Don't drink the water in Naples

Living in Italy made for awareness about the callous and reckless dumping of toxic waste in the Naples environs, but it is only from time to time does this crisis come to the attention of a wider population. Last Sunday's WaPo did report that the Italian government confirmed higher-than-normal incidents of death and cancer among residents in and around Naples, thanks to decades of toxic waste dumping by a particularly treacherous element of the Mafia, the local Camorra.  The rates of babies in the provinces of Naples and Caserta hospitalized in the first year of life for tumors, especially brain tumors, was determined to be excessive.  The government blamed the excessive health issues to contaminants found at illegal hazardous waste dump sites which include high levels of lead, arsenic and assorted industrial solvents. In general, these dumps are the result of the Camorra's disposing of toxic waste from Italy's industrialized North for a fraction of the cost of legal disposal. In Italy where wire tapping is commonplace, a local mob boss was overheard when asked what he suggested doing about the toxic aquifers, "Drink bottled water!"