Word: toxicity
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...does California have the most lawyers and New Jersey the most toxic- waste dumps...
...pollution at all the bases that are being shut down. The President didn't put a price tag on this, but Pentagon insiders say the cost of this gesture will be enormous -- more than $20 billion over the next decade. Nine of the bases slated for closure are Superfund toxic-waste sites, meaning they are among the most contaminated areas in America. There are also more than 500 less polluted sites on these bases, contaminated with toxic pollutants, radioactive substances or unexploded munitions...
...hunting ban has done nothing to eliminate other human activities that also threaten the animals. Commercial fisheries deplete the whales' feeding grounds and disrupt their breeding areas and nurseries. Scientists suspect that PCBs, pesticides and other toxic chemicals leak into rivers and out to sea, weaken whales' immune systems and drive down their birthrates. Observes Scott Kraus, a marine biologist with the New England Aquarium: "The public gets hung up on whaling, but what's really worse is what we flush down the toilet...
...syndicated shows like The Untouchables and Highlander, and on cable channels, which are still free to air whatever they want. Not to mention video games, rented movies -- and, of course, real life. "There's nothing more violent than watching the 11 o'clock news at night, and nothing more toxic," contends Peter Guber, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. "Baby Falls Out of Window! Tune in at 11! We have to apply the same standards to all visual images -- not just what we call entertainment, but news, information and reality-based programs...
Less predictable, however, are the effects of the farm pesticides and industrial chemicals churning in the silt-encrusted swamps and ponds marooned by subsiding rivers. While hydrologists anticipate that the sheer volume of water will dilute and neutralize any toxicity, no one knows what dangers, if any, are posed by toxic runoff from hundreds of submerged factories, fuel- storage facilities and waste dumps. "Think of all this stuff making a witches' brew of new compounds," says Kevin Coyle, president of American Rivers, an environmental group in Washington. "We have no precedent...