Toxic Chemicals are substances naturally produced by the environment naturally or artificially produced by industrial manufactures.. The chemicals produced that have been around since the industrial age began are considered hazardous both to us and the environment. Some of the most highly toxic chemicals used today include polychlorinated biphenyls(PCB's), chlorofluorocarbons(CFC) and polyvinyl chloride(PVC's). These chemicals can be found in such products such as nuclear waste and automobile tires. Toxic chemicals or pollutants are substances that enter the environment through industrial, agricultural, or other human-generated processes that pose health hazards to humans, animals, and plants. This paper will look directly at chemicals which have been discovered to be hazardous or toxic, that are produced in quantity, and are difficult or extremely costly to remove once introduced to the environment.

Nuclear waste is produced throughout the entire nuclear fuel cycle, beginning with the mining of uranium to the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel. Nuclear waste will remain hazardous for thousands of years, leaving a poisonous legacy

A decrease in the number of ozone molecules in the stratosphere reduces the atmosphere's ability to absorb UV-B radiation before it reaches the Earth's surface. Small changes in the thickness of the atmospheric ozone layer allow significant increases in the amount of UV-B radiation that filters through which can profoundly impact life on this planet. This added UV-B radiation impacts on the stability of the global ecosystem; the genetic health of life, the quality of the air we breathe and the weather. Unless these toxic emissions are halted immediately, the ozone's depletion and damage to the global biosphere could reach severe life threatening levels leading to the end of life as we know today.

There are approximately 60 tire waste sites in Ontario alone. Eleven of these sites contain more than 100 000 tires, and the other 49 maintain approximately 5,000 tires. On February 12, 1990, a tire dump located near Hagersville, Ontario, which contained an estimated 14 million used tires, was set on fire and burned for 17 days. The toxic smoke alone caused thousands of people to evacuate their homes. It was estimated that 600,000 litres of oil was produced by the melting tires and collected by the cleanup crews. There is the possibility that even more oil and other contaminants from the water runoff may have entered local water sources.

incinerators or in accidental fires creates dioxins. PVC's have become a significant source of the planet's dioxin levels.

Statistics compiled bu the United States government reports that there are as many tires in American waste sights as there are American citizens. This estimate added to an already over-burdened environment, means that the number of scrap tires on the ground in 1994 at just under a billion in the United States alone. It is important to note that warm weather areas produce more scrap tires on average than northern, cold weather climates. Considering the unlikelihood of the invention of a "non-wear" tire in the foreseeable future, it would stand to reason that the supply of scrap tires will continue to rise for many years to come. The annual number of tires that are scrapped world wide is estimated to be 1.6 billion (see Fig 1). The next decade alone will show an increase of more then 500 million tires per year.

that was used by nuclear power stations, reactor metalwork and chemical residues. ILW must be contained and from workers and the public exposure during transport and disposal. It is usually stored at the site of production. ILW is typically a thousand times more radioactive that LLW.

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Approximate Word count = 2201
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)