They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and one person’s trash is another one’s treasure, but I doubt that many would consciously choose to have a dump in their backyard. In the Chiropractic model of health, there are three basic forces that can break down the mind and body, leaving them open to disease processes. These are physical, chemical, and emotional/mental stress. Consider the effect on a person’s mood and attitude if they must drive down a heavily littered highway or past an illegal dump on their way to work. Might that person’s mental state be more positive if they viewed that same landscape unspoiled or planted in wild flowers as is commonly practiced along interstate roads? Of course for some it's less stressful to toss a beer can out the window than to worry about being busted for an open container. If the cops are serious about getting drunks off the road, maybe they should stake out collections of roadside beer cans!

Collections of improperly disposed trash are not only unsightly, but can be sources of disease. Trash piles can serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes, mice, rats and other critters that spread illness like Black Plague, Legionares' Disease, Malaria, West Nile Virus and Encephalitis. Trash piles can also pollute ground water and surface water downstream. Cholera and Dysentery are examples of water born diseases. Infants, elderly persons, and persons with weakened immune systems are at higher risk for most of these diseases. Chemical stress or toxicity is very damaging to a person’s immune system. Dump sites that contain appliances, tires, old paint, pesticide containers, cleaning supplies and the like can pollute the water downstream with chemical toxins.

These are some of the reasons why your local health department is concerned about illegal dumping and why countries like Mexico and China tend to have more serious epidemics.

In my neck of the woods, we have an illegal dump that's been around for over 40 years. If rumors are true, some of the finest, otherwise upstanding members of the Walker and Nebo communities have contributed mightily to this dump. There are supposedly government funds available to clean up such sites. My efforts to contact agencies responsible for spending these taxpayers' dollars have mostly met with red tape and double talk. They will post signs and occasionally hand out a stiff fine which temporarily slows down the dumping, but no clean up as of this date. I am currently checking out the REAP program in which gloves, trash bags and a truck are supplied. The actual picking up is done by volunteers. Hopefully, some of my neighbors will join me. It's in everyone’s best interest. If people really thought about it, they might be reluctant to eat a hog, beef or wild game that drinks downstream from a dump site. Cancer rates are frequently higher in populations living near illegal dumps.

It's interesting to note that trash piles and liter are common in the poorer sections of large cities. As a student and young adult, I lived in several of these areas. I moved to West Virginia in part to get away from this lack of respect for surroundings and neighborhood pride. I was encouraged to see a local church group picking up roadside trash recently, but with dumping and littering getting more and more common, I'm starting to feel like I'm right back in the ghetto.