Cubatão - one of the most polluted cities in the world

Cubatão is a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, 12 kilometers away from Santos seaport, the largest in Latin America. The population in 2003 is 113,599, its density is 799.99/km² and the area is 142 km². It hosts 24 industries, refining oil, making steel and fertilizers.

In the early 1980s, Cubatão was one of the most polluted cities in the world, nicknamed "Valley of Death", due to births of brainless children and respiratory, hepatic and blood illnesses. High air pollution was killing forest over hills around the city. It's a rich town with a poor population. It was ranked the top ten dirtiest cities in the world by Popular Science.

On February 25, 1984 an oil spill set the shantytown Vila Socó on fire, killing 93 people according to official figures, but the actual death toll might be more than 200. The contamination of workers with Persistent organic pollutants put Rhodia into Greenpeace's top 10 world's worst corporate crimes ever in its report to Rio Summit in 1992.

Hard providences were taken to diminish pollution in the city, costing $1.2 billion so far. Although things have improved a lot, it is impossible to clean completely the soil and underground water and while many large industries continue to work in such a small area, there will always be some pollution.
Cubatão was mentioned in the Jello Biafra-Sepultura collaboration "Biotech is Godzilla" on the groups 1993 Album Chaos A.D. "Like Cubatao, world's most polluted town, air melts your face, deformed children all around."