Industrial Chemicals, Corporate Deception, and the Hidden Deaths of American Workers
October 1, 2023
An impassioned account of the U.S. chemical industry's indifference to the health of its workers. Morris, award-winning journalist and founder of Public Health Watch, tells the story of a Goodyear Tire and Rubber plant in Niagara Falls, New York, and its use of the chemical ortho-toluidine, which was responsible for 78 cases of bladder cancer between the early 1980s and 2022. Among others, the author introduces us to Ray Klein and his wife, Dottie, two of whose children were born with birth defects; Harry ("case No. 37") and Diane Weist; Kris Penny, who died in 2016 at age 40; and Dorothy Kowalski, whose bladder cancer most likely came from washing her husband's "reeking" work clothes. Morris also follows the career of Steve Wodka, who began as a researcher for the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers' Union and later became a lawyer who sued the DuPont Company numerous times for failing to reveal the carcinogenic dangers of ortho-toluidine. As Morris points out, however, lawsuits asking for compensation face "the worst of corporate America--its capacity for duplicity [and] its callousness toward the workers who generated its profits." Union representatives, occupational disease specialists, and medical doctors in and outside the industry publicized the dangers of ortho-toluidine and called, mostly in vain, for more stringent regulations. The work of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, created in 1970, helped, but industry lobbying and political interests that limit funding continue to curtail its effectiveness. Detailed descriptions of the pain and debilitation of bladder cancer and the suffering involved in its treatment make this book emotionally challenging, yet important nonetheless. Morris' conclusion is grim: "The safety of [America's] workers will, for the foreseeable future, be a hit-or-miss proposition." A powerful indictment of corporate greed and regulatory laxity and a moving commentary on its human costs.
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Starred review from October 9, 2023
Journalist Morris debuts with a devastating and thorough critique of corporate greed, deception, and lack of concern for worker health, focusing primarily on Dupont Chemical and Goodyear Tire Company. Drawing on in-depth interviews with workers and their families, Morris documents how employees at the Goodyear factory in Niagara Falls, N.Y., have suffered from a high rate of bladder cancer for decades, and details the lack of an adequate response by corporate leaders and the U.S. government. Opening the account with the story of Rod Halford, a longtime chemical operator at Goodyear who began urinating blood in the early 1990s, Morris shows how Halford had been poisoned by a highly carcinogenic agent, the chemical ortho-toluidine, supplied by Dupont. Both Goodyear and Dupont were aware of the danger, but failed to inform workers or implement protective measures. Although many of the ill workers, including Halford, eventually sued Goodyear, the company settled the lawsuits rather than going to trial, effectively concealing the charges from the public. Morris goes on to spotlight the many American industries where dangerous chemicals are used by workers (the problem is only getting worse, Morris contends, with staggering numbers of new chemicals being introduced every year), and describes how European regulation has been much more successful in reducing cancers. Well documented, lucidly written, and disturbing to read, this is an urgent wake-up call.
October 15, 2023
Morris examines hazards in the petrochemical industry by focusing on a Goodyear plant in Niagara Falls, New York. He acknowledges the benefits of new chemicals used in manufacturing that do improve products but asks the simple question, why aren't workers adequately protected? Making tires requires orthotolidine, which causes bladder cancer in exposed workers. Morris chronicles the plight of workers and families caught in this cancer cluster and the fight by their union, lawyers, and the Occupational Safety and Health Agency to improve safety and care for victims with scientific, legal, and heartbreaking precision. He also surveys other workplaces past and present that deal with hazardous materials. America has made strides in improving workplace safety in many ways, but entrenched corporate power has made protecting workers and the public from short- and long-term effects of exposure to chemicals a persistent problem. Morris' chronicle vividly reveals the dangers of cancer, birth defects, and other health complications in chemical factories while holding out hope for change for the better in spite of polarized politics and corporate influence.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.