Cleaning up Canada

Canada, the second largest nation in the world, extends across almost 4 million square miles from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the rocky shores of the Pacific Ocean and from borders shared with the United States in the south 3,000 miles north to the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. The country’s coastline, the longest in the world, spans more than 150,000 miles. Between costs, Canada is rich in lakes, rivers, forests, and barren rocks that not only shape the landscape but also mold the economy. Pulp and paper production, agriculture, and mining are major industries. Unfortunately, emissions and runoff from these industries, from hydroelectric plants, and from fossil fuel combustion have polluted the once pristine air and water. For years, pulp and paper mills were accused of discharging effluent with high concentrations of organochlorines into adjacent rivers. Impaired reproduction in fish suggested that something in the effluent was affecting fish metabolism. Dioxins have been shown to alter thyroid function in laboratory animals and to exert estrogenlike activity, and scientists suggest that these changes may apply to humans as well. Persistent toxic compounds such as dioxins, DDT and heavy metals have been polluting the Great Lakes, shares between the United States and Canada for more than 60 years. All these contaminants are taking their toll directly or indirectly on the lives of Canada’s 28 million residents, two-thirds of whom live close to the northern United States. Environment Canada is responsible for environmental concerns of national and interprovincial waters and interprovincial transport of substances. Environment Canada does not make declarations on human health. That is the mandate of Health Canada. Health Canada concentrates only on human health issues. However, Health Canada and Environment Canada jointly assess substances to determine if they are toxic. When, for example, fish are collected for study, a department of Environment Canada does the laboratory work, but Health Canada determines the risk to human health and issues the warnings.

Five years ago. The Canadian government committed $3 billion to a five-year environmental cleanup program called the Green Plan. The Green Plan is the Health and Environmental Action Plan, under which human health hazards from acid rain, airborne toxins, and ground level-ozone, and drinking water safety, and waste management practices are assessed.

10. Mllitary space installation’s pollution

"А strong source of pollution is represented by Military-space complex installations - "Baikonur" space center and testing ranges "Sary Shagan", "Emba", Flaying-testing range, Semipalatinsk range, and Kapustin Yar. Four large testing ranges and one flying center occupy 13,8 million hectares of land. Greece, which has given the world the antique culture and the foundations of democracy, is situated on the same amount of sapce. In Kazakhstan more than 500 explosions were carried out over and underground. These 13,8 million hectares cover the territories of six regions- Aktubinsk, Atyrau, 3ambyl, Zhezkazgan, Western-Kazakhstan and Kyzyl-Orda. Until recently populations of these regions did not know all the truth about consequences of the tests,

Неге is information gathered by the staff of Ministry of есо1оду and biological resources and presented using objective scientific language: "pollution of the biosphere by rocket fuel is continued. The most dangerous of аП fuels is non-symmetric dimethylhydrozyne {NDMG) - а highly-toxic, explosive substance, which has cancerougenous, mutogenous and therratogenous properties. If we translate these terms into regular human language, this will mean that this poisonous substance may become the reason for cancer or birth of children with abnormalities. "In the environrrten? NDMG appears, while it is produced, transported, poured into the tanks and used at the tests of military and space missiles, when the heads of the rockets are separated and are falling on the ground, NDMG is carried by wind and later by water, wild and domestic animals, people, vehicles. It is concentrated in underground waters, soil, plants, organisms of wild animals and people. All types of manufactured products and raw materials {used for medical and other purposes), gathered from polluted territories are dangerous for the health of people. Rocket stages falling on the ground, objects returning from space, various targets fill the territory with scrap metal, which often needs to be cleaned from toxic substances.

There have been 5 thousand objects which have been launched only into space and only from "Baikonur" space center. Mr. Yakovlev writes in his papers that there are more than 20 thousand tons of military and space scrap metal laying only in Zhezkazgan region.