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Blacksmith Newsletter July 2009
This Issue
- Pollution: A Global Killer, A Solvable Problem
- Peru: New York Times and BBC Spotlights Blacksmith Project in La Oroya
- Senegal: Blacksmith Goes from House to House, Preparing for Children's Return
- Ukraine: Another Chernobyl?
- India: Toxin-Eating Worms to Take on Golden Corridor
- More Experts Volunteer for Blacksmith Projects
- Health and Pollution Fund
- Blacksmith in the News
POLLUTION: A GLOBAL KILLER, A SOLVABLE PROBLEM
"This is a finite problem. There are a finite number of toxic hotspots around the world, which are poisoning families right where they live. We know where they are. We just have to clean them. We can eliminate life-threatening toxic pollution in our lifetimes."
-- Richard Fuller, President, Blacksmith Institute
What if I told you we could solve one of the biggest problems in the world - a global killer affecting over a billion people?
This new Blacksmith Institute newsletter will track our progress as we do just that. It will record our journey as we work to clean up the worst of the worst cases of life-threatening pollution in the developing world.
In today's interconnected economy, pollution is everyone's problem. That is why I started the not-for-profit Blacksmith Institute 10 years ago.
Right now, in some of these areas, families are being poisoned as they breathe, eat, and sleep. Life expectancy for adults can be as low as 45 years, and children do not even get a fighting chance at normal lives. In these poor communities, where women and children are the most vulnerable, moving away is not an option. And so they stay in their contaminated environment, until it is sometimes too late.
We can make a difference.
I know because it has already been done in developed countries, where toxic pollution has almost been eliminated. We just need to bring solutions to the developing world, where pollution is growing.
Since 1999, Blacksmith has been doing this, successfully completing more than 50 cleanup projects. We are currently engaged in over 40 projects in 14 countries. Now we are entering a new phase with the creation of the global Health and Pollution Fund (HPF).
As we work around the world, we are constantly finding new worst case scenario candidates such as the Gorlovka chemical plant, which we are desperately trying to contain. Each site we identify and each project we complete takes us one step closer towards our goal of ELIMINATING toxic pollution in the developing world. Help us work towards a cleaner world, one site at a time.
Richard Fuller,
President, Blacksmith Institute
PERU: NEW YORK TIMES AND BBC SPOTLIGHTS BLACKSMITH PROJECT IN LA OROYA
New York Times and BBC News recently reported on the critical lead pollution situation in La Oroya, Peru, which was identified as one of the top ten worst polluted places in Blacksmith's world's worst report.
On their last visit to La Oroya, Blacksmith experts reported reductions in lead exposure and progress on several fronts, including the establishment of educational and health programs in the town. However, Blacksmith noted that the significant source of lead contamination, namely the smelter's furnaces, have not been fully addressed. Blacksmith will continue to monitor and work with local champions in La Oroya.
SENEGAL: BLACKSMITH GOES FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE, PREPARING FOR CHILDREN'S RETURN
Last year, Blacksmith was called to Senegal to conduct cleanup after the sudden death of 18 children from lead poisoning. Surviving youngsters, who were taken away for treatment, will be returning home to Thiaroye-Sur-Mer and Blacksmith is there to make sure their houses are cleared of toxic lead dust.
Working with the government of Senegal, the Blacksmith team--Dr. Margrit von Braun, Donald Jones and Dr. Ian von Lindern from Blacksmith's Technical Advisory Board--is training local crews to remove the worst of the contaminated soil in the community and to do house to house cleanup.
Like almost every city in the developing world, Thiaroye-Sur-Mer has a thriving informal lead recycling market, where car batteries are broken by hand and smelted down in kitchens and backyards. Lead poisoning caused by the improper recycling of car batteries is one of the world's worst pollution problems.
UKRAINE: ANOTHER CHERNOBYL?
It is an accident waiting to happen. Blacksmith technical experts put the chance of a catastrophic event occurring at the Gorlovka chemical plant at more than five percent per year. The estimated death toll could be in the hundreds of thousands, much larger in scale than Chernobyl and Bophal--two of the worst industrial accidents in modern history. To handle the immediate threat, Blacksmith is seeking emergency funding of $500,000.
This will be used to destroy some 30 metric tons of explosive TNT stored in flooded underground tanks near a neighboring fertilizer plant housing liquid ammonia. An accidental detonation would produce a deadly cloud that is likely to kill up to 50 percent of the town's 300,000 residents. Over 15,000 tons of tons of highly toxic mono nitrochlorobenzene (MNCB) will also need to be destroyed. Less than one teaspoon of the toxin is a fatal dose.
The Gorlovka chemial plant was the only facility in the former Soviet Union to produce MNCB as well as TNT. It operated from 1936 to around 1994 before going into bankruptcy in 2002. Today, the plant is in dangerous disrepair and is maintained by a skeleton staff of lowly paid workers.
INDIA: TOXIN-EATING WORMS TO TAKE ON GOLDEN CORRIDOR
Blacksmith's innovative program using earthworms to fight pollution will expand to at least ten sites along the Golden Corridor in Gujarat, India.
This is based on the success of a just-concluded pilot project in Muthia, where Blacksmith has been experimenting over the past three years. Working with Dr. Suneet Dabke, a Vadodara-based industrial waste expert, Blacksmith has refined the method to improve the efficiency of the worms in cleaning and reviving "dead" and highly contaminated soil.
The Muthia project offers some of the best data collected on the effectiveness of bioremediation. This will allow Blacksmith to replicate this low-cost method at polluted sites beyond India.
MORE EXPERTS VOLUNTEER FOR BLACKSMITH PROJECTS
Blacksmith's team of international experts is growing with four new volunteers joining Blacksmith's Technical Advisory Board (TAB). They will boost the number of internationally respected academics, scientists, researchers and other industry leaders working with Blacksmith.
Joining the team are Vasco Duke Hernandez, head of Environmental Research at the University of Panama, and Maria del Rosario Alfaro, a respected environmental contamination inspector from Costa Rica. Thomas G. Boivin and Grant S. Bruce, respectively the President and Vice-President of Canada-based Hatfield Consultants, will bring their worldwide expertise in environmental services to Blacksmith.
"The people at Blacksmith are dedicated professionals working on critical, acute pollution problems in areas of the world that need it most," notes Jay Vandeven of Environ, a TAB member since 2008. "Having worked as a professional consulting environmental engineer for the past 25 years, I am excited to contribute to the success of the Blacksmith Institute."
HEALTH AND POLLUTION FUND
Blacksmith is leading the global fight to eliminate toxic pollution in
the developing world with the creation of the Health and Pollution Fund (HPF), an ambitious $500 million international initiative Blacksmith is
spearheading with the Asian Development Bank.
As part of the HPF, Blacksmith investigators are currently
crisscrossing the globe to build the world's first comprehensive global
inventory of the worst polluted places with the most at-risk
communities. These toxic sites will be ranked in order of priority for
cleanup under the HPF.
Over 200 sites will be targeted for remediation beginning in 2010.
Once these hotspots are cleaned, toxic pollution would, for the most
part, be eliminated in the developing world.
Support Blacksmith
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Blacksmith In the News
New York Times: In the Andes, a Toxic Site also Provides a Livelihood
BBC World News: Peru Smelter Pollution at Crisis Point
Peruvian Times: Doe Run Miners in La Oroya Protest Temporary Layoff
Report: Mass Lead Intoxication in Senegal
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Key Programs
Lead Poisoning and Car Batteries
Artisanal Gold Mining (Mercury Poisoning)
Top 10 Worst Pollution Problems
Did you Know...
The World Health Organization estimates that 20% of deaths in the developing world directly result from pollution, making it one of the biggest killers, affecting over a billion people.
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