For those of you out there who are environment enthusiasts but have never taken any courses in school, I am going to let you in on a little secret. Just like every other subject in school, the environmental studies and sciences have a set of topics that are taught ad nauseum. For instance; Rachel Carson and how she brought on the environmental movement in the 60s with her book "Silent Spring", the horrors of DDT and mercury pollution, and finally PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) which top the list of classic organic contaminants. These bio-accumulators are toxic, recalcitrant and complex to study because there are over 50 possible congeners in most PCB mixtures.
So what is my point today? It has been 30 years since Lois Gibbs found out that the toxic dump beneath her child's elementary school caused her child to have asthma and epilepsy. She lived in the now famous Love Canal Neighborhood of Niagara Falls, NY. While I have heard more than enough about this story in my life, I am not sure that everyone else has. What caused all of this? A company called the Hooker Co. had previously installed a landfill on that site, but the seal they had used for the site was not sufficient and PCBs (among other toxins) were actually bubbling to the surface and onto the playground. It became apparent that officials were not interested in helping the families, even though there was much evidence that the community on a whole was impacted by increased miscarriages and other health implications such as nerve disorders and cancer. Ultimately, it was discovered that the chemicals that had been buried by the Hooker company were leaking into the adjacent canal (love Canal) and contaminating a much larger population of people through the water system. The residents of the Love Canal - the touching heroism of Lois Gibbs and the rest of the Love Canal Home Owners' Association along with the horrific tragedy that the families endured have been the subject of many book chapters, books and even a TV movie. The Love Canal was the first to be awarded money to have the site cleaned by the USEPA's "superfund". The site was first declared clean a few years ago, however it is still contained and the original homes of the love canal residents are all abandoned and/or have since been demolished.
Wikipedia: Love Canal Superfund Lois Gibbs PCBs
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