32 Protec ting Natural Resources for All
Harm from pollution
Pollution is the harm to people and the environment caused by an excess of
poisonous or toxic substances from peoples’ activities, especially wastes from
industry, transportation, and agriculture. Toxic pollution travels through the
environment in our air, water, and soil.
Most pollution comes from things we use and are exposed to in our daily
lives. The most common ways people are exposed to toxic pollution include:
• smoke from fires, especially when plastic is burned. We breathe in toxic
smoke, and toxic ash pollutes our drinking water and our crop land.
• smoke from factories that pollutes air, water, and soil.
• chemicals used in factories, mining, and oil drilling and production that
are dumped into water sources, and also pollute the air and land.
• pesticides used and handled near food, water sources, and at home.
When sprayed, they travel far through the air, causing great harm.
• chemicals in batteries, paints, dyes, and from making electronics that
harm the people who work with them.
• motor exhaust from automobiles that pollutes air, water, and soil.
Toxic pollution causes serious harm to people, plants, and animals not only
where it is released but also far from the source. Protecting ourselves from
the harm caused by pollution and toxic substances is an important part of
sustainability (see pages 42, 368, 410, 440, and Chapters 14, 16 and 20 to 23).
The precautionary principle
In their search for new products and more profit, corporations have developed
thousands of chemicals that never existed in nature. Most of these chemicals
have not been tested to prove they are safe. Still, they are used in products
sold to us every day. Even when people think some of these chemicals might be
harmful, if they cannot prove beyond a doubt that a chemical is dangerous, it
cannot be kept off the market — or out of our bodies.
Some community leaders and scientists use what they call the precautionary
principle to guide decision making. The precautionary principle says:
If there is reason to believe that something may cause
harm, even if we do not know for certain, then it is
An ounce of
prevention is worth
a pound of cure.
better to avoid it than to risk doing harm.
This principle is the opposite of what most
countries have now. Now you have to show that
something is harmful before it can be stopped.
We call it the Dead Bodies Principle.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012