INSIGHTS
Better living through chemistry?
P
ost-World War II America
produced a huge crop of little
baby boomers and there were
lots of new products to buy, pro-
duced through research, chemical and
otherwise during the war. Those of a
certain age likely remember chasing
the sprayers that doused parks and
byways with oceans of DDT to kill
those pesky mosquitoes.
It didn’t occur to lots of moms and
dads that the stuff that killed the bugs
couldn’t be very good for their little
darlings to inhale, not to mention
long term effects on the environment.
Environment? An unfamiliar word
back then. And the companies getting
rich off peddling the stuff didn’t
spend time explaining the potential
impacts of toxic chemicals or offer
precautionary directions
for using them. The
consequences would be-
come known much later,
leading to an eventual
ban on DDT.
But Dow and Mon-
santo were busy pro-
ducing plenty of other
products to make our
lives easier in the short
term, but likely more
toxic down the road. At
this late date we’re just
figuring out the effects
of indiscriminate appli-
cation of the herbicide
Agent Orange during the Vietnam
War on both U.S. vets and the Asian
environments of that war.
Everybody knew about DDT when
I was a kid, but the chemical/poison
most talked about in my family was
named Rotenone. That’s because
my dad was a fisheries guy for the
state of Wisconsin. As he and his
colleagues saw it, their job was to
produce a huge crop of freshwater
fish such as trout to stock in streams
and lakes. That way, sport fisher-
men would buy lots of licenses and
the legislators who authorized the
program would be happy with the
6
revenue gener-
ated and that’s
how it mostly
worked.
Unfortunate-
ly, freshwater
carp and other
invasive species
messed up this
little system and
drove out the
favored fish and
they were very
hard to get rid
of.
Not to worry,
the chemical
companies came
1965: Wisconsin Governor War
up with a solu-
tion. Rotenone,
Burke was a nice elderly man, who
naturally derived from
would give me a nickel to squeeze
plants, had been around
when he gave the shot, saying that
for centuries as—among
would prevent any pain to the old
other things—a fish
man.
killer. It turned out to
selectively kill some
Over the next 25 or so years, the
fish, such as carp, while
symptoms faded and dad went on
leaving the sport fish
to live a long and energetic life. But
alone. Or, it could just
in his last few years, this lifetime
kill all the fish in a pond
non-smoker developed clear indica-
or lake, allowing the de-
tions of incipient oral cancer.
sired fish to be stocked
I wish I could report that dad
afterward. The compa-
learned a valuable lesson from the
nies monetized the stuff,
Rotenone experience, but I can’t.
turning it into a spray-
Tired of “edging” the parkway in
able product that could
front of our house with a shovel, he
easily be applied
picked up a box of powder at the
In the early 50s, Dad supervised
hardware store, likely some herbi-
successful applications of this new
cide cousin of Agent Orange. Never
miracle product. Just another day
one for half measures, I am sure he
out in the field except for the conse-
applied a generous amount along the
quences to come later. Whether the
concrete.
companies knew or suspected any
This proved to be an expensive
potential problems or warned pur-
decision. After the first rainstorm that
chasers has apparently never been de-
followed, not only all the grass on
termined, but those applying it in this
his parkway died, but the chemical
case were not wearing respirators.
washing down slope also killed off
Dad developed symptoms of asth-
his neighbor’s parkway. Dad wound
ma so violent that his early morning
up footing the bill for removing and
sneezing would spray blood on the
replacing the likely sterile soil from
bathroom mirror. I often tagged along
both properties.
on his visits to his allergist who pro-
vided his “de-sensitizing” shots. Dr.
rom the
comment box
Congress skipped
funding for $34M
project at AAFB
Finally, a Guam publication that is
now reporting on military activities
that are newsworthy. Good job Pacif-
ic Island Times.
Please report on what is taking so
long for Danos lagoon to be clean up
of PCB contamination.
Please report on when Congress
is expected to hold down winder
hearings for radiation exposures of
Chamorros.
Please report on what the status is
with compact impact reimbursements
and whether or not it is formula
funding.
One question for Pacific Island
Times is what is the total cost of the
waste water upgrades expected prior
to this undemocratic Marine Corps
buildup? Did Congress authorize full
funding for the Guam waste water
project or will Congress continue to
mismanage Guam and have Gov-
Guam figure it out?
Another question tied to Andersen
is this: how much is the Air Force
getting to clean up Andersen which is
a SuperFund site and under what line
item is the authorization under?
—Rick Perez
How do you tackle a
fiscal crisis?
Autonomy ehh?! Let’s get rid of
the quasi-public corporations that
have easily masked a smokescreen
to Government corruption. Why do
we need to mandate a liquid fuel tax?
The market goes up and down? Who
in leadership positions have shares in
the fuel industries on Guam and why
isn’t our attorney general investigat-
ing the ties to the conflict of interest?
—Milan Trinidad
Let’s have Doe’s budget trimmed
off. I’m tired of hearing “it’s for the
children” but the children that are
graduating from high school can’t
even spell their names. Really? Get
rid of GMH. Privatize it. GMH, if it
wants to continue serving the public,
then it better start collecting on
what’s owed to them from patients.
There are a lot of assistant principals
in the schools. Get rid of that posi-
tion. Let the principal do his or her
job. Sales tax. We need one.
—Donald Nakamura