The Beginning of a Concern.docx

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The Beginning of a Concern, International.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy was an Indian incident that spurred the government to take steps to check the release of hazardous waste out into the environment and the handling of toxic substance, which is likely to become dangerous if not handled properly. It was not, however the reason that bought international concern regarding the same issue that is being discussed at the moment. This tragedy was not the first time, in the international arena that such a thing had happened. There have been many incidents of release of hazardous waste or toxic substances that have led to wide scale disasters environmentally or wide scale and expensive clean-up operations in other industrialized countries. It started with Methyl-mercury poisoning in the Minamata Bay in Japan that started in 1956 and was discovered in 1980. This poisoning was caused because of dumping of mercury waste in the open seas. The fish from that sea, after such prolonged exposure to the chemicals were affected too. When consumed, these fishes started causing death, and several types of  disease like pre-natal brain damage. In 1976 a pickle factory in North Italy dumped contaminated debris in steel drums along with vinegar without taking proper. This incident, a.k.a. Sevoso incident, caused problem later  on. In 1978, USA had to spend around 30 million dollars to clean up what is known as the Love Canal Incident. Love Canal was an area where a company, Hooker Chemical, had dumped 21000 tons of toxic waste and then sold the land to a school. When discovered, the U.S government had to ensure a costly clean-up so that the toxic waste would not adversely affect anyone. Another incident in the history of U.S is the where some amount of radioactive leaked into the environment. The well known meltdown of the Three Mile Island Power Plant  did not cuase much damage to the residents in the surrounding area but the whole clean up lasted till 2 1999 and cost over one billion dollars. Chernobyl disaster was one of the worst disasters in the history of mankind. The city still remains deserted and there is virtually no flora or fauna in the area still after almost three decades.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal(last seen: 07.03.2012) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island(last http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_ Mile_Island(last seen: 08.03.2 012)

In 1987, in the report “Our Common Future” that was presented in the Earth Summit, there was a mentioned industrial wastes and toxic substances as one of the major common goal our world faces today. It said that there should be institutional and legal changes to be adopted  by each nation, internally as well as in co-operation with other countries.