It is believed that harmful emissions from industrial enterprises play a key role among many external factors that cause cancer.

Experts of the Center for economic and political reforms with the help of oncologists found out what industrial enterprises poison citizens — and how to deal with it.

The head of the CEPR, Nikolay Mironov, told why there are 20% more cancer patients in some cities than in neighboring ones, and how to deal with this [3].

Industrial enterprises provide a huge increase in cancer diseases. The very ecology that people do not think much about — "dirty" enterprises that make harmful emissions.

Here the story is simple: water, soil, and air are polluted. As a result - "dirty" food on our tables. Harmful substances accumulate over the years in nature and the human body, as a result, this leads to an increase in the incidence of diseases. This is not only a Russian problem, but a normal environmental policy should work here, and this is our purely Russian problem.

There is such a thing as the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) — this is a conditional standard for the presence of harmful substances in the air or water. Officials set this standard. It is considered how much the company should pay for harmful emissions. And there is a wide field for "discretion". in 2014, the MPC standard was increased, in particular, for formaldehyde — one of the very dangerous substances-by more than 3 times! That is, it can now be thrown out more. This is elementary lobbying on the part of Industrialists. Well, there was a release, there was no-only officials and staff of the enterprise know. Here, too, there is a field for manipulation, so as not to pay for harm to nature and our health.

Back in 2013 head of the Department of Rospotrebnadzor for the Irkutsk region Alexey Perezhogin noted that in Bratsk in recent decades, the environmental situation can be described as a crisis, and the largest aluminum plant in the region accounts for about 70% of all emissions in the city. Most of the plant's capacity is based on outdated Soderbergh technology — this is a strong environmental pollution, emissions of carbon monoxide, benzapyrene, and resinous resins. In Europe and even in China, this technology has already been abandoned. And then look at the dynamics of growth of cancer diseases in the Irkutsk region: in 2007, the incidence per 100 thousand people was 397.91, and in 2016-already 460.95. According to the International Agency for research on cancer (IARC), the main target organs of chemical carcinogenesis in the production of aluminum are the lungs, bladder, and lymphatic system. This is confirmed by statistics: in the Irkutsk region, according to data for 2015, the incidence of lung, tracheal, and bronchi cancer was higher (51.78 per 100 thousand in the region and 41.22 in the region Russia) [3].

We also need to sound the alarm in the Krasnoyarsk territory. It is also full of enterprises: Nickel, aluminum, oil. The main pollutants released into the atmosphere are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and others. These plants also pollute water by dumping iron, copper, petroleum products, fluorine, and manganese. Indicators for Oncology are also very high: in the province 431.6 per 100 thousand population, with an average level of 402.57 in Russia [3].

At the end of 2015 Magnitogorsk (Chelyabinsk region) entered the top ten cities in Russia with the dirtiest air. Air samples taken here in the first quarter of this year recorded a case of exceeding the MPC of benzapiren by 28 times! About a third of all emissions to the atmosphere in the region (and more than 90% in the city Magnitogorsk iron and steel works. MMK pollutes not only the air, but also the water. The main pollutants are iron, calcium, sulfates, chlorides, suspended solids, petroleum products, Nickel, nitrates, manganese, nitrites, copper, ammonium nitrogen, zinc, cyanides, chromium, phenol, fluorine, and phosphates. Indicators of Oncology per 100 thousand population in the Chelyabinsk region — 463.08!

The Orenburg region is one of the regions with serious problems in terms of the oncological situation. More than 90% of all pollution comes from the 6 largest enterprises in the region. Over the period of 2003-2014, the incidence of cancer increased by 32.7% [3].

Where is the solution?

In my opinion, it is necessary to overcome the industrial lobby and introduce modern, more environmentally friendly, though more cost-effective technologies. It is necessary to change the assessment system, conduct open monitoring and consider environmental damage based on the state of the environment and human health at the location of the polluting object. It is necessary to charge a constant fee from enterprises that pollute the environment, while increasing its size so that it is enough to protect nature and human health.

However, this is not enough. It is necessary that the money that enterprises contribute for causing environmental damage should go to special funds and go directly to restoring the environment and protecting people's health. Now the fee for harm to nature is credited more than half to local budgets. When money comes in, it is not invested in medicine or the environment, but is used to plug budget holes. If there are trust funds from which money will go to medical measures, to prevent diseases, this will partially solve the problem.

And, most importantly, we need transparency: we need to open up information about the real state of Affairs, so that people understand what the danger is and where it exists.

References: 

3.https://aif.ru/society/ecology/gonka_za_onko_kak_ekologiya_regiona_vliyaet_na_zabolevaemost_rakom