Hazardous Waste Dumps Research Articles

Toxic disputes and the rise of environmental justice in Australia.

The paper examines the rise of environmental justice issues in Australia, evident in two toxic disputes; the first, in a Perth outer suburb in Western Australia where residents faced both a hazardous waste dump and the nation's biggest chemical fire; and the second, in the Sydney suburb of Botany where residents were confronted with the destruction of what is thought to be, the world's largest stockpile of hazardous hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste. The paper reviews the range of factors that impacted the local communities' fight for environmental justice. It explores the limitations of risk assessment and risk-based policies, as well as the problematic role of the expert and the communication of risk. The informational inequity and resource disparities so evident in toxic disputes are highlighted. The case studies confirmed the inequitable distribution of chemical risk as a failure to secure environmental justice for all Australians.

Probability Neglect: Emotions, Worst Cases, and Law

When strong emotions are triggered by a risk, people show a remarkable tendency to neglect a small probability that the risk will actually come to fruition. Experimental evidence, involving electric shocks and arsenic, supports this claim, as does real-world evidence, involving responses to abandoned hazardous waste dumps, the pesticide Alar, and anthrax. The resulting “probability neglect” has many implications for law and policy. It suggests the need for institutional constraints on policies based on ungrounded fears; it also shows how government might effectively draw attention to risks that warrant special concern. Probability neglect helps to explain the enactment of certain legislation, in which government, no less than ordinary people, suffers from that form of neglect. When people are neglecting the fact that the probability of harm is small, government should generally attempt to inform people, rather than cater to their excessive fear. But when information will not help, government should respond, at least if analysis suggest that the benefits outweigh the costs. The reason is that fear, even if it is excessive, is itself a significant problem, and can create additional significant problems. “If someone is predisposed to be worried, degrees of unlikeliness seem to provide no comfort, unless one can prove that harm is absolutely impossible, which itself is not possible.”1 “[A]ffect-rich outcomes yield pronounced overweighting of small probabilities . . . .”2 “On Sept. 11, Americans entered a new and frightening geography, where the continents of safety and danger seemed forever shifted. Is it safe to fly? Will terrorists wage germ warfare? Where is the line between reasonable precaution and panic? Jittery, uncertain and assuming the worst, many people have answered these questions by forswearing air travel, purchasing gas masks and radiation detectors, placing frantic calls to pediatricians demanding vaccinations against exotic diseases or rushing out to fill prescriptions for Cipro, an antibiotic most experts consider an unnecessary defense against anthrax.”3 *Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago, Law School and Department of Political Science. I am grateful to Christine Jolls, Eric Posner, Richard Posner, and Adrian Vermeule for helpful comments on a previous draft, and to Martha Nussbaum for valuable discussion. 1See John Weingart, Waste Is A Terrible Thing To Mind 362 (2001). 2Yuval Rottenstreich and Christopher Hsee, Money, Kisses, and Electric Shocks: On the Affective Psychology of Risk, 12 Psych Rev. 185, 188 (2001). 3Erica Goode, Rational and Irrational Fears Combine in Terrorism's Wake, The New York Times, Oct. 2, 2001.

Probability Neglect: Emotions, Worst Cases, and Law

When strong emotions are triggered by a risk, people show a remarkable tendency to a small that the risk will actually come to fruition. Experimental evidence, involving electric shocks and arsenic, supports this claim, as does real-world evidence, involving responses to abandoned hazardous waste dumps, the pesticide Alar, and anthrax. The resulting probability neglect has many implications for law and policy. It suggests the need for institutional constraints on policies based on ungrounded fears; it also shows how government might effectively draw attention to risks that warrant special concern. Probability helps to explain the enactment of certain legislation, in which government, no less than ordinary people, suffers from that form of neglect. When people are neglecting the fact that the of harm is small, government should generally attempt to inform people, rather than cater to their excessive fear. But when information will not help, government should respond, at least if analysis suggest that the benefits outweigh the costs. The reason is that fear, even if it is excessive, is itself a significant problem, and can create additional significant problems.

The hunt for living gold. The search for organisms in extreme environments yields useful enzymes for industry.

The chemical industry does not enjoy a reputation for being an environmentally friendly undertaking. Incidents such as the release of toxic dioxines in Seveso, Italy, the dumping of hazardous wastes in the Love Canal near Niagara Falls, USA, or the poisoning of thousands of Indians due to a gas leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, are a few examples of the health and environmental dangers that come with this industry. Since then, increasingly stricter regulations have been applied to prevent such disasters, and, indeed, the environmental track record of the chemical industry has improved vastly. But these ordinances also put pressure on the industry to improve existing—or even to develop new—processes that are more environmentally friendly. This challenge often leads scientists to nature, as many chemicals used and produced by the pharmaceutical or chemical industries have natural origins or are modified natural compounds. And nature has also already provided the catalysts necessary to produce them: enzymes. Clearly, due to their efficiency, specificity and reaction range, enzymes are far superior to most man‐made catalysts for the synthesis of complex compounds and can be used to replace more energy‐dependent and waste‐producing reactions. ‘Within the next decade we will see large developments in chemistry’, Victor de Lorenzo, Vice Director of the National Centre for Biotechnology in Madrid, Spain, said about their potential, ‘There will be a new wave of biological products and applications of molecular biology in the area of the chemical industry’. Hot springs, such as the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, are ideal places to look for extremophile organisms ![][1] > As extremophile organisms hold a huge economic potential for a wide variety of applications, the search is on for novel bacteria and, more importantly, their enzymes More than 3000 different enzymes from a … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif

Protecting the South Pacific from Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Dumping: The Waigani Convention

The Convention to Ban the Importation Into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region (the Waigani Convention) was adopted in Waigani, Papua New Guinea in September 1995. As at 17 August 1998, the Waigani Convention had not yet received the 10 ratifications required for its entry into force. While 13 members of the South Pacific Forum have signed the Convention, only four have ratified: Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, and, on 17 August 1998, Australia. Negotiated over the course of two years under the auspices of the South Pacific Forum which has its headquarters at Suva, Fiji, the Waigani Convention is an important regional instrument that seeks to deal practically with a series of issues of special concern to countries within the South Pacific region. These include historical concerns over nuclear testing reignited by recent French tests in the region and a proposal by the Marshall Islands to create a nuclear waste disposal facility on Bikini Atoll, a site still contaminated from US nuclear tests which had taken place in the 1950s. Other interests reflected in the Convention, include the need to protect the fragility and vulnerability of island ecosystems and a concern that island nations might become a dumping ground for certain wastes. It could be tempting to island governments badly in need of foreign exchange to offer waste disposal facilities. Also of concern was the movement - or threatened increased movement - in and out of the South Pacific region of an ever increasing amount of hazardous wastes, including nuclear wastes, and the perceived need for a set of rules governing their import and export, disposal and recycling. The Waigani Convention represents an interesting example of a regional instrument which may facilitate micro-states acting in a co-ordinated fashion on a regional basis to gain the benefits of the global Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (the Basel Convention) in a context where it remains impracticable for many island states with tiny bureaucracies to actively participate globally. It is especially interesting and significant that the negotiators and observers in Suva and Port Moresby found a new way of viewing these issues and concerns in designing a regional instrument intended to be wholly consistent with the already existing Basel Convention and all other pre-existing multilateral agreements to which the Parties to the Waigani Convention were also a Party. This article outlines the main provisions of the Waigani Convention, and considers the merits of this regional approach to the issue of hazardous and nuclear wastes. This article outlines the main provisions of the Waigani Convention, and considers the merits of this regional approach to the issue of hazardous and nuclear wastes.

Genotoxicity assay of landfill leachates

Environmental burden with genotoxic chemicals is increasingly becoming a serious problem mainly due to hazardous waste dumping and industrial effluents. The Mutatox® mutagenicity assay was validated with known mutagen for its efficacy in the detection of direct mutagens and S-9 activated promutagens and applied to the complex environmental samples of landfill leachates from the Al-Sulaibiyah solid waste disposal site in Kuwait. The leachate samples from borehole 3 collected between December 1994 and May 1995 (cold and rainy months) showed genotoxic response in direct assay, indicating the presence of direct acting mutagens, whereas the samples collected between June and September 1995 (hot and dry months) were active in both direct and S-9 activated assay, also showing the presence of promutagens. Thus the leachate from the landfill, which is not equipped with a leachate collection and treatment facility, was found capable of exerting genotoxic effects that may influence the biota of the receiving system. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol Water Qual 13: 127–131, 1998

Genotoxicity assay of landfill leachates

Environmental burden with genotoxic chemicals is increasingly becoming a serious problem mainly due to hazardous waste dumping and industrial effluents. The Mutatox® mutagenicity assay was validated with known mutagen for its efficacy in the detection of direct mutagens and S-9 activated promutagens and applied to the complex environmental samples of landfill leachates from the Al-Sulaibiyah solid waste disposal site in Kuwait. The leachate samples from borehole 3 collected between December 1994 and May 1995 (cold and rainy months) showed genotoxic response in direct assay, indicating the presence of direct acting mutagens, whereas the samples collected between June and September 1995 (hot and dry months) were active in both direct and S-9 activated assay, also showing the presence of promutagens. Thus the leachate from the landfill, which is not equipped with a leachate collection and treatment facility, was found capable of exerting genotoxic effects that may influence the biota of the receiving system. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol Water Qual 13: 127–131, 1998

Environmental study of the Amman-Zerqa Basin Jordan

Rapid population growth, urbanization expansion of rural settlements, industrial activity, intensively irrigated agriculture, pesticides consumption, and continuous dumping of hazardous waste in the Amman-Zerqa Basin since 1967 are the major factors threatening the quality of the environment. Thus, an environmental recommendation is proposed to protect the environment and water resources in the study area. The chemical analysis of the springs in the study area showed salinity increasing with time, which indicates water pollution affecting these springs. The laboratory analyses indicated that the quality of the treated waste water of Khirbet Es-Samra Treatment plant conforms to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards from the chemical, physical, and the microbiological point of view. Toxic elements such as cadmium identified in the surface water flow of the basin are in concentrations higher than those recommended by WHO

Modification of Pyrotechnic formulations to aid recovery, recycling and demilitarization

AbstractFollowing the International Treaty held in London and Oslo in 1972 and its amendment in Paris in 1992 on banning the dumping of hazardous and toxic waste at sea, large stockpiles of unwanted munition are now awaiting disposal. Public awareness, environmental concern and legislation are preventing the disposal of this explosive waste by landfill, detonation and open pit burning. One solution to this dilemma is to recover the waste from the containers and recycle or dispose of the waste in an environmentally sensitive manner.Preliminary investigations have been conducted at Cranfield University in developing explosive compositions which can be safely recovered and recycled. Pyrotechnic compositions were prepared containing water soluble binders and pressed into pellets. Performance and sensitivity tests were carried out on the pellets. Inclusion of water soluble binders into pyrotechnic compositions did not have any detrimental effect on their performance. However, there was a 33% reduction in the Figure of Insensitiveness (F of I) in all cases except for the composition containing Dextrin. This had a similar F of I to the control pyrotechnic composition. The pellets containing Dextrin were immersed in water. 97% of the pyrotechnic components were successfully recovered from the water by filtration and recrystallization. The recovered components were recycled into new pyrotechnic compositions which performed just as well as the original composition. The results from this preliminary investigation show that recovery and recycling of pyrotechnic components is feasible for compositions containing water soluble binders.

Environmental Stigma Damages: Speculative Damages in Environmental Tort Cases

INTRODUCTION Courts across the United States are recognizing a new cause of action that allows property owners to recover the diminution in property values resulting from environmental Stigma that accompanies the contamination of their properties.(1) The recoveries are predicated upon the public's negative perceptions about, and unsubstantiated fears of, contaminated property.(2) Unfortunately, by allowing plaintiffs to recover for damages based upon conjecture and speculation, these courts have defied fundamental principles of common law. Stigma, in the environmental context, may be broadly defined as the negative perceptions associated with property that is contaminated, that was once contaminated or that lies in proximity to contaminated or previously contaminated property. Stigma represents a loss in value apart from the cost of curing the contamination itself,(3) and it can be based upon actual or perceived risks or fear, such as possible public liability, of additional health hazards and simple fear of the unknown.(4) Additionally, stigma is based upon perceptions about risks and liabilities associated with owning, or holding property interests in, contaminated property. The perceptions on which society bases the stigma need not be reasonable or substantiated. Proponents of stigma damages contend that once property is contaminated, it becomes stigmatized by public perceptions about the contamination's effects on health and the environment. Stigma advocates also contend that even if the property is subsequently remediated, it will still continue to have a stigma because of the past contamination;(5) once seriously contaminated, they contend, property can almost never reclaim a marketable uncontaminated status.(6) It is this author's position that stigma damages should not be recognized as a basis of recovery because stigma damages are based solely upon public perceptions--perceptions which can change at any given moment. However, where courts are inclined to award stigma damages despite their speculative nature, stigma damages should never be awarded prior to a plaintiff realizing an actual harm from the stigma. This Article discusses and explores the ramifications of awarding stigma damages to property owners whose property has been contaminated or is juxtaposed to contaminated property. This discussion is divided into five Parts. Part I provides an overview of various environmental laws and introduces risks associated with having ownership or a property interest in contaminated property. Part II provides an introduction to stigma damages and discusses the evolution of traditional common law theories of recovery for real property damage into causes of action for environmental stigma. Part III discusses and analyzes case law relating to stigma damages to contaminated properties. Finally, Part IV discusses policy considerations for determining whether stigma damages are justified. This Article concludes that stigma damages should not be recognized as a basis of recovery because they are inherently speculative in nature. I. RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH CONTAMINATED PROPERTY In discussing environmental stigma damages, it is important to have a general understanding of the nature of the liability scheme associated with environmental laws that regulate sources of pollution. The purpose of this overview is to depict the potential liability associated with contamination. Leaking underground storage tank systems, chemical spills and hazardous waste dumping result in widespread contamination to properties throughout the United States. Consequently, a vast amount of litigation has arisen over environmental liability. Historically, no one fully understood the potential environmental and health risks associated with leaking underground storage tanks, chemical spills or hazardous waste dumping. As a result, virtually no laws regulated such acts. …

Environmental Contamination, Public Hygiene, and Human Health Concerns in the Third World

Environmental contamination is directly related to high morbidity and mortality rates in the Third World. This paper addresses environmental contamination exacerbated by environmental imperialism and international dumping of hazardous wastes in the Third World, specifically in Nigeria. Environmental hygiene, human health problems, and establishment of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) and its policy frameworks hitherto are presented. Furthermore, theoretical perspectives and implications for positive environmental change in the Third World are discussed. Using the Health of the Planet Survey (HOPS) that was recently administered to a random sample of Nigerian citizens, and 23 other nations, evidence shows that nonwestern people have environmental values, exhibit environmental concem, and participate in grass roots environmental organizations similar to their westem counterparts. Questions pertaining to the traditional or cultural basis of environmental worldview of nonwestem societes are raised. The policy implication of empirical findings and future research imperatives are suggested.

汚染修復対策 廃棄物の不法投棄による環境汚染 豊島の事例

豊島に不法投棄された廃棄物は, 鉛, PCB, ダイオキシン類などの有害物質を含み, 約46万m3のうち87%が有害廃棄物の判定基準を超えていた。廃棄物の下の地下水も鉛やベンゼンなどが水質環境基準を超え, ダイオキシン類も検出された。海域の底泥や生物には, 廃棄物に起因する汚染は明確には見られないものの, 地下水の流れから考えて廃棄物に含まれる有害物質が海域へ漏出しているものと判断される。

Assessment of the Reproductive Toxicity of a Complex Mixture of 25 Groundwater Contaminants in Mice and Rats

Assessment of the Reproductive Toxicity of a Complex Mixture of 25 Groundwater Contaminants in Mice and Rats. Heindel, J. J., Chapin, R. E., George, J., Gulati, D. K., Fail, P. A., Barnes, L. H., and Yang, R. S. H. (1995). Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 25, 9-19. The potential reproductive toxicity of a mixture of 25 chemicals (MIX) formulated to simulate contaminated groundwater supplies near hazardous waste dumps was evaluated in CD-1 Swiss mice and Sprague-Dawley rats using the reproductive assessment by continuous breeding protocol. Male and female mice and rats were exposed to MIX in the drinking water at concentrations of 1,5, and 10% of a technically achievable stock solution. For mice, body weight and feed consumption were not affected by MIX but water consumption was decreased for both the 5 and 10% MIX groups in both F 0 and F 1 animals. For F 0 mice, the number of live pups/litter was decreased at 10% MIX and the number of females/litter was decreased 10 and 17% at the mid and high MIX dose, respectively. Vaginal cytology was normal, as were testis weight and testicular spermatid head count. For F 1 mice, fertility was unaffected, but there was a decreased number of female pups/litter (19%) and a decreased adjusted live pup weight at 10% MIX. At necropsy, cauda epididymal sperm concentration and spermatid head count were reduced (20%) in the presence of normal testis, epididymis, prostate, seminal vesicle, liver, and kidney/adrenal weight. Female estrous cyclicity was altered at 5 and 10% MIX with normal kidney/adrenal, uterus, and ovary/oviduct weight. For rats, F 0 body weight and feed consumption were not affected by MIX but water consumption was decreased 10, 30, and 40% in the low-, medium-, and high-dose MIX groups, respectively, and 39% in the high-dose MIX F 1 animals. Rat fertility was normal but there was a decreased number of male pups/litter (11%) and a decreased live pup weight (6%) at 10% MIX. Male and female (F 1) pup weights were decreased on Postnatal Days 0, 4, 7, 14, and 21 (10% MIX) and remained lower through necropsy on Day 120 ± 10. F 1 fertility was normal but F 2 pup weights were decreased (10% MIX). At necropsy, F 1 (10% MIX) male body weight was decreased 16% and relative kidney, testis, epididymis, and prostate weights were increased in the presence of normal sperm concentration percentage motile sperm and percentage abnormal sperm. Estrous cyclicity was normal as were kidney/adrenal and ovary weight while female liver weight was reduced 14%. In summary, a "cocktail" of 25 chemicals commonly found in contaminated groundwater at or near hazardous waste sites was administered in drinking water at doses which resulted in severely decreased water consumption in both mice and rats. Despite the presence, albeit at relatively low concentrations, of many known reproductive toxicants including cadmium, mercury, lead, chloroform, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, and methylene chloride, only minimal reproductive effects were observed in F 0 and F 1 mice and rats.

Water quality problems in Nogales, Sonora.

This article presents the results of a transboundary water quality monitoring program at the two Nogales area in the Arizona-Sonora border region. The program was carried out jointly in 1990 by U.S. and Mexican institutions. The results show pollution problems due to deficiencies in Nogales, Sonora municipal sewerage system, causing not only sewage spills in several parts of the city but also creating occasional transboundary problems. The results also showed potential illegal dumping of industrial hazardous waste (VOCs) into Nogales' municipal sewerage system. All of the organic compounds found in the sewage samples are solvents frequently used by the border industry. Occasional brakes of pipes spill the pollutants into the Nogales Wash, a water stream that runs parallel to Nogales' main sewerage line. Samples of the municipal water system showed no traces of pollutants. However, two rounds of samples detected concentrations of VOCs in wells used to supply water by trucks to low income neighborhoods in Nogales, Sonora. Ironically, the pollution detected in these wells has a greater impact in low income groups of the city that pay three to four times more per liter of water they consume, than the rest of the inhabitants with clean water from the municipal system.

Equity: In Theory and Practice

Governments and institutions, perhaps even more than markets, determine who gets what in our society. They make the crucial choices about who pays the taxes, who gets into college, who gets medical care, who gets drafted, where the hazardous waste dump is sited, and how much we pay for public services. Debate about these issues inevitably centres on the question of whether the solution is fair. In Equity: In Theory and Practice, H. Peyton Young offers a systematic explanation of what we mean by fairness in distributing public resources and burdens, and applies the theory to actual cases. Young begins by reviewing some of the major theories of social justice, showing that none of them explains how societies resolve distributive problems in practice. He then suggests an alternative approach to analyzing fairness in concrete situations: equity, he argues, does not boil down to a single formula, but represents a balance between competing principles of need, desert, and social utility. The studies Young uses to illustrate his approach include the design of income tax schedules, priority schemes for allocating scarce medical resources, formulas for distributing political representation, and criteria for setting fees for public services. Each represents a unique blend of historical perspective, rigorous analysis, and an emphasis on practical solutions.

Indoor Radon: A Case Study in Risk Communication

Two key questions have influenced the development and implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program to reduce the public health risks of indoor radon gas; the answers may also apply to other preventive health care programs. First, how can we best communicate risk? Risk communication research indicates that simple message, persuasion, and prescriptive guidance will best encourage citizens to protect themselves from voluntary risks (within the control of the individual), such as radon. However, scientists expect technical information, logical and unemotional appeals, and detailed explanations of uncertainty. An appropriate balance between the persuasive and the technical will encourage public action and assuage the scientific community. Second, what environmental health care problems should we focus on? Public concern with involuntary risks imposed by an external force, such as hazardous waste dumps, drive our environmental health agenda. Consequently, because government decision-makers respond to public perceptions and pressures, which they frequently support, the largest fraction of the government's resources and the most aggressive protection programs are typically reserved for environmental health problems that pose involuntary risks. The experience of the EPA's Radon Program suggests that major gains in public health protection could be achieved through communication that effectively persuades people to accept personal responsibility for preventing voluntary risks, such as radon, and a more informed dialogue between the scientific community and the public concerning national priorities for environmental health protection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Hyper-redundant manipulator dynamics: a continuum approximation

Hyper-redundant, or 'snake-like', manipulators have a very large number of actuatable degrees of freedom. This paper develops an efficient formulation of approximate hyper-redundant manipulator dynamics. The most efficient methods for representing manipulator dynamics in the literature require serial computations proportional to the number of degrees of freedom. Furthermore, these methods are not fully parallelizable. For hyper-redundant manipulators, which may have tens, hundreds or thousands of actuators, these formulations preclude real time implementation. This paper therefore looks at the mechanics of hyper-redundant manipulators from the point of view of an approximation to an 'infinite degree-or-freedom' (or continuum) problem. The dynamics for this case is developed. The approximate dynamics of actual hyper-redundant manipulators is then reduced to a problem which is O(1) in time, i.e. the algorithm is O(n) is the total number of computations, but these computations can be completely distributed over n parallel processors. This is achieved by 'projecting' the dynamics of the continuum model onto the actual robotic structure. Applications of this method to practical computed torque control schemes for hyper-redundant manipulators is demonstrated with two examples: (i) industrial pick-and-place tasks and (ii) inspection in an environment filled with viscous sludge, such as a hazardous waste dump. The results are compared with a lumped mass model of a particular hyper-redundant manipulator.

International Trade in Hazardous Wastes: A Global Problem with Uneven Consequences for the Third World

Despite international attention to global environmental problems, direct and indirect exports and dumping of hazardous waste represent an unprecedented threat to the health and environment of millions of inhabitants in developing countries. The explanation lies in the perception of the problem. Since damages are concentrated mainly in developing countries and the sources in industrialized countries, hazardous waste exports are not given the same priorityas other global environmental problems affecting industrialized and nonindustrialized societies alike. Developed nations have succeeded in limiting several efforts to ban the export of hazardous wastes. The fact that developing nations have few resources to guarantee the safe management of hazardous waste makes its legal and illegal export equally dangerous.

Location Models with Routing Considerations for a Single Obnoxious Facility

The problem of optimally locating obnoxious facilities such as hazardous waste repositories, dump sites, or chemical incinerators has been the source of much controversy. Often, the final decision on where to locate the facility has been based on criteria that are difficult to quantify. Previous efforts have focused on where to locate such a facility to minimize the total population which will be exposed to the facility. Similarly, efforts have been made to route the waste as to minimize the exposed population. Attempts at combining the two elements of risk to determine locations have been restricted to selecting from a given set of candidate locations. In this paper a combined model is developed that quantifies the total exposure of the population during transportation as well as long term storage. Some properties of the exposure function are developed that help in the solution of special cases of the problem. We show that the problem admits a nodal optimality result when there are no location risks. The result extends even for biobjective problems involving exposure and cost. When location risks are considered and population is concentrated at nodes, the problem exhibits a finite dominating set. With uniform population distribution on arcs and node populations, it is possible to partition the arcs of the network and search for the global optimum solution.

Symptoms of Chronic Stress Following a Natural Disaster and Discovery of a Human-Made Hazard

Research on the acute and chronic effects of victimization by disaster has found that some patterns of response generalize across disasters of different origin and type. However, it is likely that variation in the nature of the victimizing event can affect long-term psychophysiological reactions. This study compared 23 flood victims with 27 people living near a leaking hazardous toxic waste dump and 27 control subjects. Self-report, behavioral, and physiological measures of stress were collected, all of which showed that 9 months after the announcement of the toxic hazard and the destructive flood, subjects living near the waste dump were more anxious, depressed, and alienated, less able to perform challenging tasks, and more aroused than were flood victims or control subjects. Residents of the landfill neighborhood also reported more feelings of helplessness than did any other subjects, and these feelings were significantly correlated with stress. Victimization associated with the toxic landfill appeared more likely to pose threats to victims' sense of control and to cause chronic emotional and psychophysiological problems than did the natural disaster.