Tainted EarthSmelting is an industrial process involving the extraction of metal from ore. During this process, impurities in oreincluding arsenic, lead, and cadmiummay be released from smoke stacks, contaminating air, water, and soil with toxic heavy metals. The problem of public health harm from smelter emissions received little official attention for much for the twentieth century. Though people living near smelters periodically complained that their health was