"HISTORIC POLLUTION" THE BATTLE CRY OF THE UNREQUITED POLLUTER

Uniroyal Chemical claimed it and still does. Varnicolor Chemical did not. Ciba-Geigy in New Jersey and Breslube/Safety-Kleen in Breslau both claimed it was so. The big lie is that science, government and industry didn't know it was dangerous to bury toxic wastes in the ground. This excuse covers both liquid and solid wastes in the 1940's, 50's, 60's and even 70's. A couple of years back I presented as a Delegation to the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) in which I gave a brief history of toxic waste disposal in Europe back at the turn of the century. That would be the turn from the 1800's to the 1900's. Following are some more details including direct river discharge.

Basel Switzerland 1865- "The city also sued Muller-Pack on behalf of the poison victims. In March of 1865, after eight months in court, he was found guilty of gross negligence. Muller-Pack was ordered to pay a large fine and compensate the victims as well as nearby property owners for the loss of their property values. He even had to deliver clean drinking water to the neighbourhood." Pg. 15 TOMS RIVER by Dan Fagin

"Even more ominously, physicians were noticing a new kind of illness they called "aniline tumours"." "In 1895 he diagnosed bladder cancer in three of of the fourty-five dye workers he examined...". "By 1906 he had documented thirty-eight similarily stricken workers in Frankfurt, and other doctors in Switzerland and Germany were making similar observations." Pg. 17 TOMS RIVER

"...the fouling of one of America's great rivers (Ohio) became a regional scandal and the subject of four congressional hearings between 1936 and 1945." Pg. 20 TOMS RIVER

The big pharmaceutical and dye companies started in Germany and Switzerland in the mid to late 1800's. They buried wastes on land and then they dumped them in the Rhine and other rivers. They moved to North America both to avoid their domestic tariffs as well as to be able to start over and pretend they had no knowledge of the death and mayhem their wastes caused. From big cities like Cinncinati they moved on to smaller more rural areas like Toms River, New Jersey. Here in Canada they operated locally in Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge in textiles, dyes, pesticides, rubber additives etc.. Moving to small towns like Elmira was a natural. Jobs were needed and local politicians were naive at best and wilfully blind at worst.