[JURIST] The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes Baskut Tuncak [official profile] on Wednesday urged [press release] the international community to help end the “silent pandemic” of childhood disease and disability…” caused by exposure to toxins and waste. Stating that children were the “most vulnerable to toxics and pollution,” and that they are “impacted in ways in which adults [are] not,” Tuncak said that states and businesses had an “obligation” to protect children from these hazardous substances. He then cited examples of children being exposed to hazardous waste from the water crisis in Flint, Michigan [JURIST report], to deaths in South Korea resulting from untested products.

Exposure to hazardous substances has been an issue plaguing much of the world, including the US. Earlier this month environmentalists sued [JURIST report] the US Environmental Protection Agency regarding federal water quality standards. In March Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan was served with a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] over the water contamination in Flint, Michigan. In February BP supervisors were found not guilty [JURIST report] of a Clean Water Act violation after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Also in February the Supreme Court blocked [JURIST report] the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which meant to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In January a Hungarian court acquitted [JURIST report] 15 employees of the Mal Corp for their role in the toxic red sludge spill that killed 10 people in 2010 after a reservoir burst. Also in January Brazil’s Federal Police accused seven people and three companies [JURIST report] of environmental crimes in a probe into the major Fundão dam collapse that occurred on November 5.