"As the world focuses on the impact of climate change, little attention is being paid to yet another environmental bane: increasing contamination of air, water and soil.
![[A rusty radiator and other debris are found at low tide along the Duwamish River in Seattle. Sediments (mud and sand on the river bottom) in and along the river contain a wide range of pollution from years of industrial activity and stormwater runoff. Contaminants include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), mercury and other metals, and phthalates. (flickr photo: usepagov/Creative Commons)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/toxiccontaminants.jpg "toxiccontaminants.jpg")
A rusty radiator and other debris are found at low tide along the Duwamish River in Seattle. Sediments (mud and sand on the river bottom) in and along the river contain a wide range of pollution from years of industrial activity and stormwater runoff. Contaminants include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), mercury and other metals, and phthalates. (flickr photo: usepagov/Creative Commons)The combined effects of this environmental scourge have contributed to global epidemics of cancers, lung and other degenerative diseases, and costing health systems across the world millions of dollars, experts say.
Forty-two years after she was exposed to asbestos in the Pambula beach hamlet, 470 kilometres south of Sydney, Jeanette Hennessy Wright, 51, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in July 2008.
"Asbestos was used in the construction of my neighbour's house while I helped my parents make additions to our own home with fibro sheets that contained asbestos too," explains Wright.
Two years ago, she began to "feel breathlessness while walking uphill and couldn't keep up with friends," she says. After X-rays, a needle biopsy followed by a surgical biopsy, I was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer associated with breathing in asbestos dust and fibres. Being afflicted with the disease is seen as an immediate death sentence, as victims die within 12 to 24 months.
"My tumour was too far advanced for surgery, but was growing, stifling my breathing and sapping energy levels. I underwent chemotherapy for nine months and one year on, I am in much better health. However, I have had to quit a regular public service job as pain comes with a vengeance anytime, and the side effects of chemotherapy have led to hearing loss and numbness in my feet," Wright further recounts.
She reckons that, unknowingly, builders and many people like her have been exposed to asbestos, which was widely used in construction during the 1960s and 1970s. "Many holiday homes on Australia's beaches were built using Fibrous Asbestos Cement, and owners renovating them now could be exposed to deadly particles. It is a time-bomb ticking for young families as the disease can take 30 to 40 years to surface," she says." read article in its entirety...by Neena Bhandari for CommonDreams.org
![[Syncrude's Fort McMurray tar sands (Times/UK)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/oilsands_newgoldrush.jpg "oilsands_newgoldrush.jpg")
Syncrude's Fort McMurray tar sands (Times/UK)
