In 1953, the Hooker Electrochemical Corporation, which is now called the Hooker Chemical and Plastics, sold the Love Canal, a trench in the Niagara Falls, New York area, to the Niagara Falls Board of Education. This canal was full of toxic wastes from industrial processes, which the Board of Education was aware of when they decided to build a school over top of the site. It wasn’t until 1978 that the Health Department declared an emergency because toxic wastes were leaching out of the ground and significant health concerns were raised by community members. This declaration was the start of a large controversy over what was to be done for communities not only around the Love Canal, but also other communities near toxic waste dumps throughout the state. This controversy between the bureaucracy and the community stemmed from a disagreement on how to deal with the health issues that resulted from exposure to the chemicals.
Health agencies felt that if they took any action regarding the Love Canal community, further cost would have to be expended to cleanup other toxic waste dumps in the state. Therefore, what started out as a scientific issue, for it had been proven that the chemicals were causing adverse health effects to the resident in the area surrounding this canal, became an issue of ethical judgement. Instead of considering the health of the community, the Health Department was showing more concern over conserving their state resources. Research that the Health Department completed was never revealed. Any scientists interested in the situation were denied access to the findings and therefore could not verify the validity of the conclusions. Also, the community was not informed about the final conclusions of the study, and thus they did not receive any clear answers to their questions regarding the true effects of living in such close proximity to this area could cause. Members of the Health Department who showed any concern regarding the information collected, thus sympathizing with the community members, were harassed, transferred, or forced to leave the department.
As a result of such a prolonged event, similar situations that will arise in the future should be conducted in a way that reduces the amount of controversy over what the study should entail. Proper scientific procedures should be utilized, such as data that is open to speculation from all people concerned, publication of conclusions, and making sure that the study has been reviewed by several peers, or scientists, so that the procedure which the experiment was conducted by can be properly criticized.
As was mentioned, the Love Canal is only one of many events regarding improper management of hazardous wastes’ dumps. There are many examples that can be found, such as the Sydney, Nova Scotia, tar ponds (seen on the left), in which communities have been exposed to chemicals and are now suffering from a variety of health effects. Many of the synthetic chemicals that corporations are using in the manufacturing of their products are not thoroughly researched to find all the negative effects that they can cause in humans and the environment. Short term effects may be easier to identify, but because of many different contributing variables, the long term effects are hard to determine. Furthermore, the synergistic effects of all industrial chemicals combined, since they are often disposed of in the same area, are largely unknown. Therefore, more precaution should be taken when disposing of industrial chemicals, especially when the disposal sites are so close to communities.
In light of our anthropocentric views, our society often neglects to mention that the other living organisms, both plants and animals, suffer adverse effects from toxic chemicals in their environments. Extinctions, high mortality rates, and morphological defects can be noted in species in contaminated areas. Changes in the pH and inorganic substances in the soil have great impacts on the success of plant species. Since animals are mobile and can move away from areas that are not suitable to their survival, plants may be good indicators of contaminated sites since they are immobile.
Lastly, some companies are aware of the possible effects that the wastes from their manufacturing industries can have on the public. However, because of no legislative protection for whistleblowers, or the people in the company who voice concerns for procedures and scientific findings on the various products and wastes in the company, company employees often remain silent because their voice will go unheard. Corporations hold a lot of political power in our countries because of their ability to influence governments and thus, the government does not often charge corporations with immoral/illegal actions such as endangering hundreds or thousands of people.
Easton T. Classic edition sources: environmental studies. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2009. pp. 106-12.
Related links....
Beck EC. The Love Canal. [Online]. Avail from: http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lovecanal/01.htm [2009 Aug 12]
CBC. Details of tar ponds cleanup to be released Wednesday. [Online] Avail from: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/05/11/tarponds040511.html [2004 May 12]
Sydney Tar Ponds Agency. Together making history. [Online]. Avail from: http://www.tarpondscleanup.ca/ [2009]
