Article: `Startling' totals of toxins emitted by industry: U.S.

WASHINGTON U.S. industry is pouring a "startling" amount of toxic chemicals into the air, water and land, the government said Wednesday in its first nationwide summary of dangerous emissions.

In releasing the findings, a top Environmental Protection Agency official called the levels "unacceptably high" and said they demonstrate the need for factories to take corrective steps now.

In 1987, the report said, at least 22.5 billion pounds of toxic chemicals, many of them cancer-causing, were released. And that figure covers only emissions from 17,500 of the nation's largest factories. No estimate was given on how much the smaller ones would add to the total.

"The numbers are startling," ...

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