Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
precedence for environmental jurisprudence had been
more on the order of nuisance laws. With the greater
recognition of public health risks associated with toxic
substances like those found in these hazardous waste
cases, the public and the environmental professionals
called for a more aggressive and scientifically based ap-
proach.
Table 8.2-3 Estimates of average daily dietary intake of cadmium
based on food analysis in various countries
Country
Estimates
(
m
g Cd per day)
Reference
Areas of normal exposure
This
changed
the
bioethical
framework
for
Belgium
15
Buchet et al. (1983)
engineering.
Finland
13
Koivistoinen (1980)
Love canal
Japan
31
Yamagata & Iwashima
(1975)
The seminal and arguably the most infamous case is the
contamination in and around Love Canal, New York.
The beneficent beginnings of the case belie its infamy. In
the nineteenth century, William T. Love had an opportu-
nity to generate electricity from Niagara Falls and the
potential for industrial development. To achieve this, Love
planned to build a canal that would also allow ships to pass
around the Niagara falls and travel between the two Great
Lakes, Erie and Ontario. The project started in the 1890s,
but soon floundered due to inadequate financing and also
due to the development of alternating electrical current,
which made it unnecessary for industries to locate near
a source of power production. Hooker Chemical Com-
pany purchased the land adjacent to the canal in the early
1990s and constructed a production facility. In 1942,
Hooker Chemical began disposing its industrial waste in
the canal. This was wartime in the United States, and
there was little concern for possible environmental con-
sequences. Hooker Chemical (which later became Occi-
dental Chemical Corporation) disposed of over 21 000
tons of chemical wastes including halogenated pesticides,
chlorobenzenes, and other hazardous materials into the
old Love Canal. The disposal continued until 1952 at
which time the company covered the site with soil and
deeded it to the City of Niagara Falls, which wanted to use
it for a public park. In the transfer of the deed, Hooker
specifically stated that the site was used for the burial of
hazardous materials, and the company warned the city
that this fact should govern future decisions on the use of
the land. Everything Hooker Chemical did during those
years was seemingly legal.
About this time, the Niagara Falls Board of Education
was looking for a place to construct a new elementary
school, and the old Love Canal seemed like a perfect
spot. This area was a growing suburb, with densely
packed single-family residences on streets paralleling the
old canal. A school on this site seemed like a perfect
solution and so it was built.
In the 1960s, the first complaints began, and in-
tensified during the early 1970s. The groundwater table
rose during those years and brought some of the buried
chemicals to the surface. Children in the school play-
ground were seen playing with strange 55-gallon drums
that popped out of the ground. The contaminated liquids
Japan
48
Suzuki & Lu (1976)
Japan
49
Ushio & Doguchi (1977)
Japan
35
Iwao (1977)
Japan
49
Ohmomo & Sumiya (1981)
Japan
59
Iwao et al. (1981a)
Japan
43.9 (males),
37.0 (females)
Watanabe et al. (1985)
New Zealand
21
Guthrie & Robinson (1977)
Sweden
10
Wester (1974)
Sweden
17
Kjellstr ¨m (1977)
United Kingdom 10-20
Walters & Sherlock (1981)
USA
41
Mahaffey et al. (1975)
Areas of elevated exposure
Japan
211-245
Japan Public Health
Association (1970)
Japan
180-391
Japan
136
Iwao et al. (1981a)
United Kingdom 36
Sherlock et al. (1983)
United Kingdom 29
Sherlock et al. (1983)
USA
33
Spencer et al. (1979)
Source: International Programme on Chemical Safety, 1992, Environmental Health
Criteria: 134 (Cadmium), World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
The corporate track record in the twentieth century was
not good. Toxic substances sprang up at Love Canal in
New York, Times Beach in Missouri, and the Valley of the
Drum in Kentucky. Soon numerous other sites through-
out the United States were found to be contaminated,
leading to a progression of environmental laws, especially
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compen-
sation and Liability Act, better known as ''Superfund,''
beginning
in
1980.
Much
of
the
previous
legal
