Chockablock with heavy metals, chemical waste, air pollutants and, in the case of infamous Chernobyl, Ukraine, deadly radiation, these are the worst industrial cesspools on earth--and they rarely make headlines.
Putting the cart before the horse, the EPA issued preliminary clean up goals for dioxin on December 31, 2009 before the agency had completed a new risk assessment on the chemical, widely perceived as one of most toxic environmental pollutants (the assessment is due by the end of this year).