The Maas Valley in Belgium is located in a narrow basin. During the period of 1930 12 1-5, the harmful gases and soot dust emitted by factories gathered in the near-earth atmosphere, and people began to get sick three days later. Its symptoms are: chest pain, cough, dyspnea and so on. More than 60 people died in a week, among which patients with heart disease and lung disease had the highest mortality rate. Meanwhile, many domestic animals died. During the accident, the concentration of SO2 was very high, which may contain fluoride. Through analysis, it is believed that the pollution incident is caused by the comprehensive effects of several harmful gases and soot dust on human body.
2. The Donola incident in the United States
Donora is a small town in a valley in Pennsylvania, USA. During June 26-30, 1948+0948, most areas here were controlled by anticyclone inversion, and there was continuous fog on June 26-30, which caused the accumulation of atmospheric pollutants in the near-surface atmosphere. During this period, 43% of the town's population, that is, 59 1 person, fell ill one after another, with symptoms such as sore throat, runny nose, thirst, sore limbs, expectoration, chest tightness, vomiting and diarrhea, and 17 person died. It is estimated that when the incident occurred, the concentration of sulfur dioxide was several times the normal value, and there were dust particles. It is considered that the combination of SO2 and its oxidation products with dust particles in the atmosphere is a harmful factor. The main hazard is the product of the interaction between sulfur dioxide and metal elements and metal compounds.
3. The fog and haze in London, England.
London, England, known as the foggy city, was once again shrouded in dense fog during February 5-8 1952 65438+. During this period, many people suddenly suffered from respiratory diseases, and all the hospitals in London were suddenly crowded with people. In four days, the death toll increased by more than 4000 people compared with the same period of last year. The number of deaths over the age of 45 is about three times that of the usual deaths, and the number of deaths under the age of 1 has increased by 1 times. Within 1 week of the incident, 9 people died of bronchitis, coronary heart disease, tuberculosis and heart failure. Three times, twice. Four times, five times. Five times, twice. Eight times, the number of people who died of pneumonia, lung cancer, flu and other respiratory diseases doubled than usual. Within two months after the incident, more than 8000 people died. According to the analysis of this incident, it is believed that this is related to the massive consumption of coal in London at that time. The maximum concentration of dust particles during the event was 4. 46 mg/m3, which is 10 times of normal, and the highest concentration of SO2 is 6 times of normal. Under the specific conditions of dense fog, Fe2O3 in flue gas promoted SO2 oxidation to SO3, forming H2SO4, which condensed on dust and formed acid fog, which became the killer of this incident.
4. photochemical smog incident in los Angeles, USA.
Los Angeles lies on the southwest coast of the United States. In the early days, it was just a small village in a pastoral area. After the discovery of gold mines in California, the population increased sharply and soon became a famous big city. The number of cars alone has increased by millions. As a result, this beautiful city, which is surrounded by mountains and rivers, has become a crowded automobile city. In the early 1940s, from May to August every year, under the strong sunlight, light blue smoke often appeared over the city, making the whole city turbid. This kind of smoke irritates the throat and nose, causing laryngitis, headache and many other diseases. At the same time, reduce the yield of citrus in the mountains 100 km away, and make the pine trees yellow. What's going on here? It is found that this is caused by a large amount of automobile exhaust. These complex automobile exhaust gases make the horizontal flow of urban atmosphere relatively slow in the specific terrain of Los Angeles surrounded by mountains on three sides. They will produce ozone under strong sunlight, which will cause a series of chemical changes and endanger people's health. Therefore, people call this light blue smog over the city photochemical smog. It is reported that when photochemical smog appeared in Los Angeles, it was obvious on the plane that the photochemical smog in Los Angeles was caused by automobile exhaust. The photochemical smog incident in Los Angeles is a typical example of automobile exhaust pollution.
5. Water accident in Japan.
There is a small town called Shuicuo in Kyushu Bay in southern Japan, where 40,000 residents live and make a living by fishing. Starting from 1939, the synthetic acetic acid plant of Japan Nitrogen Fertilizer Company began to produce vinyl chloride, and the wastewater from this plant has been discharged into Minamata Bay. In the process of producing vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, the company used mercury-containing catalysts, which made the wastewater contain a lot of mercury. This mercury is eaten by fish in the water and converted into toxic methylmercury in fish. After people eat fish, mercury accumulates in the human body, leading to a strange disease: at first, the patient just slurred his speech and faltered, then he developed facial dementia, numbness, deafness and blindness, and finally became insane until he bowed his head and screamed and died. 1972 according to the statistics of the environmental department, there are 180 people suffering from wading diseases in Shuicuo town, and more than 50 people died. More than 100 people were found wading in Ayokawa, Xinxian County, and 8 people died. According to the report, the number of patients is far more than that, only the victims in Minamata town, that is, more than 1 10,000 people.
6. Shendongchuan bone pain
There is a river called Shendongchuan in Fuchuan Plain of Japan. Over the years, people on both sides of the strait have irrigated farmland with river water, making ten thousand mu of paddy fields fragrant. Since Mitsui Mining Company opened a zinc smelting plant in the upper reaches of Shendongchuan, dead grass has been found. After 1955, a strange disease different from water-borne diseases became popular: the autopsy of the deceased found many fractures in the whole body, some of which reached 73, and the body length was shortened by 30 cm. This disease with unknown etiology at first is bone pain. It was not until 1963 that bone pain was found to be related to the wastewater from the zinc smelting plant of Mitsui Mining Company. It turns out that the wastewater discharged from zinc smelter to Shendongchuan for many years contains cadmium. Farmers transfer cadmium in wastewater to soil and rice by using river water for irrigation. Farmers on both sides of the strait drink cadmium-containing water and eat cadmium-containing rice, which makes cadmium accumulate in the body and eventually leads to bone pain. It is reported that by March of 1972, there were 230 patients with osteodynia, 34 died, and some of them had suspicious symptoms.
7. Japan's four-day city incident
Shikoku is located in the eastern gulf of Japan. During the period of 1955, more than 10 petrochemical plants were built here. The gas and dust containing sulfur dioxide emitted by chemical plants all day make the clear sky dirty. 196 1 year, respiratory diseases began to appear in this area and spread rapidly. It is reported that chronic bronchitis accounts for 25%, asthma accounts for 30% and emphysema accounts for 15%. 1964, there were three days of smog here, and many asthma patients died. 1967 Some patients committed suicide because of unbearable torture. 1970 has more than 500 patients. 1972, there were 87 asthma patients1person and 87 deaths1person in the city. According to reports, during the incident, the annual emissions of SO2 and dust reached 6.5438+0.3 million tons, the concentration of SO2 in the atmosphere exceeded the standard by 5-6 times, and the smoke was 500 meters thick, which contained harmful gases and metal dust, and they interacted to generate substances such as sulfuric acid, which was the main cause of asthma.
8. Japanese rice bran oil incident
Rice bran oil incident occurred in Aichi Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. Rice bran oil was deodorized with polychlorinated biphenyls as carrier. Due to production errors, polychlorinated biphenyls were mixed in rice bran oil, which led to 1400 people being poisoned after eating. Four months later, the number of patients soared to more than 5,000, and 16 people died without cause. During this period, the actual number of victims exceeded 13000, and 654.38+million chickens died because the black oil in rice bran oil was used as poultry feed.
9. Chernobyl nuclear accident in the Soviet Union
1 986 In the early morning of April 26th1,a terrible explosion occurred in the No.4 reactor of the nuclear power plant, which is 4 kilometers away from Chernobyl/kloc-0 in the former Soviet Union. A stream of radioactive debris and gas (including iodine 13 1, cesium 137 and strontium 90) rushed to 65438. This is the Chernobyl nuclear pollution incident that shocked the world.
After the incident, 6.5438+0.3 million residents within 30 kilometers of the nuclear power plant had to be evacuated urgently. More than 1 1,000 square kilometers of Soviet territory were polluted by nuclear leakage, of which 1 1,500 square kilometers of fertile farmland in Ukraine was abandoned and deserted due to pollution. The area of polluted farmland and forests is about the size of Virginia.
Twenty million people in Ukraine are affected by radioactive pollution. By the beginning of 1993, a large number of infants were deformed or disabled, and more than 8,000 people died of radiation-related diseases. Its long-term impact will still have an impact after 30 years.
10 Bhopal incident in India
1984 12.3, pesticide plant, Bhopal, India, caused the explosion and leakage of toxic methyl isocyanate in the underground storage tank due to rising pressure. 45 tons of toxic gas formed thick smoke and attacked the urban area of Bhopal at a speed of 5000 meters per hour. Nearly 20,000 people died, more than 200,000 people were injured, 50,000 people were blind, pregnant women aborted or gave birth to dead babies, the affected area was 40 square kilometers, and thousands of livestock were poisoned.