'The most polluted town in Europe' (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By David Shukman
BBC science correspondent, Copsa Mica, Romania
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Within minutes of arriving in Copsa Mica, a small industrial town deep in a valley in Transylvania, I could feel the pollution in my eyes and nose. I could even taste it - it was slightly sweet.

Ahead of me was a factory built in the late 1930s to process heavy metals, a giant smelting works that over the following decades belched out contaminants on a terrifying scale.
***
Official statistics show life expectancy in the town is nine years shorter than the national average.
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It found the soil contained so much lead that it was 92 times above the permitted level; the vegetation had a lead content 22 times above the permitted level.
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"The town is really a dangerous place to live - everything you touch, everything you eat, the air you breathe is serious for your health."
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6268741.stm

[Captain Hilts]

1. I think this is the infamous city where horses died within a year. nt

[NNadir]

2. It sort of reminds one of the aptly named Leadville, Colorado.

The lead for all those batteries in all those cars (and off grid houses) comes from somewhere.