Hazardous waste has been linked with many horrible health related problems (Regenstein, 1982; Levine, 1982; Wildavsky & Schleicher, 1995).  The evidence of this link can be seen in increased rates of respiratory problems, skin disorders, miscarriages, birth defects, neurological disorders and cancer clusters in areas near to hazardous waste sites.  Larry Wilson (in Bradford & Gwynne, 1995) describes an small area where there are 15-20 houses where he can only name 2 that do not have one of the above listed problems.  He lives in Appalachian Kentucky near a leather tanning company that polluted the river near his home where many people get there drinking water.
            The EPA has developed a method to distinguish the "carcinogenic potency factor" of chemicals often found in Superfund sites (Wildavsky & Schleicher, 1995).  There are four categories:

•     Group A-Human carcinogen.  Sufficient evidence from epidemiological studies to support a causal association between exposure and cancer in humans.
•     Group B1-Probably human carcinogen.  Limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans from epidemiological studies.
•     Group B2-Probable human carcinogen.  Sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in animals; inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans.
•     Group C-Possible human carcinogen.  Limited evidence of carcinogenicity in animals.
http://www.iprimus.ca/~spinc/atomcc/history.htm
(quoted from Wildavsky & Schleicher, 1995, pp 168-169)
What do the chemicals actually do?
    The chemicals from hazardous waste sites leach into the ground, air and water. Sometime, they can even be stored in buildings and get into the cinder blocks.  When these cinder blocks start to deteriorate, the dust that is formed gets into the air and can easily be breathed in.  The same thing can happen chemicals in the ground although there is also a high risk of getting chemical burns from touching the contaminated soil.  In the water, the chemicals can be consumed or absorbed just as they can in the air.  With so many pathways into the body its not surprising that they eventually cause problems in our systems.
    These chemicals are often considered to be carcinogens.  Carcinogens work by causing mutations in your cells,  DNA, and chromosomes (Wildavsky & Schleicher, 1995) .  When exposed to chemicals, slight changes in the DNA sequence can change.
    DNA is made up of four types of proteins or nucleotides.  The order that these nucleotides are in tell the cell which proteins and enzymes to make.  If the order of these nucleotides change, the directions for the enzyme will be wrong and the wrong enzyme will be produced or maybe no enzyme will be produced at all.  In cancers, the cells multiple rapidly when they should not, forming tumors.  These tumors are made up of unspecialized cells (meaning that they do not really have a purpose).  Usually cells have mechanism to stop growth including contact inhibition where cells do not continue to multiply when in contact with other cells.  Cancer cells do not do this ("Cancer", Infoplease.com, 2001).
    Below are images of cancer cells during one day of growth.


12:00 A.M. 1 cell                        2:00 P.M. 85 cells                      11:10 P.M. 140 cells

http://www.cellsalive.com/cam1.htm   11/28/2001
 

    The other health problems linked to hazardous waste sites may cause damage similar ways.  They may damage the DNA so that improper or no enzyme is produced that is needed for a specific process.  Furthermore, actual cell damage can occur during chemical burns or metal poisoning can occurr.  In this type of damage, usually the cell dies.  Receptor cells in the eyes can especially be effected by heavy metals because of their interaction with the central nervous system as Larry Wilson suspects has happened to his son (in Bradford & Gwynne, 1995).
    The action that is being taken now to prevent these types of health effects are explain on the Current Superfund page.



Statistics of Occurrences of Health Related Problems linked to Toxic Waste
Love Canal
•  Miscarriage rates 50% (in mid 1960's) (Levine, 1982)
• unusually high numbers of
                                -newborn deformities
                                -blood disease
                                -cancer
                                -epilepsy
                                -hyperactivity  (Regenstein, 1982)
•  29.4% miscarriage rate (1978)
• 5 of 24 children born in the area had birth defects
• Only 2 normal children were born of the 17 pregnancies (1979)
• On 96th Street, of 15 homes
                                -8 people had developed cancer in last 12 years (at time of study)
                                -6 women had a cancerous breast removed
                                -1 man had throat cancer
                                -1 man had bladder cancer
                                -a 7 year old boy had convulsions and died of kidney failure
                                -a dog developed cancerous tumors and was put down
• One home had been occupied by four families over 15 years of them:
                                                                                                                                                                                                   http://www.iprimus.ca/~spinc/atomcc/history.htm
                             First Family
                                        -wife had nervous breakdown, hysterectomy due to uterine bleeding
                             Second Family
                                        -husband had nervous breakdown
                                        -wife had hysterectomy due to uterine cancer
                                        -daughter developed epilepsy
                                        -son developed asthma
                             Third Family
                                        -wife had nervous breakdown
                                        -both children suffered from bronchitis
                             Fourth Family
                              -wife had severe headaches, hysterectomy due to uterine bleeding and pre-malignent growth.  They lived there less than 2 years.
Many symptoms of other occurring problems including hearing loss and skin disorder, improved greatly or "cured" after individuals left the area.
Navajo lands (uranium mines)
• 38 of 150 Navajo people who worked in mines to obtain materials that would later become toxic suffered from lung cancer (1980)
• miscarriages, bone, bladder, and reproductive cancers and leukemia all increased at the same site.
• birth defect rate is 2-8 times higher than the national average
Toone, Tennessee (contaminated well water)
• complaints of dizziness, nausea liver and urinary tract problems
• birth defects including a baby who was born with its stomach on the outside of its body
(All above information from Regenstein, 1982 unless otherwise noted)
Though this site focuses on the effects of the toxic waste on humans but obviously, the environment and ecosystem is effected as well.  The information on this seems to be less complete but Levine (1982) describes how the land covering the dump became sparse and scrubby.  Nilak Butler and Winona LaDuke (1995) describe how their Mohawk Indian land has been completely polluted by toxic wastes.  The St. Lawrence River that runs through Mohawk territory is completely poisoned including poisoning the fish which they relied upon for food.  The Hudson River that runs through New York is the largest Superfund site in the country.  The parts of the river that run near and through New York City were thought to not be able to support either plant or animal life during the 1970's-1980's (Miller, 1995).  Larry Wilson (1995) describes the purple-brown color of the stream near his home that he was told was safe to use to water his farm animals.  In ninety days 36 hogs, 13 dairy goats, 7 cows, 200 chickens, some rabbits and other animals were all dead.  The water was contaminated with leather tanning chemicals.  So it is clear that human health is not the only thing at stake with these hazardous and toxic waste sites.  In order to try to limit the damage, the Superfund is still in use.  The current Superfund information can be found here.