306 RüdigerKunow
dispossession or dislocation, but also in more silent but long-lasting
effects on human bodies.^135 Sites such as the Durban Oilfields
(describedbyChari)inSouthAfricaorthepost-AgentOrangeforestsof
VietNamarejustrandomlychosenexamplesofthe"disastercapitalism
complex" (Naomi Klein's term), disasters expressing themselves by
disabling human bodies at various states of their life course, but
especially in pre-natal stages. Attempts have been made to measure the
burden of these disabilities through an index, the DALY index
(disability-adjusted life years). The DALY index "accounts for both the
morbidityandmortalitythatresultfromadisease,injury,orhealthstate
.. ." (Chatham-Stephens et al. 791). Such a form of measurement
stabilizes the much-denied link between disability and ecology but can
ofcoursenotmeasurethepsycho-social"fallout"ofsuchconstellations,
afalloutwhichisculturalandmedicalatthesametime.
The fact that disabilities can indeed be "environmental in origin"
(WorldHealthOrganizationn.pag.)wasbroughthometoEuropeansfor
the first time in 1976, when during a technical malfunction in an
industrial plant in Seveso, Italy, tons of highly toxic dioxine were
released into the air. Among the long-term effects of this chemical
disaster were increased rates of lymphatic and breast cancers,
gastrointestinal diseases, and congenital anomalies (Bertazzi et al. 630-
33).
In talking about events such as the one in Seveso, we almost
automatically resort to the word "accident." This is the preferred social
andculturalconstructionoftechnology-relateddisasters,notonlyinthe
U.S. Such a construction, however, in highlighting the contingent,
"accidental" nature of the event has the perhaps (un)intended effect of
absolving owners and operators of the technology from any
responsibility for its disabling effects. However, not all, perhaps not
eventhemajorityoftechnology-relateddisastersarepurely"accidental;"
in many cases, they are more or less directly related to the prevalent
(^135) I refrain from using the term "environmental disability" despite its obvious
suggestivenessinthiscontextbecauseithascometobeusedbyinstitutionssuch
astheNationalCenteronHealth,PhysicalActivityandDisability(NCHPAD)to
designate an unhealthy "combination of an inactive lifestyle and excessive fast
foodconsumption"(Rimmern.pag.).