Pollution Image Info - Bajos de Haina, also known simply as Haina (usually with the H voiced as /h/, instead of being silent, as is the norm in Spanish) , is a town and municipality in the San Cristóbal (province), of the Dominican Republic. Bajos de Haina, has severe lead contamination because of lead battery recycling, a problem common throughout poorer countries has been referred to as the 'Dominican Chernobyl'. 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 contamination is believed to have been caused by the past industrial operations of the nearby BaterÃas Meteoro, an automobile battery recycling smelter. Although the company has moved to a new site, the contamination still remains.
Bajos de Haina was named as one of the ten most polluted places on earth by the US based environmental group the Blacksmith Institute in 2006, and is still listed as one of the 30 worst polluted cities in the world. Haina's story began in the mid 1990s when Null, director of New York-based Friends of Lead-Free Children, was in Santo Domingo giving a lecture, trying to get the government there to stop using leaded gasoline. Null was approached by someone in the audience and told about a company called Metaloxa that was recycling batteries and contaminating kids.
Null visited and found a lot with 30-foot high piles of batteries. The smelter sat atop a hill surrounded by homes and operated around the clock. The entire neighborhood was filled with lead fumes.
First, Null had the employees tested for lead.
''Anything above 70, 80 or 90 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood is serious and results in swelling of the brain,'' Null said. ``These guys were at 300. I am sure they were going to die.''
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, a lead blood level above 10 is too high. Higher than that, the lead starts to change the brain's chemistry, leading to neurological problems like a low IQ. Other problems include problems with vision, seizures and hyperactivity.
