Kabwe, the second largest city in Zambia with a population of 300,000, is located about 130km north of the nation's capital, Lusaka. It is one of six towns situated around the Copperbelt, once Zambia's thriving industrial base. In 1902, rich deposits of potentially dangerous lead were discovered in the mine and smelter located in the center of the town. Ore veins with lead concentrations as high as 20 percent have been mined deep into the earth and a smelting operation was set up to process the ore. Mining and smelting operations were running almost continuously up until 1994 without the government addressing the potential danger of lead. The mine and smelter, owned by the now privatized Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, is no longer operating but has left a city with poison and toxicity from hazardous concentrations of lead in the soil and water.

During the operation there were no pollution laws regulating emissions from the mine and smelter plant. In turn, air, soil, and vegetation were all subjected to contamination, and ultimately, over some decades, millions of human lives were also affected. Some recent findings reveal the extent to which lead--one of the most potent neurotoxins known to man--has effected the health of Kabwe citizens. In the U.S., normal blood levels of lead are less than 10 ug/dL (micrograms per deciliter). Symptoms of acute poisoning occur at blood levels of 20 and above, resulting in vomiting, diarrhea, and leading to muscle spasms and kidney damage. Levels of over ten are considered unhealthy and levels in excess of 120 can often lead to death. In Kabwe, blood concentrations of 300 ug/dL have been recorded in children and records show average blood levels of children range between 60 and 120 ug/dL.

Children that play in the soil and young men that scavenge the mines for scraps of metal are most susceptible to lead produced by the mine and smelter. A small waterway runs from the mine to the center of town and had been used to carry waste from the once active smelter. For years there were no restrictions on the waterway, and in some instances local children use it for bathing. In addition to water exposure, workers are frequently exposed to lead by inhaling the dust that accumulated in their own backyards.

For almost a century, Kabwe, a city of 300,000 in Zambia, has been highly contaminated with lead from a government-owned lead mine and smelter, Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM). Although the mine has been closed since 1994, residents continue to get sick and die from the contamination due to a lack of cleanup efforts on the part of the company and the government.

Lead is one of the most potent neurotoxins known to humans. When breathed in, lead directly attacks the central nervous system. It is particularly damaging to infants and children, and can cross the mother's placenta, putting unborn and nursing infants at risk. Yet, remarkably, the citizens of Kabwe have until recently been completely unaware that they are living in one of the most poisoned cities on earth. Blacksmith founded a local NGO, Kabwe Environmental and Rehabilitation Foundation (KERF), that has been bringing educational services to the community on how to limit exposure to lead, and nursing support for those who are ill.

The Rudnaya River Valley region has observed a high rate of cancer as well as chronic and acute illnesses due to the use of outdated mining technology and metal smelting. The district capital Dalnegorsk is contaminated with boron, sulfur, and heavy metals including lead, cadmium, and zinc. The second biggest town in the valley is Rudnaya Pristan, which translates into “mining port� and is built around the lead smelter and the seaport, is one of the most lead contaminated sites in Russia. The town has the highest rate of respiratory diseases in the region and other illnesses including neurological damage. Children there continued to have a higher blood lead levels even after the intervention began. For almost a century, lead and zinc ore produced in the local mines is processed at the refining factory in Dalnegorsk. The lead and zinc concentrate were transported in open cars to Rudnaya Pristan for smelting up until 2006. Lead and cadmium, the most potent toxins in the region, damage human health through inhalation of lead dust, playing with contaminated soil, eating produce grown on contaminated lands, and air pollution. These toxins inhibit the functioning and development of the nervous system and are particularly harmful to children, leading to permanent learning and behavior disorders. Common symptoms of lead poisoning include abdominal pain, headache, anemia, irritability, and in severe cases seizures, coma, and death.

The smelter town of Karabash lies in the Chelyabinskaya region of the south Urals, 1,300 kilometers southeast of Moscow. The town originally developed due to large copper deposits and in 1910 a smelter was built here specializing in the production of 'blister copper'. Immense sulfur dioxide emissions, fall-out of metal-rich particulates and mounds of black slag are thought to be responsible for higher incidences of birth defects, skin diseases and internal organ failure among the residents of this town.

Volkhov is a small town on Lake Lagoda, in Karelia Province. Russia's first aluminum processing facility is located here. The plants were built in 1931 to take advantage of local bauxite from the Tikhvin deposit and to utilise the capacity of the first hydroelectric power station in the USSR, built at the same time.

Copsa Mica was one of Europe’s most polluted towns in the 1990s and remains the most polluted town in Romania to this day. Two factories Carbosin that produced carbon black and Sometra, a non-ferrous metallurgical smelter were behind this pollution. Carbosin shut down in 1993 but the smelter is still operational.

This project is part of the Lead Poisoning and Car Batteries Project. Full project details are available at www.blacksmithinstitute.org/haina.html

Community education campaigns implemented over a number of years likely resulted in a significant decrease in blood lead levels. However, the most drastic decreases resulted from environmental remediation. Following cleanup, blood lead levels have now likely decreased to acceptable levels. See more details about Haina under SUCCCESS STORIES: http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/success_stories/display/20

A copper smelter M/s Sterlite Industries in Tuticorin has several thousand tons of arsenic containing slag and phosphogypsum dumped on its premises. These wastes are inadequately stored and open to the elements. A National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) report dated 1998 indicates that there has been contamination of underground aquifers with arsenic and other heavy metals. The industry lies less than 25 kilometers from the Gulf of Munnar and NEERI had recommended that no further expansion should be permitted. However the industry has gone ahead and expanded its capacity to 300,000 tons per year despite not having permits to do so.

In 1997 the smelter in Tuticorin was forced to shut down due to gaseous emissions in the vicinity of the plant. It resumed production in mid-August as it was exonerated of blame for this gas leak but was closed again at the end of the month due to an explosion in a rotary holding furnace. It resumed operations in November.

Marilao is a small town located in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. The largest lead battery recycler in the country, the Philippine Recyclers Inc (PRI), has a smelting plant here, and a vast cottage industry of unregulated lead recycling has sprung up on the plant's outskirts.