© Nathaniel Brooks / The New York TimesDowntown Hoosick Falls, N.Y., a village of 3,500 people about 30 miles northeast of the Albany.
One resident called 911 asking whether the village's water would burn his skin off. Families have lined up to have their blood drawn and their wells tested. Banks stopped giving out mortgages, and some local residents stopped washing their dishes, their clothes and themselves. Erin Brockovich
has been to town.
Such are the unpleasant contours of a public health emergency that is playing out in Hoosick Falls, a quiet river-bend village near the New York-Vermont border that has been upended by
disclosures that the public water supply was tainted with high levels of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, a toxic chemical linked in some studies to an increased risk for cancer, thyroid disease and serious complications during pregnancy.Last week, a federal class-action lawsuit was filed against Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics and Honeywell International, the current and former owners of the plant that, according to the state,
was the source of the PFOA contamination. The toxic chemical is associated with the making of Teflon, which was used in products manufactured at the plant.
After the revelation of lead contamination in Flint, Mich., where Gov. Rick Snyder's response was widely criticized, the situation in Hoosick Falls has provoked both deep concern about water quality and a heightened scrutiny of how public officials have responded.
In New York, elements of the state's response have been repeatedly questioned.
Nearly a year and a half passed, for instance, from the time the chemical was discovered in the water — by a concerned resident — to the warning from state health officials that residents avoid drinking it.In the interim, state and local officials assured the public on several occasions that the water was safe — most recently in December, even after the federal Environmental Protection Agency
had recommended to the village's mayor that residents avoid using Hoosick's well water. Gov.
Andrew M. Cuomo and other officials have defended their response, saying they have acted as aggressively as possible with the information they have — noting shifting federal standards on the contaminant,
which is as yet unregulated.
Comment: Erin Brockovich says:
"Every time you drink a glass of water...
Through Teflon's use in hundreds of household products - carpets, clothing, food wrappers and many more - PFOA and closely related chemicals have spread to the remote corners of Earth, contaminating the blood of virtually all Americans and even passing through the umbilical cord to unborn babies in the womb.
PFOA has been linked to kidney and testicular cancers, birth defects, damage to the immune system, heart and thyroid disease, complications during pregnancy and other serious illnesses and conditions. It is hazardous at tiny doses: EPA's health advisory level for drinking water is 0.4 parts per billion.
Not only have you and your family been exposed to this toxic chemical... now you will have to bare the burden of paying for its clean up when it is detected in your community water system or your private well.
Please contact me if you suspect you have been damaged by this toxic DuPont Chemical. Email me at erin@brockovich.com"
Another article about DuPont's poisoning of the planet:
Comment: Erin Brockovich says:
"Every time you drink a glass of water...
Through Teflon's use in hundreds of household products - carpets, clothing, food wrappers and many more - PFOA and closely related chemicals have spread to the remote corners of Earth, contaminating the blood of virtually all Americans and even passing through the umbilical cord to unborn babies in the womb.
PFOA has been linked to kidney and testicular cancers, birth defects, damage to the immune system, heart and thyroid disease, complications during pregnancy and other serious illnesses and conditions. It is hazardous at tiny doses: EPA's health advisory level for drinking water is 0.4 parts per billion.
Not only have you and your family been exposed to this toxic chemical... now you will have to bare the burden of paying for its clean up when it is detected in your community water system or your private well.
Please contact me if you suspect you have been damaged by this toxic DuPont Chemical. Email me at erin@brockovich.com"
Another article about DuPont's poisoning of the planet: