The increase in cancers, type II diabetes and degenerative diseases may be related to the cocktail of toxins that Australians are exposed to everyday, two leading scientists have warned.

Action needs to be taken to purify the dangerous amount of contaminated land in Australia, Dr Jack Ng and Dr Stevan Green told the World Conference of Science Journalists.

Jack Ng, risk assessment program leader of the Cooperative Research centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) and Stevan Green, CEO of  the CRC for Sustainable Resource Processing (CSRP), spoke on “Purifying a Poisoned Planet” at the conference. 

The scientists addressed the need to clean up the chemical and biological contamination of Australian soil, water and air and discussed some of the techniques being developed to assist in this process.

CRC CARE managing director Professor Ravi Naidu also warned in a media release, “Unless we take action now, the environmental contamination created by our own and previous generations will become a toxic legacy for Australians far into the future.”

Ng said that there were thought to be over 100,000 potentially contaminated sites in Australia alone that are in desperate need of remediation.

According to Ng, the first step to recovery is to measure the risk of the contaminated site and then to design a remediation program.

Although some sites may be contaminated beyond help Ng said, “To fence sites off is the worst solution.” Many of the contaminated sites in Australia could be fit for future human use with the help of new technologies.

Ng said that preventing future contamination and developing waste policies were also important parts of CRC CARE’s plan.

Stevan Green discussed the need to change the toxic culture of Australian industry in order to achieve sustainability for future generations.

“Improving the control of toxic elements is crucial,” he said.

Green said that industry needed to address the damage that it is having on the planet and make an effort to reduce waste, water usage and contamination. One way to achieve this was for industries to work together to use one another’s wastes to make other, safe and economical products.

The session outlined many techniques being developed in Australia to assist in creating a cleaner country.

For example, CRC CARE is developing a “magic wand”, which will contain sensors that detect contaminant levels in real time. Ng said that this would speed up the risk assessment process and help to create remediation programs.

CRC CARE is also working on novel aspects of bio-remediation. Every toxin presents a unique organism that is tolerant to, and often can utilise, the contaminant. Bio-remediation involves the use of these organisms to digest the contaminant at a site, turning it into harmless substances.

New ideas for old problems are also being developed, Dr Green said. For example red mud, a major toxic by product of the alumina industry, can now be treated by residue carbonation, which reduces its alkalinity and also traps greenhouse gas emissions.

CRC CARE is further working to “purify” Australia by training 75 PhD students in research fields related to risk assessment and to remediation and prevention of contamination.

The scientists insisted that these technologies needed to be used in conjunction with government environmental policies to ensure that Australia did not become a poisoned country for generations to come.