A few other links on health and the environmental issues facing JD, SPM. Not to depress anyone, but be forewarned that reality might make you want a giant bottle of Brugal with this:
Sulfur Dioxide's negative impact:
pollutants.cfm
About Leptosporosis (one DR1 member living in JD was recently hospitalized from this):
Bacterial Slime Helps Cause Serious Disease
WHO Update on Air-quality:
WHO | Use of the air quality guidelines in protecting public health: a global update
Amer Public Health Assoc's view (one research pub):
PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT OF AIR POLLUTION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ENERGY SYSTEM - Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 25(1):601 - Abstract
French Study on Air quality & Health
http://www.cababstractsplus.org/goog...No=20033210470
European view:
New Apheis Health Impact Assessment in 26 Cities Shows That Air Pollution Continues To Threaten Public Health in Europe
ScienceDirect - Environmental Research : Review of air pollution and health impacts in Malaysia
Free Radical Link Suggested Between Pollution And Asthma
Solid waste issues:
Potential Health and Environmental Impacts
And, while it isn't in SPM, keep in mind that one of the top most polluted places on the planet is here on the South side of the DR (& the problem still exists--I venture to say that there are many other areas as yet identified in the DR with horrible stories like this one):
The Blacksmith Institute
1. Region: Latin America & Caribbean Country: Dominican Republic
Haina:
Haina, also known as Bajos de Haina, has been referred to as the 'Dominican Chernobyl'. A community near a closed down automobile battery recycling smelter, nearly its entire population shows signs of lead poisoning. Some experts claim that the population of Haina has the highest level of lead contamination in the world. The Dominican Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, since its creation in 2000, has identified Haina as a national hotspot of significant concern. According to the United Nations, the population of Haina is considered to have the highest level of lead contamination in the world, and its entire population carries indications of lead poisoning.
The Blacksmith Institute
And, for those with economics on their minds...a discussion of externalities:
Technology Assessment / GaBE