[Count Zero]

Just a little factoid :

Cubatão (note the '~' over the 'a' ;-), is the most polluted city in the world. It's in the state of São Paulo (which is also the name of the state capital, which has the most polluted river in the world ), and the air there is not only unbreathable, but deadly.

I think they chose this city to burn this amount of chemicals because they thought it wouldn't really make any difference.

Just to give an idea of the problem: During the eighties, the percentage of children born without brains reached a peak of 10% in cubatão. Other types of genetic mutations (yes, mutations) were also more frequent than anywhere else.

There isn't any kind of nuclear facility near cubatão, it's only plain old chemical waste due to industrialization.

It has gotten much better over the years, but it's not a city I want to visit any time soon. The pollution of the capital is already too much for me.

On a side note, Rio de Janeiro is still quite beautiful, and most beaches kick ass. Most cities on the coast (outside of São Paulo) are quite clean and unindustrialized, most notably those in the state of Rio. :p

On a second side note, I think that drug pile is a good demonstration of the Brazilian drug market. And most of it is for export. Also keep in mind that the drug cartels are still completely untouchable, therefore that pile is only a small fraction of the total drug flow. You know, police propaganda.