I agree that care should be taken before we and others take up entrenched positions on the moral high ground. The smelter at Capper Pass springs to mind
http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Capper-Pass/?gowhere=%2fmines%2f%3fpid%3d1%26ac%3dA%26ad%3d50 and it was only in 1974 that the last zinc smelting works in South Wales closed and the region finally got rid of smelting smoke and one of the most concentrated areas of industrial derilection in the British Isles was finally rehabilitated. Admiitedly most of this damage started in the 19th century but the effects were well known and the arguments of economics and power of international companies seem very familiar.
When I was studying this subject in a bit more depth (not just mining) it was quite convenient for Britain to dump toxic waste in poor African countries and for the US to build factories just over the Mexican border.
On the other hand China's record is appalling. The death of 3 to 4,000 coal miners per year (if you can believe the figures) takes one back to dark ages of coal mining in Britain and the States. I've even managed to avoid the subject of Bhopal. Just.
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.