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Landfills and Waste Problem

Only in recent years has there been a growing awareness in the United States concerning waste dump sites. Landfills, as they are known, first came into public view in 1978 when the Love Canal incident in Niagara Falls, New York was revealed. It was discovered that toxic wastes that had been dumped into the canal in previous years by Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation had begun to seep up into houses and schools that had been built ignorantly upon the dump site. The wastes were first suspected of causing health hazards when numerous occurrences of miscarriages and birth defects were reported from the area near the canal. In 1980, President Carter declared the canal an emergency area that demanded immediate attention. He evacuated 710 families, joining another 239 families that had already abandoned their homes when the waste had first been discovered in 1978. Experts speculated that the toxic chemicals may have caused chromosomal damage to the residents of the area, as well as chromosomal aberrations which were frequently linked to cancer and genetic damage in the offspring. Upon recognition of the problem, other waste dumps, both toxic and non-toxic, began to be carefully examined for health hazards. Experts on waste and chemicals have since found numerous previously unsuspected dangers from non toxic waste, and the ways of disposing of it. These are affecting both our ecological system, as well as human physiology.

In one year, Americans dispose of 220 million tons of garbage in some 9244 landfills across the nation (Sunset, 1989). The problem is most serious in the Northeast where there are more metropolises within fewer miles of each other, unlike the Midwest or West where there are fewer large cities close together, and there is more cheap land we can buy to create landfills. In New York City, Fresh Kills is the world's largest landfill sight, covering 3000 acres enough room for 2000 football fields. It viol...

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Landfills and Waste Problem. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:59, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1680573.html