Anti-Toxics Movement

The Love Canal Controversy

The land surrounding Love Canal was developed for a school and housing despite the warnings of the Hooker Company in the 1950s. Over 50 drums of chemical waste were found at the site during excavation, and the school was built away from the area. In 1957, low-income housing was built on the site. With the construction of a motorway in the 1970s, floods began to occur in the area, often containing toxic residue. In 1978, Lois Gibbs of the Love Canal Homeowners Association led residents in protests over the number of serious illnesses occurring in children in the Love Canal community. The activities of the Homeowners Association led to the discovery of the toxic materials beneath the homes in the area. This information had been withheld from the community when the homes were first built. The Homeowners Association found that over 50 percent of its residents suffered in some way from the effects of the toxic waste beneath their housing.

President Jimmy Carter allocated funds to assist with the Love Canal controversy, which had begun to make national headlines and found coverage in television news broadcasts. An investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1979 found that the Love Canal area suffered from an abnormally high number of serious illnesses and miscarriages. Pregnant women were evacuated from the Love Canal area as a precaution. The Environmental Protection Agency report also found that up to a third of residents had detectable damage to their chromosomes as a result of exposure to the chemicals at the site. Love Canal was declared a national emergency site in 1980. Over 700 families were evacuated and rehoused, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or “Superfund” Act, was signed into law. In 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency won nearly $300 million in compensation for the incident. Legislation against toxic industries continued to be introduced in the aftermath of increased agitation among the public. Many industries relocated to nations that lacked similar legislation but found that local opposition occurred as communities discovered the effects of toxics in emissions over time.

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