Britain Dumping Toxic Waste

Paging Captain Planet: Yesterday, Britain was accused of dumping toxic household and industrial waste in Brazil and Ghana, The Times of London reports. The British Environment Secretary ordered an investigation into two companies linked to 90 containers of 1,400 tons of waste, including syringes, condoms, bags of blood, and diapers sent to Brazil. The companies receiving the waste said they were expecting recyclable plastic. A Brazilian official said, "We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage." In another case, The Times writes, "the Ministry of Defense was unable to explain how one of its computers was found by The Times on a notorious dump" in Ghana, where children as young as five dig for scrap metal and are exposed to harmful chemicals.