The Most Polluted Playgrounds in the World

Not every child is fortunate enough to grow up near a KaBOOM! playground. In the slums of places like Jakarta, kids wanting to play might dive into a sluggish river of floating food containers, animal carcasses and dirty water. In Mumbai, they have the lovely option of using a homemade swing located in a burning garbage dump, as you can see in the above photo from Reuters' Vivek Prakash.

In this survey of "polluted playgrounds" put together by Reuters, the tykes don't seem to mind frolicking in their horrid surroundings. But you get the feeling it's not going to be good for their health later on. These playlands of filth are nurseries for a host of diseases, from cholera to malaria to tuberculosis. And it's anybody's guess as to what pollutants are lurking in the toxic-looking rivers. Will today's chemical-foam party be tomorrow's cancer?