Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Lebanon: Israeli occupation forces carried out an explosion in the southern border town of Kfar Kila
Russian Ministry of Defense: 37 Ukrainian drones destroyed in 4 hours over regions of Russia and the Black Sea.
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.

'Sacrifice Zones', where pollution causes more deaths than COVID-19

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Agencies
  • 12 Mar 2022 15:55
4 Min Read

Corporations have infringed human rights and the right to health and hygiene around the globe.

  • x
  • "Cancer Alley," where over a hundred oil refineries and petrochemical plants are located, in Louisiana, United States. (Photo: Julie Dermansky)

As a result of heavy pollution, "sacrifice zones" have been created across the planet - these zones see plentiful suffering, with millions suffering from strokes, cancers, respiratory problems and heart disease. 

“There are sacrifice zones all over the world, in every region: in the north, in the south, in the east, in the west, in rich countries, in poor countries,” David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, told the Guardian.

Not only did Boyd speak of physical issues, including reproductive health and strokes, but also mental health issues: “incredible mental health problems associated with living in these places because people feel exploited, they feel stigmatised”.

Intoxication is a violation of human rights: Boyd described the zones as an infringement to the peoples' human rights, "their rights to life, their rights to health, and … their right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. You cannot reconcile that fundamental right to a healthy environment with these absolutely horrific environmental conditions.”

Pollution has contributed to twice as many premature deaths as COVID-19 since the pandemic - 9 million deaths. 

Boyd's report on the matter reads, “One in six deaths in the world involves diseases caused by pollution, three times more than deaths from Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined and 15 times more than from all wars, murders and other forms of violence.

“The toxification of planet Earth is intensifying,” the report warns, revealing that although some toxic chemicals are banned, between 2000 and 2017, their overall production doubled.

Related News

Trump rules out World War for Kiev, threatens Russia with economic war

Iran pushes diplomacy as Europe threatens sanctions snapback

Boyd pointed to the United States as having one of the worst, most polluted sacrifice zones on the planet: “The United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, one of the wealthiest countries in all of human history, is home to one of the worst sacrifice zones on the planet. This place, it’s called ‘cancer alley’, in Louisiana, where there are more than a hundred oil refineries, petrochemical plants, etc,” he said.

Read more: US World's Biggest Plastic Polluter

 

“And guess where they’re located? In poor, predominantly black communities. It’s just, as I said, it’s unconscionable.”

While pollution is widespread on the planet, it affects people in different levels, namely depending on their social class: “If you look at these places that I’ve highlighted in the report, pollution on our planet today is pervasive, it’s affecting everyone but it’s affecting some people in a really grossly unfair and disproportionate way,” Boyd told the Guardian.

Read more: Climate change highlights global inequality

 

In Kabwe, Zambia, 95% of children have excessive lead in their blood, which sets them at a perpetual intellectual impairment. 

In Romania, at the Pata Rat landfill, thousands of people in its vicinity are exposed to toxic pollutants such as lead, mercury and arsenic. 

Read more: Air Pollution Still Killing 300,000 in Europe

 

Caribbean territories colonized by the French, such as Guadeloupe and Martinique, had a population where 90% of its people have carcinogenic pesticide chlordecone in their blood. 

The main culprit is businesses, which contribute most to global pollution. Boyd called for governmental regulations on production. 

“[Oil and gas companies are] not going to voluntarily stop producing oil and gas; big coal companies are not going to voluntarily shift from being big coal companies to being big solar and wind companies: governments have to do that, that’s their job, it’s governments that have the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil our human rights,” Boyd said.

  • United States
  • Martinique
  • romania
  • Sacrifice zones
  • guadeloupe
  • COVID-19
  • United Nations
  • Zambia

Most Read

Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen toward the occupied Palestinian territories. (YAF military media)

Yemeni Forces announce firing hypersonic missile at Al-Lydd Airport

  • Politics
  • 22 Aug 2025
The ‘Arab Façade’ for Israeli occupation in Gaza

The ‘Arab Façade’ for Israeli occupation in Gaza

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
A scene showing an al-Qassam Brigades fighter during an ambush on July 7, 2025, in a video released by the al-Qassam Brigades on August 26, 2025 (al-Qassam Brigades Military Media)
Politics

Al-Qassam reveals Beit Hanoun ambush targeting Israeli forces

A Palestinian youth stands on a hill overlooking IsraelI Ofer Prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP)
Politics

77 Palestinian prisoners killed in Israeli prisons since October 7

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during a joint press conference with US deputy special envoy for Middle East peace Morgan Ortagus at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Tuesday, August 26, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy Barrack calls Lebanese journalists 'animalistic"'

Tom Barrack's imperial tantrum in Beirut: When entitlement speaks (Photo by Mahdi Rtail)
Politics

Tom Barrack's imperial tantrum in Beirut: When entitlement speaks

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS