Controversy at Love Canal by Beverly Paigen
Love Canal was a residential area in New York that was built on top of a hazardous waste dump buried underground. The waste was disposed by a company called "Hooker Electrochemical Corporation", which was a company that had little responsibility in outcome of the hazardous waste being buried and covered up. Paigen writes about her own personal studies on the outcome of many residents of Love Canal. Twenty-five years of over 21,000 tons of 200 or more chemical waste seeped into the bodies of the people, including the unborn. Miscarriages were common, as well as many birth defects (low birth weight, missing limbs, heart defects, deafness and many more), toxicity in the central nervous system, and many more in homes classified as "wet" homes. Wet homes were homes located nearby streams, ponds or swells. There were also the "dry" homes that were further away. Studies were conducted comparing any differences between the sicknesses and defects from the people living in either types of home. Typically the wet homes had more problems, yet there were still harmful effects in some dry home residents.
Among the illnesses, people also suffered antagonism between the community and the health department. The people in the community felt that the knowledge of the hazardous waste that the health department had and did not share or "own up to" placing the blame more in their hands as opposed to the Hooker corporation. It seemed very difficult for people to get a voice or for anybody to claim responsibility over the awful side effects that people were having from inhaling or existing among these chemicals. The astounding abnormal events that happened to these people did not put a rush on helping the people or taking the blame for what was happening to them. One hundred miscarriage did not seem convincing enough to shut down the town and help the people.
Eventually there were charges laid against the state agencies, for reasons such as manipulating health data, delaying admission of the existence of a health problem, consequences to employees that were sympathetic to the suffering Love Canal residents, and their effort to discourage independent professional health studies that would make them look bad. Many things were learned from the faults of the state in tragedies such as Love Canal, where ethical and scientific issues were poorly executed.
Love Canal was a residential area in New York that was built on top of a hazardous waste dump buried underground. The waste was disposed by a company called "Hooker Electrochemical Corporation", which was a company that had little responsibility in outcome of the hazardous waste being buried and covered up. Paigen writes about her own personal studies on the outcome of many residents of Love Canal. Twenty-five years of over 21,000 tons of 200 or more chemical waste seeped into the bodies of the people, including the unborn. Miscarriages were common, as well as many birth defects (low birth weight, missing limbs, heart defects, deafness and many more), toxicity in the central nervous system, and many more in homes classified as "wet" homes. Wet homes were homes located nearby streams, ponds or swells. There were also the "dry" homes that were further away. Studies were conducted comparing any differences between the sicknesses and defects from the people living in either types of home. Typically the wet homes had more problems, yet there were still harmful effects in some dry home residents.
Among the illnesses, people also suffered antagonism between the community and the health department. The people in the community felt that the knowledge of the hazardous waste that the health department had and did not share or "own up to" placing the blame more in their hands as opposed to the Hooker corporation. It seemed very difficult for people to get a voice or for anybody to claim responsibility over the awful side effects that people were having from inhaling or existing among these chemicals. The astounding abnormal events that happened to these people did not put a rush on helping the people or taking the blame for what was happening to them. One hundred miscarriage did not seem convincing enough to shut down the town and help the people.
Eventually there were charges laid against the state agencies, for reasons such as manipulating health data, delaying admission of the existence of a health problem, consequences to employees that were sympathetic to the suffering Love Canal residents, and their effort to discourage independent professional health studies that would make them look bad. Many things were learned from the faults of the state in tragedies such as Love Canal, where ethical and scientific issues were poorly executed.
Image taken from http://www.tophazardouswaste.com/images/hazardous-waste-4_large.jpg
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