What happened at Love Canal summary?

What happened at Love Canal summary?

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.

What happened in 2011 Love Canal?

LOCKPORT, N.Y. (CN) – Mishandling of a toxic “stew” of chemicals from Love Canal caused birth defects, cancer and other illnesses after they were released during sewer repair work in 2011, hundreds of residents near Niagara Falls claim in court.

What happened at Love Canal in 1978?

1978: Dr. Robert Whalen, state health commissioner, declares a state of emergency at the Love Canal. The 99th Street School is ordered closed, and the commissioner recommends relocation of pregnant women and children under 2 from the first two rings of houses nearest the canal.

What caused the Love Canal tragedy?

What were the effects of the Love Canal?

Completed in 1979, the study found increases amoung residents in miscarriages, still births, crib deaths, nervous breakdowns, hyperactivity, epilepsy and urinary tract disorders. Miscarriages were found to have increased 300%, for example, and most occurred in women who lived in the historically wet areas.

Where Did the Love Canal disaster occur?

Love Canal is an aborted canal project branching off of the Niagara River about four miles south of Niagara Falls. It is also the name of a fifteen-acre, working-class neighborhood of around 800 single-family homes built directly adjacent to the canal.

Who did the Love Canal disaster affect?

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.

Who did the Love Canal affect?

In July, 1978, in the homes immediately adjacent to the landfill there were resident 97 families composed of 230 adults and 134 children. During the 1977-78 school year, 410 students were enrolled at the school.

How was Love Canal fixed?

Industrial chemicals dumped into the partly completed canal by the Hooker Chemical Company from 1947 to 1952 have been removed or contained in one area that was lined with impermeable materials and capped by clay. A drainage system collects water runoff and treats it.

What effects did the Love Canal have?

The Love Canal landfill contained approximately 21,800 tons of chemical wastes. Substantial migration and contamination of soil, groundwater and basement air of nearby homes was apparent in the late 1970s.

What was the outcome of the Love Canal?

The result was the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act—better known as Superfund. A less well-known but equally important outcome of Love Canal was the emergence of a militant, grassroots “environmental justice” movement.

How did the Love Canal change the world?

In the late 1950’s homebuilding began directly adjacent to the Love Canal landfill. Over a period of time about 100 homes were built and an elementary school was opened. Thus were sown the seeds that became the human and environmental disaster we know today as Love Canal.

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