The city of Cubatão', in São Paulo State, Brazil, was castigated in the country’s press in the late 1970s as the “valley of death” because of the extreme industrial pollution of its water, air, and soils that had occurred under decades of military dictatorship. Poor people lived in the midst of toxic waste dumps in an area also prone to natural disasters. In 1983 the state environmental protection agency (CETESB) initiated a pollution control program that significantly reduced pollution levels in less than 10 years. The agency managed to challenge the privileged position of entrenched industrial interests and make industrialists bear most of the costs of pollution control.