Extracto de la introducción del texto publicado por el Blacksmith Institute:
The 2012 World’s Worst Pollution Problems Report sets out to quantify the human health impacts from major sources of hazardous pollution in low to middle-income countries. In particular the focus is on sites in the developing world where toxic pollution has occurred because of industrial activity.1 This evaluation of industries and pollutants is based on data collected by the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland through investigations of pollution hotspots around the world, principally abandoned (“legacy” or “orphan”) sites and informal artisanal activities. This report is compiled using analysis of the Blacksmith Institute’s site database and a review of industry research, statistics and peer-reviewed studies.
In 2011, the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland published a report that began to quantify the burden of disease from industries using a single site, beginning the process of measuring health impacts. This report revisits that process but goes a step further. Using additional data the 2012 report estimates the total health impact from toxic industrial pollutants in 49 countries in the developing world, extrapolating health impacts to provide a better understanding of the true scope of the issue. Within the last year the Blacksmith Institute has investigated and analyzed hundreds of additional sites around the world and initiated in depth research on the process of estimating the global burden of disease from hazardous waste sites.2 That information and research has produced increasingly more accurate estimates that get closer to reflecting the impact of toxic substances on people in the developing world.
The goal of this report is to identify and quantify the contribution to the global burden of disease of the most significant pollutants and industry sectors in low and middle-income countries.