ESTABLISHING LIABILITY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE: TOXIC MICRO-POLLUTANTS AND THE RISK THEY POSE TO HUMAN HEALTH
Keywords:
toxic micro-pollutants, human health, environmental harm, civil liability, environmental degradation, pollutionAbstract
This article examines the issue of establishing liability for environmental harm in the context of toxic micro-pollutants and the risk they pose to human health. Industrialization has had adverse health and environmental consequences both for the workforce and the general population directly by exposure to safety hazards and harmful agents or indirectly through environmental degradation locally and globally. Environmental health hazards, like occupational health hazards, may be biological, chemical, physical, biomechanical or psychosocial in nature. Environmental health hazards include traditional hazards of poor sanitation and shelter, as well as agricultural and industrial contamination of air, water, food and land. These hazards have resulted in a host of environmental harm and human health impacts which has led to the degradation of the global systems on which the health of the planet depends. In response to these issues, this article pursues the debate and argument on the use of civil liability regime to address some of these problems.Downloads
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The term "micropollutants" means organic or mineral substances whose toxic, persistent and bioaccumulative properties may have a negative effect on the environment and/or organisms. They are present in many products that we consume daily such as, drugs, cosmetics, phytosanitary products, insecticides etc., at home or in industry. They are also present in the aquatic environment and are liable to have potentially direct or indirect effects on ecosystems and even on human health.
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