most big cities in
pollutants far exceed
Coral reefs are dying.
will pull their people from
developed and developing
international safety levels.
Pesticides from Africa have
poverty. In Sao Paulo, Brazil ,
nations alike are frequently
In Eastern Europe,
been found in the West
and Buenos Aires,
smothered in noxious smog . environmental problems
lndies.
Argentina, nearby rivers
Mexico City, Santiago, Chile
abound. Forests are dying;
The Z:ambesi River,
have been turned into little
and Caracas, Venezuela
industrial soot covers the
tumbling over Victoria Falls,
more than black and fetid
have as dangerous air as
cities. One Polish marine
is fouled with the filth of five
sewers. One river is covered
Tokyo, Chicago or New
specialist, who did not want
African nations. At least
with suds, another boils with
York .
to be identified, said the
seven nations dump their
chemicals. a third is so hot it
Caracas was found to
Vistula and Oder rivers were wastes into the North Sea.
steams. In Sao Paulo, the
have a carbon monoxide
"practically waste water
Soot from the industrial
levels of sulfur dioxide,
level 15 times the danger
channels into the Baltic."
Ruhr in West Germany
which impairs breathing and
level established by the
Major seas and lakes in
discolors snow in Norway.
damages vegetation, are
World Health Organization.
Europe are seriously
The Rhine is called " the
from two to six times higher
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