Acute and genetic toxicity of municipal landfill leachate

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills have been found to contain many of the same hazardous constituents as found in hazardous waste landfills. Because of the large number of MSW landfills, these sites pose a serious environmental threat to groundwater quality. This study was conducted to assess the environmental hazards that materials leaching from four MSW landfills pose to groundwater supplies....The results of the acute and genetic toxicity bioassays, combined with the chemical analyses and associated cancer risk assessment clearly showed that leachate from municipal solid waste landfills is just as toxic as that which leaches from landfills where residential and hazardous wastes were co-disposed.