[bdamm]

Cancer is obviously no good, but other terrible life damaging consequences can also happen. Witness lead poisoning, with its reduced IQ and tendency towards violence for people who've ingested or breathed in lead. Also bad would be clogging of capillaries and causing some strange diabetes, with subsequent organ damage. Reduced fertility is another concerning type of biological damage.

All of these are life-changing and won't kill you on short order. I think these kinds of damages are more pernicious as they're less obvious but still impact your quality of life, and maybe more so than living in a developing country.