Current Mood: Alarmed

Area 2 landfills in Sauget. That pretty blue is the Mississippi.

In my previous post, I told you about the wasteland that is Sauget (pronounced saw-ZHAY), IL. My neighbor with the toxic waste dump. I’ve never really understood what the pollutants are, it’s nothing I have ever studied before, so I will translate for you the crap that is deadly and being dumped into our environment. These are chemical wastes from manufacturing processes. For the most part these chemicals are fully contained underground, but due to the fact that Sauget is in a floodplain of the Mississippi, some of the containment has been washed away. These chemicals have been detected in the soil, ground water, and Mississippi river sediment near the dump sites.
Documentation of Sauget’s “area 2″ landfills are here and here.

Our local independent newspaper, the Riverfront Times, posted an article about Sauget, aptly named “Funky Town.”

Just a note in the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) categories… Obviously this is all based on the amount of exposure. However, because it is in our local landfills, it should be viewed as long-term, low-level exposure.

Arsenic As – It’s poison. We all know that. It’s a base metal. It’s used in pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides. It’s also commonly used in wood preservatives, because it kills everything that would try to grow on wood. It’s also used in fireworks (it burns green) and (!) animal feed (!) for disease prevention. Most likely in our local manufacturing it would be used in wood preservatives (remember, it’s mostly chemical production around here) and electrical components.
It’s a common landfill toxin. It is also naturally occurring.
It pollutes soil and water, and is common in ground water (even naturally).
WIIFM (what’s in it for me): Aside from instant death due to organ failure, it’s also a recognized carcinogen, related to several types of cancer.
Wiki article

Lead Pb – Soft, heavy base metal that causes craziness. It’s been used in batteries, ammunition, paint, solder in electronics, PVC wire casing, plastics, glazing for pottery and ceramics, and anti-radiation stuff. It’s also been put into toys, because, you know, kids should consume it.
It’s a common landfill toxin.
It pollutes soil, water, and air.
WIIFM: Lead poisoning, it causes brain and blood disorders. Joint weakness, miscarriage, increased blood pressure, anemia. But hey, at least it doesn’t cause cancer!
Wiki article

Benzene C₆H₆ – Benzene today is used in production of chemical derivatives in plastics, resins, rubber, shoes, and nylon, as well as gasoline production to increase fuel octane. Historically it has been used in solvents, rubber cements, paint strippers, and other hydrocarbon products. It was also used to decaffeinate coffee in the early 1900′s, as well as aftershave lotion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries because it smells nice. It’s also naturally occurring when organic stuff burns (that’s why we don’t want to breathe in house fire smoke). Including cigarettes. You know how you’re not supposed to breathe in gasoline fumes? Benzine is in that, too, along with car exhaust. Fancy a carbonated beverage? It’s been found in soda pop, yum!
Benzene contamination is global, but is more concentrated in manufacturing.
It can pollute water, soil, and air.
WIIFM: Cancer, baby. Leukemia, blood, and kidney cancers. Death. Seizures. Ovary shrinkage. DNA mutation.
Wiki article

Polychlorinated biphenyls aka PCBs C₁₂H_10-xCl_x – This is some seriously nasty stuff, and was manufactured by Monsanto from 1929 to 1976. Its main use in the early days was for factory machine coolants, replacing mineral oil due to the latter’s flammability. Monsanto called it Aroclor xxxx. I like their addition of the X’s, gives it a real toxic feel. It’s been used in a wide variety of stuff, including insulation for transformers and capacitors, plasticizers in paint and cement (makes it easier to work with), wiring insulation, pesticides (huge shock there!), lubes, sealants, adhesives… Yeah, all over the place. And PCBs are the gift that keep on giving… They never go away. The only way to destroy this stuff is to incinerate it at a super high temperature or by creating chemical reactions to kill it.
It can contaminate soil, water, and the air.
The Hudson River in New York is contaminated with PCBs, due to General Electric dumping 1.3 million pounds in their manufacturing processes over a 30 year period.
In Bloomington, IN, Westinghouse Electric used PCBs in manufacturing, and it ended up going into regular landfills and city sewage treatment. The city of Bloomington gave the sludge to farmers and gardeners. Bloomington is the worst site of PCB contamination in the US, with an estimated two million pounds
WIIFM: Liver damage, lesions of the skin and eye, immunity problems, irregular menstrual cycles, and poor cognitive abilities in children. It can also cause the rather nasty birth defect of messing with the fetus’s reproductive organ development, causing the baby to have either a set of both male and female organs, or neither. Oh, and of course there’s always the big C, cancer, of the liver variety.
Wiki article

Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) aka dioxins – Meet our good friend, Agent Orange. Agent Orange was used in the Vietnam War as a chemical weapon, and it was produced right here in St. Louis metro east. Three generations later, there are still massive birth defects from dioxin poisoning in Vietnam. Humans consume it in meat, fish, and dairy products, because it’s one of those chemicals that gets stored in fatty tissues, like DDE and p-DCB, below. It is also an atmospheric pollutant from coal factories, diesel trucks, and trash burning. It can be found in pesticides and treated wood, as well. And it’s yet another friendly chemical found in cigarette smoke.
It can contaminate the air (most common exposure), soil, and water.
WIIFM: If you guessed cancer, you guessed right! Sarcomas and tumors. Chloracne. Tooth enamel problems in children. Nervous system damage. Thyroid problems. Immune system damage. Endometriosis. Diabetes.
Wiki article

Phenol aka carbolic acid C₆H₅OH – It’s one of Benzine’s offspring. This is a very versatile chemical. It’s used in aspirin, herbicides, and resins. It’s also used for embalming. It was used in concentration camps in WW2 to kill prisoners via lethal injection and gas chambers. It’s used in cosmetics to block UV exposure and to color hair. It also has a starring role in oral pain relief.
Phenol typically contaminates water (where it doesn’t stay active for very long), and the air.
WIIFM: Well, the Nazis found it useful in killing people, so obviously it’s just a tad toxic. It can cause dermatitis, is corrosive to the skin, eyes, and lungs, and can cause central nervous system problems. It’s toxic to the liver and kidneys. And, you guessed it, cancer.
Wiki article

Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene aka DDE, big bad brother of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane aka DDT C₁₄H₈Cl -The long controversial pesticide, DDT, has a relative called DDE. DDT has been banned in the US since 1972. It was widely used in controlling mosquitoes, as well as pesticides in agriculture. This is more of an environmental hazard than human hazard. It’s responsible for the decline of certain wildlife, including the bald eagle and several other bird species. The chemical, once ingested, remains in fat stores. It has caused egg shell thinning when they are laid, which makes the bird crush the egg while trying to incubate it.
DDE contaminates soil and ground water.
WIIFM: Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, and can potentially cause infertility in men. It stores in fat cells and is not passed through the body, with the exception of being passed from mother to child through breast milk. Can I get a side order of cancer with that?
Wiki article

1,4 Dichlorobenzene aka p-DCB C₆H₄Cl₂ - Used to manufacture pesticides, deodorant, disinfectant, and moth balls. It doesn’t break down very easily, and like DDE, it stays in fat stores. It’s an EPA-registered pesticide.
WIIFM: We don’t know much about what a steady diet of p-DCB will do to humans, but it causes tumors in lab animals. It’s “known in the state of California to cause cancer,” though.
Wiki article

Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane, aka 4,4′-DDD (ClC₆H₄)₂CHCHCl₂ - A less toxic relative of DDT, this is also used as a pesticide. It doesn’t break down very easily. We are most likely to get a visit from this tasty character in our veggies.
WIIFM: Suspected carcinogen.