Estimated to be around the size of Texas, this contaminated area of ocean has by some estimates more plastic than food for marine life.

CNN: Boat of plastic to set sail with environmental message

Aside from the potential health hazards of living in an area contaminated with radiation, domino socioeconomic effects have caused multiple problems in these regions.

CNN: 26 years on: helping Chernobyl's children

There is no question that an area around Fukushima is contaminated and needs to be cleaned-up before anyone can re-enter.

FORBES: Fukushima -- Fear Is Still the Killer

"It depends on how long they would have been in the area that's contaminated, how constant the the level of asbestos fibres in the air are, " he said.

BBC: Cwmcarn school asbestos should be demolished, says survey

While reluctantly agreeing, Kazakhstan said it feared that highly toxic fuel had contaminated water and soil over a huge area.

ECONOMIST: Kazakhstan

These will be much more effective at filtering contaminated water because the beads will have greater surface area for the arsenic to bind to than the plastic chips.

FORBES: "Plastic Bottle" Filters Can Help Millions Poisoned by Arsenic-Contaminated Water

John Steele, vice president of the Postal Service's Northeast Area Operations, said that the machines would most likely have been contaminated by an anthrax letter bound for an address in the town of Seymour, only a few miles from where Lundgren lived.

BBC: Anthrax found in Connecticut mail facility

The researchers studied male leopard frogs across a large area of the US and found a high proportion to be developing female characteristics where they swam in waters contaminated with the herbicide.

BBC: Weedkiller 'threatens frogs'