17. Balad, Iraq - ASIA

This large open burn pit is typical of many in Iraq and Afghanistan where military wastes are burned in the open. The wastes include plastics, electronics and hazardous materials and will generate large quantities of dioxins in the air and ashes. A leaked memo by the US Department of Defense described it as “an acute health hazard.” The Chief of Air Force Aeromedical Services confirmed that the pit’s emissions of “known carcinogens” posed a “chronic and acute health hazard to our troops and the local population.”

Source categories of waste contamination by POPs:

  Landfilling/dumping/open burning of wastes

POPs - Persistent Organic Pollutants:

  Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (dioxins)
  Polychlorinated Biphenyls
  Hexachlorobenzene