NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, May 6, 2013

Toxic waste sites in India with elevated levels of lead and chromium are causing disease, disability and even death, leading to loss of healthy years of life among people, according to a new research.

The scale of the problem is comparable to that of other major public health issues such as malaria and outdoor air pollution, it added, also affecting the unborn foetus.

The study titled ’The Burden of Disease from Toxic Waste Sites in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines in 2010,’ which focuses on individuals living near 373 sites located in these three countries, was published in Environmental Health Perspectives.