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World's 10 Most Polluted Places 2006
Make sure you include a respirator or some type of breathing mechanism on your packing list if heading to any of the destinations found on the Blacksmith Institute's World's Worst Polluted Places list. Keep in mind there will be no smelling of roses as you stroll the contaminated paths in Haina, Dominican Republic; Kabwe, Zambia; La Oroya, Peru; or Linfen, China. Instead, imagine whiffing the scents of sulfur dioxide, lead, Strontium-90, cobalt and Caesium-137. On a very serious note the list is very disheartening and if you take an opportunity to read site descriptions in full it gets even worse. Numbers of the potentially affected population are included as well as types of pollutants (some longer than most), site description and cleanup activity. If you're unable to connect with the dangers of what unusually high levels of any of the toxins noted can do -- the pictures make it quite real. I mean, we're talking some 3,500,000 people in Ranipet, India who could potentially be affected by disgusting, life-threatening toxins found in Tannery waste. This certainly won't be the kind of information you find in tourism brochures or places your might ever consider for a holiday unless you're into nuclear power plants, like Ukraine's ever-so-popular Chernobyl. Chernobyl travel has most certainly been done before, but I wouldn't recommend it. Then again, I'm just another sucker for fresh water and clean air.
via Gridskipper
Filed under: Activism, Stories, Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, Zambia, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Dominican Republic
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Oriana Oct 26th 2006 6:47AM
Cairo certainly qualifies for that list. It is disgusting. My husband and I both had sore throats constantly. At short distances the great pyramid is no longer visible through the mucky air. On the streets you find yet more filth, the rooftops visible from "view points" are beyond the beyond of nasty. I even saw two poor goats forced to live on the vile cement roof of a city building. Motorcycles, buses and cars all belch black thick smoke. Along a canal lay the bloated carcass of a horse, what more could one ask for on holiday?
sharon ballard Oct 25th 2006 5:34PM
no one seems to be satistifyed. I know they do know how many people can't go any place at all. be happy you had the experience of traveling.
PAM Oct 25th 2006 5:45PM
I agree that Peru should be on the list. I live in Lima for 2 years and it truly is a dirty place. Garbage all over,I even saw dead bodies that had been hit by a car left in the road for over a day until a judge could come out and pronounce them dead. The air pollution is terrible.
Sommer Oct 25th 2006 5:48PM
It is sad that all this exists, but instead of putting the blame on different places, why isn't some of our money that we pay our politicians, our athletic stars and more be reverted to the project of global warming , ( the world we leave our children and grandchildren) to assure a decent place for them to live, learn, love and play. Thanks for listening.
Sommer
Jason Oct 25th 2006 6:18PM
To the people that are defending the countries, why don't you go back if you think that it is so good there. If those countries are so great why did you come to the U.S.?
How to answer a business phone.
Good morning, welcome to America. For english press 1 or press 2 to disconnect until you have learned to speak English.
lucky Oct 25th 2006 6:21PM
Hello everybody,
This article was aptly about the world's most polluted places, not world's most dirtiest places. Pollution affects the environment we are living in, meaning the toxins from the chemical plants released into air, water etc which has a direct impact on our healths. Being dirty just does'nt do that. So, there's a difference being a dirty place and a polluted place. A place can be dirty but not necessarily polluted. You see what i mean? That way NYC should be considered a contender as well and most of our cities downtowns are dirty too. So, you decide!!
Barbie Speer Oct 25th 2006 6:24PM
La Oroya, Peru, is a horrendous blight on the landscape. It makes one think of "Dark Satanic Mills", and the slag heaps from the mines, the nightmare that was once a sparkling river, and the total creepy gloominess of the place are a twisted tribute to modern-day Victorian Industrial Revolution in a land of tremendous natural beauty. Bear in mind that the "improvements" made to the Andean landscape were introduced by British and American companies when they began developing La Oroya. How proud they must feel of their accomplishment!
Clive Fielding Oct 25th 2006 6:26PM
First, the ignorance of some of the respondents, both in their (note, THEIR, not THERE)English grammar and spelling, tends to render a good portion of their comments, simply unintelligible.
Secondly, why are these respondents so defensive. The places that you named ARE the arm pits of the world, plain and simple. Hello?
Chuck Oct 25th 2006 6:28PM
I can see you removed the inappropiate comment about the (Dim)ocrat saying that Republications should eat monkey balls------shame on you
Debora Oct 25th 2006 6:45PM
I spent 3 weeks in China this past August and I was shocked at the air quality. Someone with asthma or any respiratory problem would never survive -- I traveled in a group of 33 healthy people and evety one of us came down with varying degrees of sore throat, cough, wheezing. Of course, none of the travel brochures made mention of this, which I think is totally irresponsible given the severity of the problem. I also noticed that there were no birds and of the 21 days I was there, I saw a blue sky twice. Another completely nasty, filthy thing you'll find in China is that everybody spits. They spit all of the time and they spit everywhere. And I'm not talking about a little spittle -- these are nose clearing, giant, hocking loogies! It was disgusting. I'm very surprised that Cairo isn't on the list -- last time I was there I saw a dozen or so kids playing in the water maybe 10-20 feet from a dead goat.
David Oct 25th 2006 6:49PM
Let's not forget another contender right here at home. "The Big Easy", New Orleans, La. ro more specifically The French Quarter. Unless you are a drunken tourist who believes what you see in movies where every person in New Orleans says "cher" after every sentence, you will find that this place is a Shithole. Even pre Katrina you could stroll Bourbon St and enjoy the smell of piss, vomit, stale beer, and the ever present wino who just crapped in his pants. Now, post Katrina lends a smorgasboard of week old garbage, raw sewerage, stale beer, AND even more homeless winos who just crapped their pants. For an added bonus you can stray 2 blocks off the beaten path and get armed robbed, raped and murdered.
Isabel Oct 25th 2006 6:53PM
Hello,
I'm peruvian and proud of my nationality, and it's true Peru it's beautiful but as many countries it also has it's down sides. I visited La Oroya with my
children and we developed headaches due to the smell. I'm not saying the place is dirty, but it is polluted and I feel for the people living and working there. Do you know if the peruvian government is regularing the polluting activities of the american company operating there? Thank you for your article. It's a slap to many proud peruvians who don't do anything about real problems.
francine nahmias Oct 26th 2006 2:11PM
The most polluted city on earth has to be Chelyabinsk, Russia, located two hours east of Moscow by plane. It was closed to visitors for thirty years after a nucluar disaster in the fifies. When I was there in summer 2003, people were so happy to welcome foreigners and hear other languages than Russian that it made me forgot I was in an old nuclear disaster site!
WALTER Oct 25th 2006 7:16PM
YES POERU IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BEUTIFUL WHATS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE.
BYE walter
gary Oct 25th 2006 7:20PM
i swear some people are dumb as rocks !!!!! just cause a place might look beautiful and clean doesn't mean it's not poluted , the most dangerouse things in this world you can't even see.. take chanoble for instance you can't see radiation if you could that place would be black with it.. so you dumb ass people open up your minds and leave your eyes closed some times you might understand more....
Mike Oct 25th 2006 7:28PM
You want a filthy place? Go to Chinatown, NYC. Now thats filthy!
Edith Oct 25th 2006 7:37PM
Having lived in several countries, two that were third world countries, I have come to know that as Americans we can't and must not judge conditions in other countries by what we have. It is like adding apples and oranges. I find the article to be rather one sided. Granted there are places that I would not want to go to due to living conditions and cultural conditions. Please, please remember don't judge by our cultural standards.
Bubba Oct 25th 2006 7:49PM
All of the native complain, boo hoo not my County it is so beautiful...... Yea a great place to live... Thatswhy your here in the US.
David Oct 25th 2006 7:49PM
I was stationed aboard an aircraft carrier, 1955-56, and did two "Med cruises". Naples was one of the dirtiest cities we visited. The smell in the harbor was awful! Filthy streets! Wonder if they ever cleaned it up?
salome Oct 25th 2006 7:56PM
such drama about foreign ports etc---inhaling stronium....guess no one ever waited for a red light to change to green or for a bus at astoria blvd queens---where the diesel and jet fumes and sewer stench are palpable and in yer face....believe this area's number 1 in the USA..approach to the triboro bridge,bqe,astoria blvd and the gcp and la quardia airport....packed for hours with stop and go traffic.
what are the components of diesel and jet exhaust ?