What was the Love Canal incident?
The Love Canal area was originally the site of an abandoned canal that became a dumping ground for nearly 22,000 tons of chemical waste (including polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxin, and pesticides) produced by the Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation in the 1940s and ’50s.
Are people still living in Love Canal?
Today, there are still a few occupied homes on 101st Street and many on 93rd Street, but there are also plaintiffs in the new Love Canal litigation who lived on 93rd Street and say they got sick, some of them recently.
Why did the Love Canal disaster happen?
How did the Love Canal affect humans?
From 1974 to 1978, 56% of the children in the Love Canal neighborhood were born with a birth defect, including three ears, a double row of teeth, and mental retardation. There were almost three times as many defects in historically wet areas. State health authorities quickly dismissed the study.
What is Love Canal called today?
In 1988, New York State Department of Health Commissioner David Axelrod called the Love Canal incident a “national symbol of a failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations”….
| Love Canal | |
|---|---|
| The area in 2012. | |
| Geography | |
| City | Niagara Falls |
| County | Niagara County |
What’s happening at 99th Street School?
May 15- State officials meet with Love Canal residents at 99th Street School to provide them with information on the state’s plan. May 19- Health Department toxicologist meets with residents to explain hazards from exposure to toxic chemicals.
What really happened under Love Canal?
In October of 1976, the Niagara Gazette reported on the abundance of toxic chemicals resting beneath Love Canal. Residents were startled, and started connecting the dots of what at first seemed like anomalous, unrelated incidents. Lois Gibbs, a 27-year-old housewife, had a son whose health suffered after enrolling in the 99th Street School.
Why was the elementary school on the Love Canal site delayed?
That the City of Niagara Falls Board of Education temporarily delay opening the elementary school on the Love Canal site to minimize exposure of school age children to waste chemicals while corrective construction activities at the school take place.
Is Love Canal a public health emergency?
Not long after the EPA tests were released Commissioner Whalen declared the site of Love Canal a health emergency and implemented a state of emergency for the region.