Love Canal Follow-USudy Summary

Health history of a patient is an important tool in identifying health issues and devising efficient interventions to address them. Hence, health providers can use health history information to diagnose, treat and plan for the care of the patients (Ball et al., 2006). In that light, we will focus on the patient named BB for purposes of privacy and confidentiality. BB is a 70-year-old Caucasian female. The patient resides and recently just moved to Show Low, Arizona. She is married and operates her business with the help of her husband. The interview was conducted at her home in Show Low, Arizona. More importantly, the patient's consent was sought before this meeting and she was assured of the confidentiality of the information shared

Many people felt hopeful while others felt guilty. One woman said, "We knew they put chemicals into the canal and filled it over, but we had no idea the chemicals would invade our homes. We're worried sick about the grandchildren and their children." (epa.gov). The government agreed to purchase new homes. Over seven-million dollars were spent to purchase new homes. Along with the purchase came the plan to fix the problem. The plan was to drain the canal of the chemicals, and to plow the homes destroyed by the chemicals.

From 1942 until 1953, the canal was filled with 21,800 tons of toxic chemical wastes (Hoffman 6). The uncertain inventory includes over 13 million pounds of lindane (benzene hexachloride), more than 4 million pounds of chlorobenzenes, and 400,000 pounds of dioxin-contaminated trichlorophenol, which are all extremely carcinogenic compounds. There are at least 200 identified chemicals dumped in the canal, but many unknowns are also present as a result of chemical reactions that took place in the complex mixture.

The homes in the area were built very close to an old canal that had been used a landfill for hazardous waste. Over time the hazardous waste leached into the surrounding soil and city water, causing birth defects, death of pets, and injuries to those in contact with the soil and water. With that, the Superfund legislation was created. “Mr. Carter asked Congress for legislation that would establish a $1.6 billion fund to enable the Government to respond to the Love Canal and similar hazards, and that the financial burden should fall on those chiefly responsible for generating toxic

Although drinking water is not yet known to have been affected, the groundwater was contaminated with volatile organic compounds and heavy metals (5). Both of these types of contaminants have been linked with one or several of the following: cancer, liver, kidney, and nervous system problems (4). In July 1979, the State Court required that all material be removed from the site by July 1980 (5). The state has spent over $300,000 cleaning this site (5). According to EPA standards, this site is in the "construction completed" stage of clean up. This does not mean, however that actual cleanup is complete because groundwater may need to be treated more than 30 years before contaminants are at accepted levels (5).

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (2006). Community Health Profiles: South Shore Staten Island. Retrieved from http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2006chp-504.pdf

Superfund sites are districts in communities that have abandoned hazardous wastes on territories that need immediate removal.In the early 70’s the Comprehensive Environmental Response and Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 encouraged Superfund statues in Washington and these statues handle issues associated with land pollution and abandoned hazardous waste on territories .Superfund acts aid Washington and environmental agencies with removing hazardous waste and it also, allows them to pursue people and corporations that own hazardous waste territories. The principles for the Superfund acts include the quick removal of hazardous materials when environmental regulations demand it, bringing legal disputes against owners of hazardous waste territories, initiating communities and states in waste removal processes and developing extended programs that protect citizens from hazardous waste territories .In the late 70's environmental advocates discovered the contamination at the Superfund site called the Love Canal in Niagara Falls ,NY and they also discovered the surrounding territories contained pollutants and abandoned hazardous waste .The Love Canal is New York states first case of environmental neglect by a corporation and this community and facilities contained hazardous polluted water and dirt that resulted from years of accidental spills ,leaks and irresponsible business recycling

Love Canal, a Niagra Falls, New York neighborhood, drew headline attention after newspaper sources revealed that the land had been used to bury excessive amounts of toxic waste, in the form of lye and chlorinated limestone by the landowners, Hooker Chemical Company, in the 1920s.

At first, the local government and scientists denied there was any problem at Love Canal, prolonging the exposure while citizens kept getting sicker and sicker and the problem continued to grow. Finally, the governor of New York announced the state would purchase the contaminated homes and help with a relocation effort, with emergency founding by President Carter. While at first exacerbating the situation, the government eventually aided in removing citizens from toxic

In the academic journal written by Ronald A. MacGillivray the purpose was to find out information about the Delaware River and how polluted it is. The research was done over a four-year period to find out if lethal toxins were coming out of tributaries (MacGillivrary et al., 2011). The research was done by a sampling procedure. The researchers would go out into the field and collect samples on a weekly basis depending on the weather to see how the toxic levels in the river were from 16 different locations (MacGillivrary et al., 2011). At the end of the four years that the research was taken the results were conclusive that the tributaries that led into the Delaware River were found to be at normal toxic water level rates (MacGillivrary et al., 2011). The pollution levels found were normal with a few exceptions depending on the water content of the day (MacGillivrary et al., 2011).

Lois Gibbs and the other homeowners at Love Canal had no idea that their neighborhood was built on a chemical dump. So for this question I went to the EPA website and looked up three different superfund sites closest to me. My findings were actually shocking. There were four to five different super fund sites near where I live and most of them were in Newark. I did not realize that they were only two towns away. Before this assignment I had no idea about these superfund sites. I did know that Passaic river is a dirty river because Newark was an industrial hub before.

A month later, tests performed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that excessive rates of lead were present in the water supply, rates that far exceeded the EPA’s limit (CNN, 2017). Another test in March indicated even higher levels of lead. A switch back to the DWSD was proposed and denied following the second test. A lawsuit was also filed against the city claiming the water to be a health risk, but the case was dismissed.

The specific examples were a patient who died from digoxin toxicity for failure to accurately

The environment and the health of the surrounding population go hand in hand. The Environmental Protection Agency takes on this ever so important mission of protecting them both. The mission statement of the EPA states, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Small Business Programs is to support the protection of human health and the environment by advocating and advancing the business, regulatory, and environmental compliance concerns of small and socio-economically disadvantaged businesses, and minority academic institutions (US Enviromental Protection Agency, 2010).” The impact of its mission can be defined clearly as it examines the impact of contamination in the air, the water, and the land on human health.

By the late 1920’s the canal was being used as a dumpsite by municipal and commercial entities. 82 different chemicals 11 of them known carcinogens had been dumped by the Hooker Chemical Company for over twenty five years. In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company, then the owners and operators of the property, covered the canal with earth and sold it to the city for one dollar. This was definitely a bad buy for the city of Niagara, unfortunately it would take over 20 years to realize it. During that time more than 100 homes and one elementary school had been built over the landfill, this was definitely not the city that Love had envisioned.