A river is polluted with one of the highest
concentrations of dioxins in the nation. The area is
downstream from a Dow Chemical plant. Kyle Norris has
more:
Transcript
A river is polluted with one of the highest concentrations of dioxins in the
nation. The area is downstream from a Dow Chemical plant. Kyle Norris has
more:
Scientists found an amount of dioxins 20 times higher than anything
previously found in the river. The hot-spot is 23 miles from a Dow Chemical
plant.
The EPA has required Dow Chemical to clean up sections of the Saginaw
and Tittabawassee Rivers in mid-Michigan. Dioxins have been linked to
cancer, reproductive problems, and heart and liver diseases, among other
things.
Milton Clark is with the Environmental Protection Agency. He says dioxins
do not break down in the environment:
“It’s very long-lived, it doesn’t readily biodegrade. And so if it’s present in
the sediments it can work itself up into the food chain, get into the fish, and
those fish then can be consumed by people, putting them at increased risk.”
The hope is that the dioxins will be cleaned from the rivers in the next
several years.
For the Environment Report, I’m Kyle Norris.