Love Canal gained worldwide attention in the late 1970s when the press started covering its story. The story is outlined below and illustrated in Figure 19.9. The Love Canal disaster actually began back in the mid 1900s. The disaster continues even today. Starting in the early 1940s, a big chemical company put thousands of barrels of chemical waste into an old canal. Over the next 10 years, the company dumped almost 22,000 tons of chemicals into the ground! In the early 1950s, the company covered over the barrels in the canal with soil. Then they sold the land to the city for just a dollar. The city needed the land in order to build an elementary school. The company warned the city that toxic waste was buried there. But they thought the waste was safe. The school and hundreds of homes were also built over the old canal. As it turned out, the cheap price was no bargain. Chemicals started leaking from the barrels. Chemicals seeped into basements. Chemicals bubbled up to the surface of the ground. In some places, plants wouldnt even grow on the soil. People noticed bad smells. Many got sick, especially the children. Residents wanted to know if the old chemicals were the cause. But they had a hard time getting officials to listen. So they demonstrated and demanded answers. Finally, the soil was tested and was found to be contaminated with harmful chemicals. For example, it contained a lot of lead and mercury. Both can cause permanent damage to the human nervous system. The school was closed. More than 200 homes were evacuated. Much of the Love Canal neighborhood was bulldozed away. The area had a massive clean-up effort. The cleanup cost millions of dollars. More than three decades later, much of Love Canal is still too contaminated to be safe for people. Love Canal opened peoples eyes to toxic waste burial. They realized there must be other Love Canals all over the country. Thousands of contaminated sites were found. The Superfund Act was passed in 1980. The law required that money be set aside for cleanup of toxic waste sites, like the Elizabeth Copper Mine in Vermont (see the far-right image in Figure 19.9). The law also required safer disposal of hazardous waste in the future. Love Canal highlighted the problem of pollution by hazardous waste. Hazardous waste is any waste that is dangerous to the health of people or the environment. It may be dangerous because it is toxic, corrosive, flammable, or explosive. Toxic waste is poisonous. Toxic waste may cause cancer or birth defects in people. It may also harm other living things. Corrosive waste is highly reactive with other substances. Corrosive waste may cause burns or destroy other materials that it touches. Flammable waste can burn easily. It may also give off harmful fumes when it burns. Explosive waste is likely to explode. The risk of explosion may be greater if the waste is mixed with other substances. Table 19.1 shows some examples of hazardous waste. Look closely. Are any of these examples lurking around your home? Example Description Cars contain toxic fluids such as brake fluid. The fluids may also be corrosive and flammable. This photo shows one way the fluids can end up in the ground. Cars use gas and oil. These materials are toxic and flammable. They pollute the land when they leak or spill. Batteries contain toxic and corrosive materials. People often toss them in the trash, but they should be disposed of properly. Electronics, such as old computers, contain toxic chem- icals. They may be sent to landfills where the toxic materials end up in the ground. Medical waste can contain many hazards: Human body fluids may cause disease; old thermometers may contain toxic mercury; and pharmaceuticals may be toxic to people and other living things. Example Description Paints can be both toxic and flammable. Paints may spill on the ground or be thrown improperly in the trash. Chemicals are applied to farm fields and lawns. They include fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Many of these chemicals are toxic to people and other animals. The greatest source of hazardous waste is industry. Agriculture is another major
Output: Nations that produce the most hazardous waste have the most