3 20 Ha r m fr o m Toxi c Ch e m i c a l s
Toxic pollution at Love Canal
Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, USA. Love Canal
was named after William Love, the man who began digging a canal to connect
two rivers. The canal was never completed. Instead, a chemical company used
the unfinished canal as a waste pit for 21,000 tons of toxic chemicals. Once the
canal was full, the company covered it with soil and then sold the land to the
city for one dollar, with the condition that the company was not responsible for
any health problems that might arise.
Over the years, homes and a school were built next to the buried waste.
Before long, people living in Love Canal began to have serious health problems.
Lois Gibbs, one of the residents, knew something was wrong. “We knew there
were too many miscarriages, too many birth defects, too many nervous system
problems, and too much asthma and other breathing problems among us,”
she said.
Mrs. Gibbs organized the community to demand a government investigation
into these problems. When the government found toxic chemicals leaking into
the ground around people’s homes, the community demanded money from
the government to relocate all the residents. The residents were moved, but
not before many of them suffered serious health problems. Today, an empty
neighborhood and many people suffering lifelong illnesses are reminders of the
dangers of toxic waste at Love Canal.
Lois Gibbs went on to fight against the harm caused by toxic pollution
in other places. Her work helped pressure the US government to pass laws
requiring companies to clean up their toxic wastes. Most importantly, Mrs.
Gibbs helped people believe they have the power to stand up to the chemical
industry, demand a healthy environment, and win! In her book Dying from
Dioxin, she wrote:
We can blame the victim and get
everybody to stop eating milk, fish and
meat, and stop breastfeeding their babies.
Or we can explore how people became
powerless as the corporations became
powerful. We have to discuss why our
government protects the right to pollute
more than it protects our health.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012