Children's Health Archives

Satellite imagery shows air pollution rise in tropical ‘megacities’

Air pollution has got far worse in 46 future megacities in tropical Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the study reveals. The deterioration in air quality has led to 180,000 extra deaths due to the combination of city expansion and worsening air pollution between 2005 and 2018.

Agricultural burning from the areas around the cities is one of the main causes. But the deterioration is driven mostly by new sources such as fertiliser use in nearby farms and increased transport and industry. Problems with waste burning, including the burning of plastics, are widespread too. Cities in India are also being affected by new coal power stations that are being built in the country.

November 24, 2021 Air Pollution / Children's Health / Environment / Environmental justice / Failed Policies / Forever Chemicals / Hazardous Waste / International / Landfill / Legislation / News & Updates / Policies / Waste / Waste Mafia / Water Pollution

Filthy business: who will stop Britain’s illegal waste-dumping mafia?

He was fined £840. The Environment Agency announced, “We hope this case will send a clear message”. It will, but not the one it intends.

It’s a familiar story: of almost total regulatory collapse. The failure of the Environment Agency’s waste register looks similar to the farce of company registration, devastatingly exposed by Oliver Bullough. This story reminds me both of the catastrophic failure to protect elderly and vulnerable people against fraud and of the dumping of raw sewage and farm manure into our rivers and seas.

All these failures are inevitable outcomes of 40 years of “cutting red tape”, of slashing the budgets of regulatory agencies, of outsourcing and self-reporting. We were promised freedom. But the people our governments have set free are criminals. Yet another filthy business is cleaning up.

November 9, 2021 Children's Health / Environment / Forever Chemicals / News & Updates / PFAS / Science & Society / Sewage Sludge / Social Justice / Water Pollution

Forever Chemicals and Agriculture Case Study

Stop all land application of “biosolids”:Land application of sludge that contains PFAS, including composted sludge, is not safe. Continuing to allow this practice will result in water contamination and destroy land for future use as farmland. As farmers in Maine and elsewhere have discovered, once contaminated with PFAS, it is virtually impossible to make soils safe for farming. While EPA has taken initial steps that could change how PFAS-contaminated wastes are regulated in the future, the timing and scope of any changes are up in the air. There is no indication yet that EPA plans to revisit its biosolids rule. States have the authority to act, and doing so will incentivize the removal of PFAS from wastewater discharges and consumer products and prompt speedier development of safe PFAS destruction technologies.

September 17, 2021 Air Pollution / Children's Health / Environment / Environmental justice / International / Landfill / Legislation / News & Updates / Pollution / Social Justice / Waste

‘We feel vindicated’: life by a landfill after vital high court ruling

Hundreds of people in the surrounding area say they have suffered sore throats, itchy eyes, nosebleeds, headaches and sleep deprivation, while schoolchildren have been kept inside at lunchtimes to avoid the fumes.

January 7, 2021 Air Pollution / Children's Health / Climate Change / Environment / Failed Policies / International / Landfill / News & Updates / Open Burning / Pollution / Public Health / Waste

Health crisis: up to a billion tonnes of waste potentially burned in the open every year

Uncontrolled waste fires burn at much lower and inconsistent temperatures, which means combustion is incomplete. This releases substances from the waste and creates new ones as molecules are decomposed and reformed in the flames. Dioxins and related compounds are often formed when PVC is burned in open fires. At least 30 of these types of compound are considered harmful to human health. They can persist in the environment for years and in the human body for perhaps a decade or more. There is evidence they can damage the brain and disrupt hormones.

Children’s Health

©Ashley Cooper

Satellite imagery shows air pollution rise in tropical ‘megacities’

Filthy business: who will stop Britain’s illegal waste-dumping mafia?

Health crisis: up to a billion tonnes of waste potentially burned in the open every year