"the Vietnam War, the Seveso disaster, and the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko. Polychlorinated dibenzofurans are a related class compounds to PCDDs which are often included within the general term “dioxins”. 1,4-Dioxin 1,4-Dioxin (also referred as dioxin or ""p""-dioxin) is a heterocyclic, organic, non-aromatic compound with the chemical formula CHO. There is an isomeric form of 1,4-dioxin, 1,2-dioxin (or ""o""-dioxin). 1,2-Dioxin is very unstable due to its peroxide-like characteristics. The term “dioxin” is most commonly used for a family of derivatives of dioxin, known as polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs). 1,4-Dioxin can be prepared by cycloaddition, namely by the Diels–Alder reaction of furan"
"Seveso disaster The Seveso disaster was an industrial accident that occurred around 12:37 pm on July 10, 1976, in a small chemical manufacturing plant approximately north of Milan in the Lombardy region of Italy. It resulted in the highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in residential populations, which gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations. The EU industrial safety regulations are known as the Seveso II Directive. The Seveso disaster was named because Seveso, with a population of 17,000 in 1976, was the community most affected. Other affected neighbouring communities were Meda (19,000), Desio (33,000), Cesano"
"Spain and then of Napoleon. Meda later came under the power of the House of Habsburg and then, after the Second War of Italian Independence, became part of the Kingdom of Italy. The Meda territory, on the border with the town of Seveso, was the location of the ICMESA factory, which became known in 1976 for the release of a dioxin cloud, which affected many towns of the Brianza. This event is known as the “Seveso disaster” (""Disastro di Seveso""). Meda received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on 4 September 1998. Meda, Lombardy Meda is a"
"territory from Barlassina was passed to Seveso. This decision was rejected by the population and the two ""comuni"" were again separated in 1901. Seveso made world headlines when, on 10 July 1976, storage vessels at the ICMESA chemical plant ruptured, releasing several kilograms of the dioxin TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) into the atmosphere. Tens of thousands of farm animals and pets died or were later deliberately slaughtered, though it is believed that there was not a single human death directly attributable to the incident. The event came later to be known as the Seveso disaster. Nowadays in the main contaminated area there"
"factories. In 2005, the European Pollutant Emission Register estimated dioxin emissions from the Taranto ILVA plant were responsible for 83% of Italy's total reported emissions. Every year the city is exposed to of carbon monoxide and of carbon dioxide. In 2014, the Italian National Institute of Emissions and their Sources, state that Taranto stands third in the world behind China's Linfen, and Copşa Mică in Romania, the most polluted cities in the world due to factories' emissions. In particular, the city produces ninety-two percent of Italy's dioxin. This is 8.8 percent of the dioxin in Europe. Between 1995 and 2004,"
"of ICMESA, who was sentenced to five years in the first trial, and had his sentence reduced to two years and was paroled on appeal. , V.C., LPB Issue 104, April 1992, IChemE, UK Seveso disaster The Seveso disaster was an industrial accident that occurred around 12:37 pm on July 10, 1976, in a small chemical manufacturing plant approximately north of Milan in the Lombardy region of Italy. It resulted in the highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in residential populations, which gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations. The EU industrial safety regulations are known"
"During an inspection of the old NEPACCO facility in Verona, which was now entirely owned by Syntex Agribusiness, the CDC discovered an old tank filled with 4,300 gallons of NEPACCO still bottoms at a dioxin concentration of more than 340 ppm. Due to a lack of incinerators in proximity to the Verona plant, the proper disposal of the leftover still bottoms would not be completed until 1979. With further investigation of contaminated locations, the CDC advised residents of the Minker and Stout properties to minimize contact with the soil. Soil samples had revealed a dioxin concentration of 0.85 ppm at"
"reveal the truth to the inhabitants, and immediately most of Seveso is evacuated in order to save as much persons as possible from dioxin's deadly effects, but it's already too late. Too much time has passed since the initial contamination, and many inhabitants, including Maria, contract chloracne, as much as many other illnesses linked to an excessive exposure to dioxin (kidney failure, liver failure and cancer). To make matters worse, the scientific community reveals that dioxin is a potential risk for the pregnant women, since it can provoke malformations and mental diseases on the fetuses. For this, the Italian government"
"chemicals can be seen in firefighters who have developed lung diseases, cancer, blood disorders, and nerve damage. As a result of both leaking drums of chemicals and the 1980 fire, the contamination of soil, surface water, ground water and air reached dangerous levels. Prior to the fire, the noted chemicals that were removed from the site included benzene, cyanide, military nerve gas, PCB's, dioxin and nitroglycerine. One of the more toxic chemicals that was reported on site was dioxin, which “in its pure form, three ounces of dioxin in New York's water supply could kill everyone in the city”. Carracino"
"– the Via dei Georgofili bombing in Florence, Via Palestro in Milan and the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano and Via San Teodoro in Rome, which left 10 people dead and 71 injured as well as severe damage to centres of cultural heritage such as the Uffizi Gallery. On 20 May 1996, then aged thirty-nine, Brusca was arrested in a small house in the Sicilian countryside near Agrigento, where he was dining with his girlfriend, their young son and his brother Vincenzo, his sister-in-law and their two children. The investigators were able to pinpoint their exact location when the noise"
"at an efficient level. The agro-economy of the region has been adversely affected by the allegations. In March 2008, dioxin were found in buffalo milk from farms in Caserta. Countries such as South Korea and Japan identified this pollution and subsequently banned imports of buffalo milk from the region. While only 2.8% of farms in Campania were affected, the sale of dairy products from Campania collapsed in both domestic and global markets. The issue was raised by Roberto Saviano in his book ""Gomorrah"" and in the film of the same name. It was also the subject of a documentary by"
"to toxic side-effects. In 1976, an accident at a chemical factory in Seveso, Italy, owned by a subsidiary of Roche, caused a large dioxin contamination; see Seveso disaster. In 1982, the United States arm of the company acquired Biomedical Reference Laboratories for US$163.5 million. That company dated from the late 1960s, and was located in Burlington, North Carolina. That year Hoffmann–La Roche then merged it with all of its laboratories, and incorporated the merged company as Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc. in Burlington. By the early 1990s, Roche Biomedical became one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the United States,"
"Rosignano Solvay Rosignano Solvay is a ""frazione"" (detached borough) of Rosignano Marittimo, Tuscany, Italy, located some 25 km from Livorno. It houses the White Beaches (Italian: ""Spiagge bianche""), whose sand is formed by limestone (90%) and calcium chloride (10%) produced by the nearby Solvay since 1914. Sights include the Teatro Solvay, two Etruscan museums and the Villaggio Solvay residential complex. The effluent from the Solvay factory contains many toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and ammonia. As a consequence, according to a report published in 1999 by the United Nations Environment Programme, the Spiagge Bianche has been"
"Cetraro Cetraro (Calabrian: ) is a town and ""comune"" in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia syndicate, has been accused by pentito Francesco Fonti, a former member of 'Ndrangheta, of sinking at least 30 ships loaded with toxic waste, much of it radioactive. In 2005, Fonti revealed the conspiracy in the news magazine L'espresso. His statements led to widespread investigations into the radioactive waste disposal rackets, involving Giorgio Comerio and his disposal company, the Odm (Oceanic Disposal Management). According to Fonti a manager of Enea paid the clan to get"
"from Naples, Abruzzi, Calabria, and Potenza. In 1918, the Spanish Influenza Pandemic hit the crowded North End severely; so many children were orphaned as a result of the pandemic that the city created the Home for Italian Children to care for them. The Home for Italian Children was later renamed the Italian Home for Children. Located in Jamaica Plain, it now provides residential and day treatment for children with emotional and learning difficulties. On January 15, 1919, the Purity Distilling Company's 2.3 million gallon molasses storage tank burst open, causing the Great Molasses Flood. A massive wave of molasses flowed"
"the town of Nitro, West Virginia, agreeing to pay $93 million for compensatory damages, cleanup, and ongoing monitoring of dioxin contamination in the area around a plant where Agent Orange was made. In a case that ran from February 1984 through October 1987, Monsanto was the defendant in the longest civil jury trial in U.S. history, ""Kemner v. Monsanto"". The case involved a group of plaintiffs who claimed to have been poisoned by dioxin in 1979 when a train derailed in Sturgeon, Missouri. Tank cars on the train carried a chemical used to make wood preservatives and ""small quantities of"
"Route 66 State Park in June 2012. On November 19, 2012 it was reported that ""Soil samples from Route 66 State Park show no significant health risks for park visitors or workers."" Times Beach, Missouri Times Beach is a ghost town in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, southwest of St. Louis and east of Eureka. Once home to more than two thousand people, the town was completely evacuated early in 1983 due to dioxin contamination. It was the largest civilian exposure to dioxin in the country's history. In 1985, the State of Missouri officially dis-incorporated the city of Times"
"Italian environmental organization Legambiente, in 2012 the total financial value of the illegal garbage industry in Italy was estimated at over 16 billion euros. Over the course of testimony delivered to a secret parliamentary investigative committee in Rome on October 7, 1997 (made public in 2013), Schiavone alleged that nuclear waste from East Germany was also secretly transported to the region, along with other wastes containing dioxin, asbestos, and tetrachloroethylene. Campania has since shifted from being a dumping destination and is now a transit point for the export of hazardous waste to China, and, according to Gen. Sergio Costa, commander"
"Nola Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship. Since the 1990s, illegal dumping of toxic wastes by the Camorra has turned the surrounding area into a ""Triangle of Death"", with cancer rates far above the European average. Excavations at Nola-Croce del Papa have uncovered extensive evidence of a small village quickly abandoned at the time of the Avellino Eruption in the 17th century . This powerful eruption"
"bomb in the suburbs of Palermo. The existence of the bomb had been disclosed by an anonymous telephone call. The massacre took place in the frame of the First Mafia War in the 1960s, with the bomb intended for Salvatore Greco, head of the Sicilian Mafia Commission formed in the late 1950s. The Mafia was fighting for the control of the profitable opportunities brought about by rapid urban growth and the heroin trade to North America. The ferocity of the struggle was unprecedented, reaping 68 victims from 1961 to 1963. The Antimafia Commission submitted its final report in 1976. The"
"Times Beach, Missouri Times Beach is a ghost town in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, southwest of St. Louis and east of Eureka. Once home to more than two thousand people, the town was completely evacuated early in 1983 due to dioxin contamination. It was the largest civilian exposure to dioxin in the country's history. In 1985, the State of Missouri officially dis-incorporated the city of Times Beach. The site of Times Beach now houses a state park commemorating U.S. Route 66—the famous highway that stretched from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, and passed by the community—as well"
"streets of Naples, posing grave health risks to the metropolitan population. On 31 December, the government closed one of two major dumps near the city at the request of the city's residents. Reports during the summer of 2008 stated that the problem was caused at least in part by the Camorra, a powerful local mafia based in Campania, who had created a lucrative business in the municipal waste disposal business. Heavy metals, industrial waste, and chemicals and household waste are frequently mixed together, then dumped near roads and burned to avoid detection, leading to severe soil and air pollution. Since"
"and wounded more than 200 in Bologna. Known as the Bologna massacre, the blast destroyed a large portion of the city's railway station. This was found to be a fascist bombing, mainly organized by the NAR, who had ties with the Roman criminal organization ""Banda della Magliana"". In the following days the central square of Bologna, Piazza Maggiore, hosted large-scale demonstrations of indignation and protest among the population, in which were not spared harsh criticism and protests addressed to government representatives, who attended the funerals of the victims celebrated in the San Petronio Basilica on 6 August. In 1981 at"
"in the air, they eventually settle on plants and other vegetation surfaces. These plants and vegetation are them eaten by cows and other animals. Humans end up eating the produce, milk, eggs, and meat produced by these animals that have consumed dioxin covered vegetation. Dioxins are more harmful when ingested this way. Multiple studies have led to the idea that increased dioxin levels can increase one's risk for breast cancer. A study done in 1976 after a chemical plant explosion in Seveso, Italy concluded that high dioxin level exposure in a woman's body correlated with a more than double chance"
"immigration from the Azores and the exodus of better-off Italian families to the northern suburbs of Woodbridge and Vaughan. Beginning in the 1970s, local residents became concerned by pollution in the area. The proximity of homes and schools to heavy industry led to a long battle between residents and factory owners. The fumes from the plants were clearly detectable, and studies found elevated levels of a number of organic chemicals in the areas air. In July 1988 an explosion at a glue factory showered the neighbourhood with a yellow chemical rain. Residents blamed a series of ailments on the pollution,"
"town. Some notable examples are Times Beach, Missouri, whose residents were exposed to a high level of dioxins, and Wittenoom, Western Australia, which was once Australia's largest source of blue asbestos, but was shut down in 1966 due to health concerns. Treece and Picher, twin communities straddling the Kansas–Oklahoma border, were once one of the United States' largest sources of zinc and lead, but over a century of unregulated disposal of mine tailings led to groundwater contamination and lead poisoning in the town's children, eventually resulting in a mandatory Environmental Protection Agency buyout and evacuation. Contamination due to ammunition caused"
"leukaemias, myelomas and lymphomas increased by 30 to 40 percent. Dioxin accumulates over the years. Over 9 kilos of dioxin have been discharged into the city's air by its factories. Grazing is banned within of the ILVA plant. In 2013, the ILVA plant was placed under special administration when its owner, the Riva family, was accused of failing to prevent toxic emissions, which caused at least 400 premature deaths. Emissions of both carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and dioxin have decreased. Animal species have returned that had left, including swallows, cranes, dolphins, seahorses and the coral reef. Taranto has a number"
"Europe’s “largest illegal waste dump”. The area, which encompasses Italian municipalities Acerra, Marigliano, and Nola, experiences illegal waste disposal practices by the Camorra such as unauthorized burying of toxic waste under places frequented by humans. Frequent fires at dumping sites and illegal waste fires set by residents have resulted in contamination of the air and drinking water. Additionally, the land has deteriorated due to the illegal waste. The environmental pollution caused by the illegal dumping has resulted in elevated instances of cancer and cancer mortality in the region. In 2014 and 2015, the Italian government funded health screenings to track"
"Maderno (34,000) and to a lesser extent Barlassina (6,000) and Bovisio-Masciago (11,000). The industrial plant, located in Meda, was owned by the company ICMESA (""Industrie Chimiche Meda Società Azionaria""), a subsidiary of Givaudan, which in turn was a subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche (Roche Group). The factory building had been built many years earlier and the local population did not perceive it as a potential source of danger. Moreover, although several exposures of populations to dioxins had occurred before, mostly in industrial accidents, they were of a more limited scale. The accident occurred in the chemical plant's ""building B"". The chemical"
"systematically working for 20 years to bribe local politicians and officials to gain their acquiescence to dumping toxic waste. Giorgio Napolitano, President of Italian Republic, said in June 2008: Dangerous pollutants such as dioxins, are found in the area, particularly around Acerra, as well as illegal waste disposal, even in the business district of Montefibre. As early as 1987, a decree of the Ministry of Environment marked Acerra ""at high risk of environmental crisis"". High levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were detected both in the soil and in the inhabitants of the region, though no obvious emitters are known. It"
"business in the 1970s and 80s, eventually gaining control of large areas of the local economy ""partly by manipulating politicians and intimidating judges"". Among the contracts the clan gained was for the disposal of toxic waste, however, much of it was dumped illegally. This dumped toxic waste is thought to be cause of a rise in the number suffering from cancer in towns around Naples. The rise was first noticed two decades ago, and has been calculated that there has been a 40 and 47 per cent increase in cancer in women and men respectively. The Italian Senate is currently"
"on the potential harmfulness of buffalo mozzarella from Campania. In particular, they pointed out to varying degrees a relationship between the fires of garbage heaps and the release of dioxins and other cancerous substances, which would end up in the pastures of dairy animals. Alarmed by some positive findings in the dioxin test, the South Korean government was among the first to prohibit the importation of Italian buffalo mozzarella, promising to remove the ban only when the findings confirmed the possible contamination and identification responsible producers. A chain reaction followed, in which several countries including Japan, China, Russia and Germany"
"by a German submarine in 1917. Consequently, one of the prosecutors questioned the reliability of Fonti on the alleged sinkings, despite the fact that his collaboration with the authorities since 1994 had resulted in high-profile arrests of 'Ndrangheta members involved in drug trafficking. Cetraro Cetraro (Calabrian: ) is a town and ""comune"" in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia syndicate, has been accused by pentito Francesco Fonti, a former member of 'Ndrangheta, of sinking at least 30 ships loaded with toxic waste, much of it radioactive. In 2005, Fonti revealed"