Love Canal Disaster

 

The Love Canal Disaster was a calamity that took place during the 1970s in an upstate New York neighborhood near Niagara Falls. A whole town was led to catastrophe as it had been built on top of a toxic chemical landfill. The toxic chemicals had been dumped in what was named "The Love Canal" by several companies and business entities. One of these being the U.S. armed forces who dumped tons of nuclear waste from failed nuclear weapons into the canal. The Hooker Chemical company then purchased the land, dumped a couple thousand more tons of toxic chemicals into the canal and then covered the whole thing with clay. Within the waste dumped in the landfill were cancer-inducing chemicals. After having capped the landfill with clay and earth, the Hooker Chemical company sold the land to the Niagara Falls school board. The Niagara Falls school board proceeded to build a school and many other residential buildings on top of the clay-capped toxic chemical landfill. This would lead to disaster as the layer of clay was dug into and then rained on which interacted with the chemicals who began to wreak havoc on the surface. The chemicals would rise and create acidic puddles with the potential of disintegrating most of what they could touch. People had their car and bike tires melted along with the sole of their shoes. Many children would get burnt after touching these puddles. These were only the immediate effects, as the disaster sported many continuous effects. The rate of infant-mortality, miscarriages, and other birth related issues were abnormally high. Many residents suffered with issues of breathing, epilepsy and various forms of cancer. The health scene at the Love Canal was alarming to say the least. State officials began to get involved as residents were outraged and making headlines on various newspapers and other forms of media. At first they wanted everyone to remain in the town, but soon realized this would not be a feasible nor safe option. The first people evacuated from the town were pregnant mothers and children under the age of two. Soon after everyone was evacuated from the town and it was left as is. The families were given money and assisted in the moving process. The toxic chemical landfill scene as a whole was given new requirements to follow to make sure this type of incident is less likely to repeat itself. Many of the residents who were gravely ill were not able to recover, but this event as a whole was a learning experience for the public when it came to environmental awareness.