A/HRC/21/48 19. Similarly, the red mud created as a waste product of alumina extraction can contain metals such as arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel and naturally-occurring radioactive materials, such as thorium and uranium. Red mud is also caustic or alkaline, with a pH of 13 or higher. In 2010, the collapse of a red mud pond of an alumina refining plant in Ajka, Hungary, killed four, and injured 120 people, damaged bridges and houses, and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people. Riverine tailings of the mine overflowed the river banks downstream contaminating groundwater and surface water. The Special Rapporteur is pleased to have received an invitation from the Government of Hungary to assess the impact of the accident on the human rights of the people in the area. The findings of the assessment will be presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2013. III. Human rights impact of hazardous substances and waste from extractive industries 20. Extractive activities typically result in the introduction of hazardous substances into the natural environment, which may or may not be the desired resource, with impacts to human health, the environment, and society. The impacts of hazardous substances and waste on human life may occur through various path of exposure, such as inhalation (mining dust, elemental mercury and hydrogen cyanide), ingestion (food and water), and physical contact with chemicals. A. Rights to adequate health and life 21. The unsound management of hazardous substances and waste from extractive industries contributes to overall environmental pollution which may have serious effects on the right to health and the right to life. For example, the decomposition of residual uranium in waste produces radon, an airborne radioactive substance which, in some countries, is the second most important cause of lung cancer after smoking. 11 Workers in the extractive industry are particularly exposed to the health risks related to the management of hazardous substances and waste. Indeed, in the case of radon pollution, more significant health effects have been found among uranium miners who are exposed to high levels of radon. 22. A well-known and potentially fatal respiratory disease particularly affecting extractive industry workers is coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease, which causes the lungs to inflame and stiffen from scarring. Another potentially fatal outcome of exposure to coal dust is silicosis.12 Disturbingly, up to 12 per cent of coal miners develop these two deadly diseases13. Communities and people living in proximity to areas with heavy coal production have been observed to have poorer health and a higher risk of cardiopulmonary disease, chronic lung disease, hypertension and kidney disease 14 than the rest of the population. The dangers of asbestos, a known carcinogen, have been documented 11 12 13 14 World Health Organization (WHO), “Radon and cancer,” Fact sheet No. 291 (updated September 2009). Available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs291/en/index.html. See E.F. Wouters, T.H. Jorna and M. Westenend, “Respiratory effects of coal dust exposure: clinical effects and diagnosis,” Experimental Lung Research, vol. 20. (1994), pp. 385–394. Carolyn Stephens and Mike Ahern, Worker and Community Health Impacts Related to Mining Operations Internationally: A rapid review of the literature, IIED, No. 25 (November 2001). Michael Hendryx and Melissa M. Ahern, “Relations Between Health Indicators and Residential Proximity to Coal Mining in West Virginia,” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 98, No. 4 (April 2008), pp. 669-671. 7