“David Baker (of Anniston, Alabama) drove us around the community. And he explained that this person, this resident, passed away such and such year and this is one of the...our relatives passed away, passed away he passed away. So, it was so heartbreaking. Very, very sad experience,” said Professor Ryoichi Terada, of Tokyo’s Meiji University.2023 marked 20 years since the Monsanto Chemical Company settled with residents of Anniston, Alabama. 20,000 people in this town northeast of Birmingham blamed chemicals called PCBs, produced a local factory, for medical problems ranging from cancer to birth defects. Twenty years later, Anniston still bears the scars, and this isn’t the only alleged example of industrial chemicals killing Alabama neighborhoods, with the apparent endorsement of government.
Please find Alabama Public Radio’s entry for the PMJA award for best short documentary, titled “Bad Chemistry.” The APR team spent ten months, with no budget, producing this program.
Please click here to listen to the program...https://www.apr.org/news/2023-11-17/bad-chemistry-an-apr-news-specialThe impact of Monsanto’s PBCs in Anniston didn’t harm one generation, but many. APR news worked with twenty-four-year-old Taylor Phillips to tell the story of how these chemicals killed members of her family in Anniston, going back to her great grandfather in 1930. Her account leads off “Bad Chemistry.” And, that’s just where we begin.
PCBs aren’t the only chemicals produced by Monsanto blamed for making Alabamians sick. The company was also one of the two biggest manufacturers of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The Veterans Administration says 117,000 Alabama veterans were exposed to the herbicide during the conflict. APR reported on efforts by the VA to extend health benefits to former servicemen and women to help with illnesses made worse by Agent Orange.
The APR news team first reported in 2015 on the effects of arsenic, mercury, and lead from coal ash on the health of residents of Uniontown, Alabama. A landfill in this low-income community near Selma is the dumping site for coal ash, which is leftover pollution from power plants. 8 years later, residents still blame medical problems on the coal ash. While this goes, communities along the Gulf coast are hoping to head off similar problems there.
The Bluestone Coke plant in Birmingham has been closed for five years. Still, critics say the factory is still violating Federal pollution laws and poisoning residents living nearby. APR listeners heard from African Americans who can’t even bathe in the morning because of soot from Bluestone collecting in their homes. The environmental group, Cahaba Riverkeeper, is fighting a “David versus Goliath” battle against the owners of the coke plant, who have stopped paying court ordered fines.
Finally, APR met Professor Ryoichi Terada, and another researcher from Japan, who are studying the long-term impact of PCBs on Anniston, following a similar man-made disaster in their country. Our listeners saw the lingering impact of PCB contamination through the eyes of these visitors.
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