Word: toxication
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...NYPIRG study indicates that hundreds of chemicals, many of them carcinogens, have been dumped into the Hudson for years. Normal water purification processes do little to filter these toxic chemicals, leaving them in drinking water. The study found traces of the harmful chemicals in household tap water. "Any amount of a carcinogen should be considered unsafe. We don't know what the threshold levels are," Hang said...
Pesticides provide other toxic horror stories. The pesticide Phosvel (also known as leptaphose) has been banned from use in the United States, but it was produced here for export from 1971 until 1975, by the Velsicol Corporation. In 1969, Velsicol commissioned a testing group to study Phosvel's danger to humans. The group advised Velsicol not to manufacture Phosvel because of its high toxidity and its adverse effects on test animals. Velsicol ignored the report and began producing the pesticide in 1971, providing no industrial safeguards for its workers. Employees shovelled the pesticide into bags, while clouds of dust containing...
...Velsicol Corporation began production in 1976 of another pesticide, EPN, which scientists suspect is twice as toxic as Phosvel. EPN and Phosvel have the same chemical base. The EPA has recommended the EPN be banned from the United States. At present, several major companies manufacture EPN, the largest being DuPont Chemical Company...
Another pesticide that kills humans as well as insects is Kepone, produced by the Life Science Products plant in Hopewell, Virginia. The plant began production of the highly toxic chemical in March, 1974. Within weeks, employees began to experience symptoms of tremors and ataxia (loss of control of some motor functions). Federal health inspectors found Kepone dust thick in the air of the plant, blanketing the floor, and covering tables where the workers ate their meals...
Other victims of industrial toxic poisoning have not been so fortunate. A Pittsburgh-Corning Corporation that uses asbestos to manufacture fire-resistant industrial sleeves was closed in 1972 for numerous health violations. Asbestos dust was so thick in the air that it was often impossible to see across the 200-foot wide plant interior. Asbestos covered the floor and the meal tables. Plant ventilators were clogged with the dust...