It’s common knowledge that the US is one of the world’s superpowers, with the highest technological advancements and a high standard of living. Yet its history seems marred by several man-made disasters, which have had devastating health consequences that linger on for generations.
From industrial accidents to environmental negligence, these disasters exposed vulnerabilities in a rock-solid system. From the AFFF crisis to the toxic neighbourhood infamously called the Love Canal, we will delve into the details of several man-made disasters with severe health implications.
The AFFF Contamination Crisis
According to TorHoerman Law, major brands like DuPont, 3M, and others manufacture the product. There is an active lawsuit in the US against these companies. Over 300 military sites have suspected discharges of AFFF, which is quite alarming.
Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF Fire Fighting Foam) is a firefighting agent used to put out flammable liquid fire. The substance contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals. These are infamously known as “forever chemicals,” as they don’t break down and persist indefinitely in the environment and human body.
You can file a lawsuit if you are a firefighter, military personnel, airport worker, industrial worker, or someone living near a suspected AFFF site. If you or someone you know are a cancer patient and suppose it to be caused by exposure to AF, promptly seek legal advice. There is a whole process to file VA claims for exposure to AFFF, and veterans need to follow it.
Flint Water Crisis: Lead Poisoning
One of the most recent cases, the Flint Water Crisis, was a gross oversight by the government. It all began in 2014 when the City of Flint in Michigan changed its water source to the Flint River as a cost-cutting measure. Little did they know that this cost-cutting effort would be expensive in the long run.
The city of Flint failed to treat the highly corrosive river water properly. The river was an unofficial dumping site for treated and untreated waste from local industries, ranging from car factories to meat packing plants. The river was also home to raw sewage from Flint City’s waste treatment plant, leaching landfills, and more.
As Flint officials failed to treat the water properly, lead leached out from aging pipes into the city’s homes. Lead is a potent neurotoxin capable of halting brain development, lowering IQ, and causing learning disabilities.
A 2015 report showed elevated lead levels in Flint water, and residents sued the city and state officials to secure safe drinking water. The legal battle is ongoing to hold the responsible parties accountable and compensate victims for the lifelong consequences of lead poisoning. While EPA has recently announced that lead in Flint water is now at acceptable levels, the city’s residents continue to be skeptical.
Radium Girls: A Glow-in-the-Dark Tragedy
Do you remember analog wristwatches with radium dials from the past? There’s a tragic story and severe disaster associated with them. In the early 20th century, factories hired young women to paint radium dials, and they were called Radium Girls.
These radium girls were asked to use their lips to point their paint brushes, and as a result, they unknowingly ingested toxic amounts of radium. This led to many of these radium girls developing debilitating diseases like anemia and bone cancer.
These women fought a legal battle with the US Radium Corporation, which ended in a landmark victory. The lawsuit established the workers‘ right to compensation for occupational diseases and kicked off crucial reforms in worker safety regulations.
Love Canal: The Toxic Neighbourhood
There is no bigger environmental disaster in the US than the Love Canal, initially designed as a model planned community in Niagara Falls. The site was originally the dumping ground for around 22,000 tons of chemical waste by Hooker Chemical Company in the 1940s and 50s.
When the community was built atop the buried toxic waste, the residents were oblivious to the danger lurking beneath their homes. In the late 1970s, residents started noticing abnormal amounts of miscarriages, congenital disabilities, and cancer cases. The state officials then detected leakage of toxic chemicals into the basement of homes in the area. It caused the residents to develop an abnormally high incidence of chromosomal damage.
Following the discovery, Love Canal was evacuated, and New York State purchased abandoned land. It was capped and fenced off with buildings razed. Occidental Chemical Corporation, which acquired Hooker in the late 1960s, agreed to pay a $20,000,000 settlement to 1300 former residents, $98 million to New York to compensate for the cleanup, and $129 million to the federal government.
These were some of the most disastrous events in US history with several common denominators. These include corporate negligence, profit over safety, government inaction, and more. These tragedies boldly highlight the need for corporate accountability and a robust support system for victims.