"ACTION IS NEEDED ON STROH DRAIN"

The above title is the same one in a Letter to the Editor in today's Elmira Independent newspaper. Currently this week's Independent is not on line yet so I can't include a link to it here. While the title is not mine nevertheless it does to a certain extent capture at least part of my concerns as expressed in the Letter to the Editor. Unmentioned in my letter are the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) identified over the last couple of summers as not declining, as obviously expected by Mr. Karlos of the M.O.E.; but in fact increasing since the 1995-1996 testing. These POPs include DDT and Dioxins.

The Dioxins while numerous also include the very most toxic ones known as 2,3,7,8 TCDD (tetrachlorodibenzodioxin). This is the contaminant found in Trichlorophenols used in the production of 2,4,5-T. 2,4,5-T has been used as a herbicide on its' own as well as mixed with 2,4-D to produce Agent Orange. The U.S. military purchased this product from U.S. sources during the war on Vietnam as well as from Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira, Ontario. For a pacifist Mennonite community this has not been an easy fit. While undoubtedly some Uniroyal and Chemtura products are ubiquitous and clearly beneficial to society, others have been incredibly damaging. The human health damage and destruction are still occurring in multiple generations of both Vietnamese families as well as in the families of U.S. servicemen who handled Agent Orange and its' similar herbicides. Canadians have also suffered due to uses in Gagetown, New Brunswick as well as in northern Ontario where it was used on highway and railroad right of ways.

Action is needed on two or three fronts. The Ontario M.O.E.C.C. have been involved in a coverup with Uniroyal Chemical going back decades. They no longer have the moral authority to be involved in investigating and cleaning up a site that they have worked very hard at pretending is under control. The M.O.E. have lied and deceived the public, the public advisory committee and various levels of government for decades. They threw their lot in with Uniroyal Chemical back in October 1991 presumably to limit further damaging revelations of their own culpability and incompetence.

The east side of Chemtura/Uniroyal can not be ignored any longer. It must be properly investigated by an honest party, not the M.O.E.. Then it must be cleaned up to stop the ongoing discharges of DDT and Dioxins down the creek. An honest study of the health of several generations of downstream residents must be undertaken. Any suffering and damaged health remotely possibly caused by these and other Uniroyal/Chemtura waste products must be addressed, including financial assistance.

There must be both accountability and transparency. Guilty parties must be exposed and if appropriate prosecuted. The public need to know that their environmental protector, the M.O.E., have long ago been co-opted by industry. A massive housecleaning and shakeup would only be the start. And it must all be done publicly or we will be back doing the exact same thing twenty-five more years down the road.