Farms: A Town Fights Back: The Toms River Story
Productivity | Information | History | View | Quality
Find more Earth Focus content at https://www.linktv.org/earthfocus Toms River had a problem. Children in this coastal New Jersey town were coming down with rare types of cancer. And because of the unusual number of cancer cases, the town was designated a "cancer cluster." For more than 40 years, the town's drinking water was polluted by chemicals like styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) trimmer and by-products from dye manufacturing--chemicals thought to cause cancer. Their source? Dumping by Ciba Geigy and Union Carbide. But the town's people -- like Linda Gillick and her son Michael, who was born in 1979 with neuroblastoma -- fought back. And it's largely because of the heroic efforts of its citizens, that the water in Toms River today safe and clean. Earth Focus visits Toms River to tell the story.
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I went up to Toms River (thank God I lived in Atlanta for 25 years) to bury my father, in 1989. He was never sick in his life and he died from kidney failure. While there, I would wash my face and couldn't open my eyes because they were burning. My hair was like straw after showers. I called the EPA and asked them to please come and check the water in the house. We had a well. This was a summer home until 1966 or 67 and then we moved there permanently. They came and tested the water from the kitchen sink. I got a call a few days later and was told to not even wash the clothes in that water. It was full of toxic chemicals and they sent me the list. We lived on the water in Toms River. Our particular street was on the map at city hall as being a red zone. The worse part of this is that with kidney failure my father had to drink a lot of water. OMG. Can you imagine. They came and capped the well and we had to get our water from Money Island at an outside water tap from the American Legion (?) hall. Thank you to them! I was lucky that I could take my Mother back to Atlanta with me until they put in city water, which was very expensive, by the way. They did send us filters for the well until they could cap it. Not sure how much good they could do against the chemicals. So many children with cancer. We were all so oblivious. Such a lovely town and such poisonous water. Tsk. Tsk. In a way, my Dad's death may have saved more lives. Thanks to burning eyes.
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yo I live here!
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I remember back I elementary school they had police tape around all the water fountains and we weren't allowed to drink from them. We eventually got water coolers. We had to buy water coolers for our homes too. But people were still giving pets tap water and a lot of pets died during that time. The water is supposedly safe now, but the effects are still real. Back in high school (2003-2007) 2 friends of mine were diagnosed with brain tumors and 1 had cancer. I also have very large uterine tumors that affect my ability to carry a child. I had 2 miscarriages (one at 7 weeks, one at 19 weeks) and 1 high risk pregnancy that thankfully carried to term. I still live in the area and worry for my child, especially now with talks of a pipeline being built in the pine barrens.
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i live and was born in Tom's River
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My brother is autistic with morely nerve problems that other autistics. Is this a one of the reasons my brother got autism.
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Man, that company Union Carbide caused sever problems in India as well......The Bhopal Gas Tragedy. That company should really goto hell.
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I live in toms river
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born in 2000. NAILING IT SINCE BEFORE CONCEPTION....
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Wow....
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I live in Toms River. My family moved there back in 1999 when I was 5 years old. I used to feel like an outsider and had few friends. Looking back though, I'm glad I wasn't born there because there was great chance I could have had the same cancers many other Toms River kids had. I did suffer from a lot of ear infections, maybe the water which wasn't as clean as it is now, caused most of them. I'm sure that water didn't just cause cancer, it must have caused an increase in other more minor illnesses as well.
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10th grade bio teachers, FTW
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someone needs to look into the deaths of the workers at the chemical plant and when they filed complaints against the chemical plant for illegal dumping.