DuPont a well-known and once very well respected chemical company, is now known for their irresponsible business tactics and the way they dealt with the chemicals onsite, and the pollution it caused in our air and our drinking water. DuPont purchased a large piece of land about sixty acres in New York, West Virginia, known as a small town and consisted of a lot of farming and irrigation, cattle, and production of crops. The DuPont case started when a local farmer in the community exploited the footage of the stream nearby being polluted with chemicals from the DuPont plant. The local towns people, were fed up with the situation in their town and the injurious ways it was affecting their cattle, so they set up a meeting with a corporate defense …show more content…
DuPont was aware of the harmful effects this chemical had on animals and people but ignored the issue in accordance of high profit. Not only were people affected in the local community, but people in surrounding areas were also affected. Thousands of people and large amounts of property were inflicted with poor air quality and poor drinking water. DuPont had later discovered that there were dust fumes emerging from the factories that were unhealthy for people to inhale, and later found it in the drinking water. DuPont also found an astonishing key of evidence, they had found PFOA in the water, and it was twice the amount of what was allowed, and could cause some serious issues. They had known about the levels and did not notify any workers or anyone in the community due to the fear of loss of profit. Men and women were coming home with a fever, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. These workers endured injurious experiences, and were never notified about the condition in which they were working. DuPont was named as not trustworthy, and at times known to practice illegal activity. After going through the experiences of which they just endured, they might go through the process of mental thinking or what they just went through was not right and should not have happened to me. That process is known as …show more content…
DuPont let the hazardous pollution in the water and air go without notifying the people which directly relates to Holmes idea of “How much can I get away with before bringing the power of the state upon me.” He believes that Law is not just a bunch of rules, rather it is a flexible social institution. The people who are fighting the DuPont case can relate to the universal ideal. The towns people are involved with the wrong doing of DuPont and the law. The DuPont people feel as though the laws were violated and they were not treated equally, being as DuPont is a large corporation and the victims are just one single
By having knowledge of the chromium in the water supply, PG&E should have been required to let the people know that were affected by it. By not telling the citizens, they were withholding information that affected these people’s lives. Because a risk was created, consequences came, and nothing was done to prevent such injuries that did occur, PG&E should have been considered negligent.
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,
The W.R. Grace Company, Riley Eannery, and Unifirst Corporation were prominent factories in Wobourn. Jan speculated they were to have illegally dumped a dangerous carcinogen known as TCE into the ground, sewer, and water systems of the Woborn community. These poisons were thought by Jan, and the community, to have polluted two water wells that acted as a water supply for the community. Many of the people who worked at the factories experienced many medical problems such as cancer and died at young ages. Community members experienced numerous medial problems such as flu-like symptoms, memory loss, cancers, leukemia, burning eyes, and skin, and death. The water over the years was said to have gone from natural, to smelling, to dark and dangerous.
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.
A civil action covers the case of Anne Anderson, et al., v. Cryovac, Inc., et al. It deals with the negligence in regards to the proper storage, disposal and handling of trichloroethylene, which is an industrial solvent and had contaminated the town’s local aquifer. The movie is based on a nonfiction book that cover the case and provides more details in regards. Though Travolta’s character lost his case, in the end, the Environmental Protection Agency, used the information from the case to eventually prosecute the companies responsible for the spill and had them clean up.
Did Lorman’s wastewater emissions play any role in this tragic outcome?” Although these are Ben’s thoughts, this is not definitely the case; there is no definite proof that there is a link between the chemicals in the wastewater emissions and health problems. Ben must put aside his our pre-conceived notions and work objectively on the data. This is another good example of his responsibility to use integrity when making a decision to avoid conflicts of interest. 4. To the board of directors: o “Although collected with meticulous care, the data Ben had painstakingly gathered was composed only of educated estimates, leaving him with an uneasy feeling.” Although Ben may want to present his data in a way that supports his decision, it is important that his audiences know the legitimacy of his data. It is his responsibility to communicate information fairly and objectively and to disclose any deficiencies in the data. 5. To shareholders of Lorman Lumber Co: o “Company and shareholder profitability would certainly be affected.” In order to support Ben’s credibility, it is important that he disclose all relevant information to the investors of Lorman Lumber Co. Although shareholder equity would most certainly be affected by such a significant capital investment and reduction of revenue in the short run, Ben could be ensuring shareholder value over the long run by improving productivity, lowering negative
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
Right after the pollution happened, the State of Carolina decided to erect large warming signs telling people to have cautions on the PCBs. From public’s point of view, the PCBs had become a serious threat to health and soil condition. Consequently, State of Carolina found it really hard to deal with the polluted soil. A legal, long, and regulatory preparation had to be made. Finally, the state decided to landfill all the soil in the Warren County. As we can imagine people in the county would not
The article from the Huffington Post entitled Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia: Home to the most brazen, deadly corporate gambits in U.S. history describes the atrocities performed in part by the DuPont chemical plant in West Virginia. The plant was dispersing its hazardous chemicals into the streams and landfills. The hazardous chemical known as C8 was causing extreme health effects to the local residents of the town of Parkersburg. People were getting severely ill and people’s cattle were dying faster than they could be replaced. Yes, these acts were heinous, but the worst of it all was the fact that the company had so much control of the area that they were able to keep doing what they were doing and only face minor penalties if any…sickening. So basically the lesson here is, if you have money and the resources, you can control just about anything. DuPont had both, and that is why they were able to do what they did. C8, or Perfluorooctanoic acid was the chemical that was causing the massive health issues across the state. People were wanting to sue DuPont for the takeoff of C8 being into the water that they were partaking in.
In the beginning of this essay I would like to present some facts and figures related to our topic. On December 3, 1984, at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India there was a deadly leak of methyl isocyanate. It caused thousands of people to die and affected generations to come. The leak happened due to a series of human and mechanical failures. The local health officials were neither knowledgeable about the deadly chemical that was being stored there nor were they equipped to handle the tragedy. Another incident happened at the Union Carbide plant in West Virginia. A toxic cloud of the same chemical was leaked into the atmosphere and it was a shocking reminder that such accidents could happen in the both developed and developing countries. The statistics prove that chemical spills occur on a regular basis in different parts of the world. In 1976 there were
The attempt to link the harm to the behavior of the defendant produced its share of successes and failures for the Schlichtmann team. Not only did the plaintiffs have to prove that the corporations contaminated the water, but they also had to show that the contamination caused the leukemia and the other health problems. To do this they enlisted the help and expertise of numerous doctors and specialists. Naturally the defending side recruited their own set of experts. As in any case, each side is going to have an expert who will refute the testimony of the other side’s expert. This is a normal part of arguing a case, but can cause confusion and complication on the part of the jurors.
(Or maybe they did know but the patients medical plans didn’t cover that sort of treatment!) Why would anyone be so heartless to put a toxic dump next to an elementary school, make excuses, “little boys rupture their kidneys playing football, not because they are exposed to chemicals”, keep it in secrecy, “The staff was instructed not to tell the parents”, and down right lie about it while children are deathly ill? “We had foam in the community which they kept telling us was agricultural foam.” Why? I can’t comprehend this.
DuPont began life in 1802, as a gunpowder manufacturer supplying the US Army under President Thomas Jefferson. The company had a long tradition of technological innovations in business and it continues to serve worldwide markets including food and nutrition; health care; agriculture; fashion and apparel; home and construction; and electronics. Among some of its inventions are nylon stockings invented in 1939, Teflon for pans, Kevlar for bullet-proof vests, stainmaster for carpets, the synthetic fabric lycra, and Dacron for clothing. In 1999 the company held a portfolio of 2000 trademarks and brands. DuPont was the 15th largest company in the US with its 1998 revenue
Polyethylene is the world’s most widely used plastic. Polyethylene plastic’s principal application was in packaging, from trash bags to milk jugs. It was widely used in the manufacture of everything from trash bags, picnic cutlery and garbage pails, to plastic toys. Polyethylene also replaced glass, wood, and metal in certain applications.
The second section of the book focused on the chemical industry, specifically vinyl chloride, where it was explained there was little known about the effects of chemicals. Because of this, there was the question of whether “a product was to be considered safe until proven dangerous” or vice versa where a product was considered dangerous until proven safe. This time the public showed greater opposition to the use of vinyl chloride, as environmentalists and labor unions united to reveal the harmful effects of it. Similar to the lead industry, the chemical industry also fought back reasoning to the government that only high levels of chemical exposure was harmful to people and the government