Word: toxication
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...from the Chemical Control Corp.'s waterfront facility, where thousands of barrels of chemicals had been illegally stored. For nearly a year, New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection had been working to clean up the mess, and had removed some 10,000 barrels of the most toxic or explosive substances. Despite the department's efforts, though, some critics branded the facility the Three Mile Island of chemical dumps, and others described the remaining 24,000 or so waste-filled barrels as a potential bomb...
...York's situation is not unique. As Journalist Michael Brown points out in a new book, Laying Waste (Pantheon; $11.95), the entire U.S. is dotted with chemical dumps. Most may never explode, but many are slowly leaking their toxic contents into the soil and the water that flows through it, thus threatening the health of generations to come. Says Brown: "We have planted thousands of toxic time bombs; it is only a question of time before they explode...
Unfortunately, Love Canal is only the tip of a tremendous toxic iceberg. A 1978 Environmental Protection Agency study identified 32,254 toxic waste dumps around the U.S., some 800 of which posed "significant imminent hazards" to public health. Brown demonstrates that the chemicals in these sites have already begun to take their toll...
...Warren E.C. Wacker, director of the University Health Services (UHS), said yesterday that the fumes "are not thought to be toxic." He said the UHS labs had tested cultures from the water inside the air conditioner to find out whether or not they were similar to those that caused "Legionnaire's Disease," but added that all the tests were negative...
...business elite. In recent years about 500 American firms have admitted to "illegal or improper payoffs abroad" totalling more than $1 billion. In addition, less obviously illegal--but often more harmful--acts result from unclear and unenforced regulation. Companies usually explain "chemical crime," the deliberate proliferation of toxic wastes and other chemicals into the environment, by pleading ignorance of the consequence of their actions. Ford Motor Company knew that Pintos often exploded on rear-end impact; Firestone failed to disclose evidence that its Radial 500 tires tended to belt-edge separation at high speeds; for 40 years manufacturers suppressed information...