The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.42           December 1, 1997 
 
 
Company Dumps Pesticide Into Birmingham Creek  

BY STEPHEN BLOODWORTH
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - One of the largest accidental spills ever of the pesticide Dursban occurred here October 2. Some 4,700 gallons of the toxin was washed into Village Creek near downtown Birmingham by the water used to extinguish a massive fire at Industrial Distribution Services Warehouse Inc.

The black pillar of smoke from the block-long warehouse, which primarily houses paper products for recycling could be detected by both satellite photos and pilots circling the Atlanta airport, more than 100 miles away.

Questions about the toxicity of this giant smoke plume have been avoided by the Dow Elanco Corporation, which manufactures Dursban; the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM); the Jefferson County Board of Health; and other government agencies.

Speaking at the Militant Labor Forum here October 31, Magnolia Cook said, "We raised this, and no one had an answer, all they saw was dead fish." A retired nurse and longtime resident of the area bordering Village Creek, Cook is the president of the Tuxedo Neighborhood Association. Also speaking at the forum were John Meehan, an employee of Birmingham Steel Company and founder of Citizens for Environmental Justice, and steelworker Clay Dennison from the Socialist Workers Party.

Indeed, the washing of the pesticide into Village Creek, which runs through the Black working-class neighborhoods of this city into Bayview Lake, and eventually into the Black Warrior River, which supplies drinking water to local residents, has killed hundreds of thousands of fish. The Jefferson County Board of Health reports water is safe for humans to drink up to 30 parts per billion. Samples take from Village Creek around the Tuxedo neighborhood have been tested at levels as high as 247.8 parts per billion.

All three of the activists speaking at the forum condemned the local government agencies' inaction and indifference to this environmental catastrophe. ADEM's first water tests were severely flawed, grossly underreporting the concentration levels of the pesticide.

Efforts to slow the flow of the contaminated water down Village Creek and out of Bayview Lake weren't begun until six days after the fire. Meehan remarked, "The members of these regulatory boards are all corporate executives. They have no sense of these communities, all they care about are their own necks."

To date, at least 15 firefighters and 27 residents near the fire, Village Creek , and Bayview Lake have reported health problems such as nausea and vomiting, sinus and respiratory problems, headaches, and rashes.  
 
 
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