– Arsenic is one of the most potent poisons, and among the most carcinogenic substances. It can cause cardiovascular disease even at low levels, says Karin Broberg, professor of environmental medicine at Karolinska Institutet.
On Thursday, charges were brought against eleven people in the tangle surrounding the waste company Think Pink. According to the prosecutor, tens of thousands of tons of unsorted waste have been dumped and in several cases buried in the ground at 21 locations in Central Sweden. The investigators have found heavy metals such as zinc, chromium, mercury and, not least, lead in the ground or leachate in many of the locations.
– Lead can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, higher blood pressure, and above all damage the development of children’s brains even at low levels that we find in the environment, says Karin Broberg.
In several places, there are also dangerous hydrocarbons in concentrations that the investigators believe mean risks to human health and the environment. PAH is an organic compound that can be formed during combustion, sometimes as soot particles, which can cause lung cancer and heart problems.
“May affect reproductive capacity”
In several locations, piles of waste have started to burn – often fires that are difficult to put out – where the emergency services did not want to use water, so that toxins from waste and ash are not washed into the surroundings and groundwater. There, worrying levels of dioxins have also been measured in the ash.
– They can cause various hormone disturbances that can affect reproductive capacity and lead to certain forms of cancer, says Karin Broberg.
The professor has not taken part in the investigation, but points out that these poisons, in extreme cases with high doses, can be acutely dangerous. Above all, it is exposure over a long period of time that is dangerous even at very low levels, for example via drinking water. In addition, the substances are at least as dangerous to animals and other organisms in nature.
– These are known poisons that both the WHO and the Swedish authorities believe we should remove from nature as far as possible, says Karin Broberg.