Hungary’s toxic flood could turn into a cancerous cloud

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Get ready for a clarion call for the UN to come to the rescue of all of these 'spills'.

Thousands of Hungarian residents battling to contain the flood of poisonous red sludge have been warned to wear face masks because as the slurry dries it will turn into a toxic dust cloud.

October 8, 2010
The damage so far has come from the mud but with dry, hot weather and strong winds forecast over the next few days, the environmental disaster is expected to spread.

Environmentalists said high levels of arsenic and mercury, which can cause cancer, had been found in water polluted by the ooze and that, if airborne, this could enter the human respiratory system.

The scale of the pollution – where 180 million gallons escaped from an industrial reservoir – has been compared with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a leak of 200 million gallons. Seven people have died, one person is missing and 150 people have been injured since the torrent of sludge was unleashed at an alumina plant in Ajka, 100 miles west of Budapest, on Monday. Many of the injured suffered chemical burns…”

See:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/hungary/8052160/Hungarys-toxic-flood-could-turn-into-a-cancerous-cloud.html


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