Eye Opening Incident at Times Beach
All of a sudden, in the town of Times Beach, Missouri, animals and people fell ill with a mysterious sickness. It was as if the entire town was being poisoned. To see the cause of this sickliness, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) tested a series of soil samples in which they found large amounts of toxin. It was discovered that a man was contracted by the town to spray the roads for dust, but the town was not aware of what he was using as the spray. They found that the spray consisted of a concoction of oil and chemical wastes consisting of dioxin. At the time, this seemed beneficial to the town because the process reused waste (Schlager); however, it ended up causing a lot more trouble than you would think.
Because dioxin is a persistent chemical in the environment, it is insoluble in water and it does not easily break down in soil. On December 5, 1982, 10 years after the use of dioxin on the roads, a river near the town overflowed its banks and flooded the houses of Times Beach (Schlager). There was dioxin still present in the soil/sediment that combined with water from the river which transported the dioxin all over the town creating the contamination. The federal government called for an immediate evacuation of the town and closed it down at a cost $30 million (Monks). The town of Times Beach that people used to know and love was just another lifeless, deserted plot of land.
The Harmful Chemical, Dioxin
Did you know that you are exposed to this chemical everyday? However, we are exposed to it in small amounts through consumption or inhalation. People concerns lie in the resulting health effects of exposures to dioxin at high doses; this can cause a multitude of diseases ranging in their severity. Dioxin is a generic term that refers to “a class of organic compounds, with a basic structure that includes two oxygen atoms joining a pair of benzene rings” (Lerner,Wilmoth). They are classified by how many chlorine atoms attach it and where those atoms attach. The most toxic and harmful dioxin is called 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, but it is most often referred to as TCDD or just “dioxin” (What is Dioxin). TCDD is made unintentionally in the process of manufacturing; its primary sources in our environment come from a byproduct of metal smelting, pulp and paper bleaching (Oregon State University), commodities produced from trichlorophenol, forest fires, and low temperature combustion. However, dioxin does not have a use nor a function in our environment (Lerner).
Dioxin is known as a persistent organic pollutant in our environment (Waite) because “...it is virtually insoluble in water, but highly soluble in fats and oils. This causes it to strongly biomagnify and occur in especially large concentrations in predators at the top of the ecological food web,” (Lerner). The amount of dioxin accumulates throughout the food chain once it sets into the atmosphere, at the top being humans who get dioxin into their body systems through consumption of animal fats (What is Dioxin) and dairy. In the body of a male, there is no way to get rid of dioxin besides the breakdown in its half-life. In females, dioxin can exit the body through the placenta and into the baby and through breast milk. To get rid of the dioxin in the environment, one of the most effective methods is to burn it at high temperatures. People tend to do this through backyard burning, but that actually creates more toxins in the air (Waite).
The damage that this chemical can do through acute exposure is very harmful and potentially deadly. In such cases, some people have gotten various health problems on account of exposure; these health problems range from headaches and stomachaches to severe skin rashes to birth defects and cancer (Waite). However, these extreme effects would be less likely to be seen in the chronic exposure of the chemical through its natural process of bioaccumulation. A lot of what we know now about the harms of dioxin exposure has come from research and seeing the damage it has done in past events such as the chemical spill in Times Beach and the work malfunction in Seveso, Italy(Lerner). Through this inquiry, our country has been able to learn from these events and has made improvements to make sure that people’s health aren’t at risk due to TCDD detection. As a matter of fact, “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that people's exposures have declined so much in the past two decades that most people are safe. ‘Today’s findings show that generally, over a person’s lifetime, current exposure to dioxins does not pose a significant health risk,’ EPA officials said” (Cone).
Nothing Was the Same
It was as if Times Beach was not Times Beach anymore. The town fell dead. One of the most essential parts of the town was not there to fill it with life and make it new again, the people. Families had to vacate the area after the CDC informed Times Beach that no one could live there. The health of the inhabitants of Times Beach rapidly began to fall poorly. Local officials claimed that virtually every household in Times Beach experienced health disorders as a result of the dioxin contamination ranging from nosebleeds, depression, and chloracne (a severe skin disfigurement) to gene mutations, cancer, and heart disease. In addition, almost all of the residents tested for dioxin contamination by the CDC showed abnormalities in their blood, liver, and kidney functions (Schlager).
Other Incidents that Occurred from Dioxin
Agent Orange:
Agent Orange was a substance used to kill plants during the Vietnam War that consisted of two herbicides, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D; the 2,4,5-T used to create the agent orange was contaminated with TCDD. The goal of Agent Orange was to oust guerrilla rebels in South Vietnam from their hiding spots in the highlands and densely forested areas of land (Hixson). In 1991, Congress passed a bill providing disabilities to Vietnam veterans suffering from certain illnesses from dioxin exposure. In 1993, the Institute of Medicine reasoned that the exposure to dioxin led to several types of illnesses and skin conditions (Waite). Along with this came severe mutations that occurred in newborn babies of the time period and the increased risk of people having cancer.
Dioxin Contamination in Italy:
It was just another normal day of work at a chemical plant in Seveso that quickly changed for the worst. A work malfunction caused an unexpected chemical reaction releasing a high dose of dioxin and led to the contamination of whole the town. Two weeks after the incident, the Seveso regional authorities notified the public about the contamination and resulted in an emergency evacuation. The first signs of the effects of the toxin were seen in the people of Seveso who had nausea, dizziness, headaches, and burn-like sores on their skin. Following this, the domestic and wild animals of the town also started to become sick and some even died (Schlager).
Efforts Made Worldwide to Fix the Problem
One of the biggest benefits from the chemical spill in Times Beach brought awareness to the harms of dioxin and many other chemicals that are in our everyday world. In 1980, the US took action and created a law called the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act to aid the aftermaths of the badly contaminated and uncontrolled toxic wastes sites found throughout the nation. Even US president Ronald Reagan responded to the Times Beach situation by creating a dioxin task force in 1982. Also, “In 1985...the EPA finally banned the widely used herbicides Silvex and 2,4,5-T. That same year, the agency set a water quality standard for dioxin, allowing no more than thirteen parts per quintillion,” (Schlager). Recently, the EPA has been taking a great amount of action to protect the public from the dangers of dioxin. It has supported Superfund sites that have been destroyed by large amounts of exposure to dangerous chemical and industrial wastes . Congress created the Superfund Program to clean up such uncontrolled, hazardous waste sites in our nation. Specifically, the EPA pledged $33 million from Superfund to purchase the Times Beach property under a relocation plan to be developed and implemented by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (NPL). Even in Vietnam, the European Union instituted safety regulations called “the Seveso II Directive” which oversee hazards concerning large-scale accidents of dangerous, threatening substances (Schlager). From minor to major resolutions to the problem, everything being done is making a difference and moving us one step closer to eventually solving this problem.
So...What Now?
So much effort has been put into solving this issue and luckily, it has improved our exposure to dioxin significantly. Yet, we are still exposed to dioxin at a considerably greater amount than what is ideally healthy for us. For years, manufacturers have been adding the germ fighting supplement called triclosan to soaps and hand washes, and virtually all soaps contain triclosan. But, once it is washed down the drain and into the environment, triclosan can generate dioxin. As we use soaps, the triclosan in the soap and slightly chlorinated tap water combine to produce a super-chlorinated triclosan compound which is found specifically in our waterways; researchers have found that when exposed to sunlight, the super-chlorinated triclosan transforms into a series of dioxins which we are finding to be stable in our environment. Although researchers have limited knowledge of the risks of super-chlorinated dioxin, we can not take the risk of being passive on the issue as we have done in past events (Raloff). It is now known what we need to do which is be in control of the issue by being proactive and doing something now before it gets out of hand later. Now that y
“EPA technicians take deep soil samples from a lawn in Times Beach, Missouri, where chemical wastes containing dioxin were mixed with oil and sprayed on streets to control dust”(Schlager).
The Death of a Town
By: Vanessa Wrobeh
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