CBC "DOC ZONE" FILMING IS IN ELMIRA TODAY

Sometime next spring CBC's "DOC ZONE" will be airing a documentary regarding the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, South Vietnam. I have been advised that while the bulk of the filming is in Vietnam and the United States there will be about five minutes of the documentary focusing on Elmira, Ontario. Elmira is the home of the former Uniroyal Chemical now known as Chemtura. Uniroyal gained infamy through their destruction of the Elmira drinking water aquifers primarily through a carcinogenic chemical known as NDMA . This company have handled and mishandled many more extremely dangerous chemicals including parathion, lindane, diacetyl, DDT and Dioxins.

Filming today will be in regards to the toxic contaminant found in 2,4,5-T (trichlorophenoxyacetic acid) which is known as Dioxin more specifically 2,3,7,8 TCDD (tetrachlorodibenzodioxin). 2,4,5-T was combined with equal parts of 2,4-D to produce what the U.S. military referred to as Agent Orange. This herbicide was sprayed in massive quantities in South Vietnam to remove brush, trees and cover for the Viet Cong. A particular goal was to defoliate the Ho Chi Minh trail used to bring war supplies southwards in the north's fight against the U.S..

These dioxins have been transported both by solvent laced groundwater as well as by erosion including normal spring flooding. As a direct result they as well as DDT can be found in the Canagagigue Creek sediments and floodplain several miles downstream, all the way to the Grand River. Besides studies in the 90's the Ontario Ministry of the Environment are back this summer for the third summer in a row doing studies and testing for dioxins and DDT in the Canagagigue Creek. I am forever optimistic (sort of) that this time after the testing will come a real cleanup.