Summary Of Toms River By Dan Fagin

The first part of Toms River by Dan Fagin goes into detail about the history of the chemical industry in New Jersey with the Ciba plant producing dyes and epoxy and their methods of disposing of waste and what effect that had on surrounding individual’s health. There were many groups of people who were exposed to the toxic chemicals produced in the waste products of dyes and epoxy from the Ciba plant. People who were working the factory typically had peak exposure because they were required to scrape and dispose of the waste chemicals daily. Residents of a neighborhood downstream the factory who typically had personal wells and were not customers of Toms River Water avoided the chemically traced water directly from the river for some time,

There is certainly not enough space to examine all twelve stories presented in Lerner’s book in this paper, and they are all shocking—both in terms of the level of exposure to toxic chemicals and the questionable choices of corporate and government officials—but a few stories stand out.

The cause of Parkinson disease, defined by Robert Hauser, who is an author of Medscape, is still unclear. Studies state that there is a combination of environmental and genetic factors for this particular disease. Approximately 10% of cases are currently genetic causes of Parkinson disease. Environmental risk factors such as use of pesticides, living in a rural environment, consumption of well water, exposure to herbicides, and proximity to industrial plants or quarries are commonly associated with the development of Parkinson disease (Hauser, 2016). In addition, according to Hauser, “genetic factors in Parkinson disease appear to be very important when the disease begins at or before age 50 years. In a study of 193 twins, overall concordance for MZ and DZ pairs was similar, but in 16 pairs of twins, in whom Parkinson disease was diagnosed at or before age 50 years, all 4 MZ pairs, but only 2 of 12 DZ pairs, was concordant.The identification of a few families with familial Parkinson disease sparked further interest in the genetics of the disease.

When you think about the pinnacle city, the turning point in the Industrial Revolution, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. It was a city that perfectly encapsulated the American Dream and set the standard for the working class in America. Flint, Michigan was home to General Motors and at one point they were the driving force of the economy. However, that success was fleeting due to globalization and with many competing companies outsourcing, GM had to make many tough decisions that ultimately led to its downsize. When GM left Flint, the city was devastated and it’s exit contributed to the poverty we see now. The post-industrial era not only left the city in despair, but also left many things in questions, such as the large amounts of lead used during that era that has thus left the city more vulnerable. The current crisis in Flint is able to portray the damages of this ‘industrial legacy’ that has now affected their water. The Flint water crisis could have been avoided had they properly assessed the situation and went in with the proper tools. Just how they were able to assess and adjust laws to save people during the industrial revolution, Flint needs to implement the same changes. This case is able to illustrate the ways in which race and socioeconomic status intersect with one 's insurance to uphold human rights and environmental health.

During Erin’s discovery of the facts of the case we begin to see the breakdown of the ethical values of PG&E. The dramatization focuses on the deception that PG&E has cast over the inhabitants of Hinkley, California. For years, the company has been polluting the environment with a known deadly toxin, Chromium six. The toxin seeped into natural underground water reservoirs then into the unsuspecting town

The author uses the aspect of how the children’s health deteriorating to have the audience moved through the concept of devastation, making them sway in his argument. He even fuels the audience anger by stating how the government, for years, have not funded the people to help with water, causing the people to get stuck with using contaminated water. Using these points to make the audience feel a certain way after reading the article and want to help with what is going in

To address the issue of unregulated fertilizer pollution in water supplies, Glennon quantitatively analyzes the amount of fertilizer that is used in the United States: “According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agricultural industry annually applies 110 billion pounds of fertilizer to one-eighth of the landmass of the continental United States” (69). With this statistic, Glennon creates opportunities in his piece to include new and compelling evidence that demonstrates the dangers of water pollution and its impacts on the nation. Along with this statistic concerning fertilizers, Glennon further expands his claim to describe the issue of runoff from other chemicals, such as perchlorate, in water supplies: “…the contamination plume from the Kerr-McGee plant contains 20 million pounds of perchlorate dissolved in more than 9 billion gallons of water” (69). By including the words “million” and “billion” in his data about chemical runoff, Glennon intimidates the reader into believing that these contamination issues affect populations on an enormous scale. He also frequently uses authoritative figures to strengthen his claim: “[A 2004 EPA report] alarmingly predicted that as many as 355,000 hazardous waste sites would require cleanup over the next thirty years, costing $250 billion” (75). Glennon attempts to alarm the reader and expose the detrimental costs of water pollution and its widespread consequences. However, while Glennon usually cites his evidence, he also includes information from unknown sources, which causes the reader to question the validity of some of his claims. In one argument concerning TCE, another industrial chemical, Glennon declares the dangers of the chemical without

Within the novel Overstory: Zero is a piece of writing authored by Robert Heilman titled “Who Owns the River?”; he describes the effects humans have on the environment from a different perspective. Heilman explains the significance of rivers in his life, allowing the reader to understand how the ecology of the area is effected by human intrusion. Through the history of the South Umpqua River, his life experiences in Myrtle Creek and also, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, Heilman emphasizes the importance of treating the environment with care so it can do its job of providing for its people. After growing up in Los Angeles, Heilman understands what it is like to live in an environment without a river.

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.

After the defeat with the sole use of the popular epidemiology technique, Lois Gibbs and the Homeowners Association decided to take a different approach when confronting the state. The Association elaborated that the toxic chemicals were “an attack on the nuclear family, as the toxic contamination threatened reproduction and homes” (Hay, “Everyone's Backyard: The Love Canal Chemical Disaster”). They showed that the chemicals were affecting the way the household should run, by hindering the reproduction process, and that the families who have not relocated should, in order to preserve the “[way of life]”. As the past attempts have failed, this effort too failed to get all community members relocated (Hay, “Everyone's Backyard: The Love Canal

This document, Recipe for Disaster: Motherhood and Citizenship at Love Canal, holds focus to the decades between 1960-1980’s in which the residents of Niagara Falls, New York faced a large problem of toxic waste surrounding their homes. Its author, Amy M. Hay, reveals specific characteristics about the area such as homes being built on the toxic land in addition to the toxins taking a toll on the environment. In “the Love Canal” as it is nicknamed, children are constantly falling to illnesses’, mothers seem to keep falling victim to miscarriages, and residents are faced with the dilemma of deciding between leaving or remaining in their homes at the Loving Canal. Correspondingly, all of the aforementioned seems to be happening on a constant

This article explores the outcomes of human error, in which an employee, at San Jose’s wastewater treatment, accidentally released nearly one million gallons of partially treated sewage into the San Francisco Bay. The error occurred when the employee turned the wrong valve, which had been discovered and closed ten minutes later. The incident had not caused any damage or harm to the environment or to the public, since the sewage had been secondarily treated - meaning that 95 percent of “suspended solids” are removed. Samples of water were taken by the outflow of the pipe and revealed that the wastewater had not surpassed health limits proposed by the federal or state government. Environmentalists are tracking the conditions and have not found

A beautiful city, Niagara Falls in the state of New York, ruined by careless decisions of the city of Niagara Falls and The Hooker Chemical Company. Families suffered and died from several of diseases cause by toxic waste that was place underground near homes and schools. A mother, Louis Gibbs who lived near the Love Canal said, “ When I brought this American dream home my son was one and very healthy. Then he started to get very ill and experiences some liver problems, asthma, and then epilepsy. I could not understand, they came one after another, until I read a series written by Mr. Michael Brown, who explained that the Love Canal has toxic waste underneath the neighborhood school and it leaches in resident homes.” She continued on by

Human exposure whether directly or through diet may result in acute and delayed health effects. Food contaminated with toxic pesticides is associated with severe effects on human health (Kaushik et al. 2009, Forget 1991; Amoguis et al. 2010; Androutsopoulos et al. 2012). WHO estimates show that over 500,000 people died from self poisoning in South East Asia and Western Pacific during 2000 alone (WHO 2001; Litchfield 2005). In developing countries, the estimated annual incidence rate in agricultural workers was found to be 18.2 per 100 000 full-time workers and 7.4 per million school children (Bolognesi and Merlo 2011). In India, poisoning due to pesticides was first reported in 1958 in Kerela where over more than 100 people died after consuming parathion contaminated wheat flour (Karunakaran 1958) and the proportion has been quite

Unfortunately, there is more research on the effect of pesticides and cancer on farm owners than on farmworkers (Zham et al. 1993). However, the exposure between each group and pesticides is different, in addition of different working conditions that could also influence the incidence of certain diseases and cancers. As for the pesticide exposure, farm owners only faced this when mixing or applying the pesticides (Zham et al. 1993). In the other hand, farmworkers are exposed to pesticides during “cultivation, weeding and harvesting crops” (Zham et al. 1993). In Zham’s study, forty-seven percent of farmworkers reported that they had worked in the crops two days after the crops had been sprayed with pesticides (Zham et al. 1993). Also, farmworkers exposure to pesticides can happen due to leaks or accidental drifts. In the other hand, due to the nature of the job, farmworkers work under extreme conditions where they work