33. Dzerzhinsk, Russia - EUROPE

This is the most polluted industrial town in the world, a place with high levels of POPs contamination from a variety of different sources.

Source categories of waste contamination by POPs:

  Waste Incineration
  Landfilling/dumping/open burning of wastes
  Chemical industry

Data about POPs levels in different environment compartments:

  Air
  Soil/sediment
  Waste residue
  Food (milk, eggs)
  Wildlife (fish)
  Human tissues (breast milk, blood)
  Water

POPs - Persistent Organic Pollutants:

  Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (dioxins)
  Polychlorinated Biphenyls
  Hexachlorobenzene
  DDT – Dichlordiphenyltrichlorethan (pesticide)
  Other OCPs – Other Organochlorine Pesticides