Word: midlands
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Following a 1964 dioxin spill and outbreak of chloracne at Dow's Midland, Mich., plant and complaints from consumers, Dow met with other chemical companies to discuss "problems of health" associated with dioxin. Dow says that the get-together was an attempt to police the industry from within and coordinate methods to keep the level of dioxin in Agent Orange below the danger point. In 1970 Dow recommended to then Defense Secretary Melvin Laird that the Government set a safer maximum level of dioxin content in Agent Orange...
Chicago's Midland Hotel has already put terminals in 100 of its 300 rooms at a cost of $30,000. Some 120 other hotels, including Hiltons, Sheratons, Marriotts and Holiday Inns, are currently installing the machines in 80 cities...
...chilly morning in March 1965, a highly unusual gathering took place at Dow Chemical Co.'s headquarters in Midland, Mich. Without any corporate fanfare, Dow scientists met with colleagues from three rival firms, Hooker Chemical, Diamond Alkali and Hercules Powder. On the agenda that day was a discussion of the effects on human health of a family of chemicals known as dioxin. The chemicals, including Agent Orange, later used by the U.S. to defoliate the jungles of Viet Nam, are an unwanted byproduct in the making of herbicides. At the time, most chemists were only vaguely aware of dioxin...
...after 64 workers at its Midland plant developed chloracne following exposure to dioxin, Dow began a full-scale investigation of its effects. When dioxin was administered to rabbits, their livers were severely damaged. As one participant in the 1965 meeting later wrote, the Dow scientists reported that "even vigorous washing of the [rabbit's] skin 15 minutes after application [of dioxin] will not prevent damage and may possibly enhance the absorption of the material...
...years after the private parley of scientists, the Midland area is still wrestling with dioxin. It continues to show up in tainted water from Dow's Midland plant, has been found in fish in ten Michigan rivers and is the source of considerable anxiety among local residents. Says Diane Herbert, a young mother of two children: "Almost everyone seems to have thyroid problems, and there are a lot of skin tumors and allergies in pets." To assess those fears, Michigan's state health department is seeking state or federal money for a major study of dioxin...