The two articles were published on August 17, 2020 in an article by Leah Gerber titled "Film looks back on Elmira's toxic past" as well as on August 20, 2020 in an Opinion piece by Susan Koswan. The first article focused on the Documentary's message of the effects of the use of Agent Orange by the U.S. in Vietnam as a weapon of war. It also tells readers about the after effects in Elmira, Ontario as the town continues its' decades long alleged "cleanup". The town's drinking water aquifers were destroyed as well as the Canagagigue Creek which flows through town and discharges five miles away into the Grand River. They were destroyed by chemical company Uniroyal Chemical with able assistance from at least two other companies (Varnicolor Chemical & Nutrite/Yara). While Dioxins in Agent Orange have done extreme damage around the world they were compounded by many more contaminants discharged onto land and into the air and Creek including such as NDMA, DDT, benzene, lindane and more.
The second article/Opinion piece by Susan Koswan focuses a little more on a number of Elmira activists including myself, Susan Rupert etc. Ms. Koswan also has strong words for the Ontario Ministry of Environment. They are strong words not complimentary ones. My cynicism concerning delays and lawyers' fees is also mentioned as I suggest that lawyers' fees are much cheaper than cleanup fees. On a similar vein I suggest that a part of the company's and Ministry's strategy is delay, delay , delay waiting for the activists to die off.
These are two well done articles and credit goes to the Waterloo Region Record i.e. K-W Record for educating the public on this local, ongoing issue.
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