The problems of putrid water and polluted air are largely but not inevitably the result of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.
The report found that 22 of the 25 most ozone-polluted cities improved their air quality in the past year.
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And the air itself is so polluted you can damage your kids' health.
For pollution levels, we used information from the American Lung Association's "State of the Air: 2007" report, which ranked the most polluted metropolitan areas by year-round particle pollution based on data submitted by states to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 2003-05.
Up to 9% of deaths in the capital's most polluted areas are down to air pollution, a new London Assembly paper has reported.
"Toxins, bad air, polluted drinking water -- all these are the problems China is facing, " says Ho Wai Chi of the international environmental group Greenpeace.
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Far from being a source of legitimate comparative advantage, low environmental standards are an abuse of the human rights of those people usually the poor who have to suffer their direct consequences through polluted water supplies and poisoned air.
The organization's recent State of the Air 2012 report found that California is home to many of the country's most polluted cities, with Los Angeles continuing to top the list of ozone-polluted cities thanks to its heavy road traffic and trade ports.
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