A little follow up…
By the time the year 1980 had rolled around, more than 248 individual chemicals were identified in the Love Canal waste site by U.S. government scientists. For those of you noders who are chemically inclined, what follows are a selected list of some of your heavier hitters, those considered the most toxic at the time.
- Benzene - scientifically linked with cancer, especially leukemia in humans.
- Toluene - a clear, colorless, sweet-smelling liquid that occurs naturally in crude oil. It is produced from petroleum refining as a by-product of styrene production, and coke-oven operations
- Chloroform - chemical used at one time as an anesthetic. Causes cancer in animals.
- Trichloroethylene - an industrial solvent. Causes cancer in laboratory animals.
- Tetrachloroethylene -a man-made substance widely used for dry-cleaning and metal-degreasing operations. Can cause central nervous system effects leading to dizziness, nausea, difficulty in speaking and walking, among others.
- Hexachlorobenzene - a by product of the manufacture of industrial solvents. Can eventually cause liver damage.
- Xylenes - primarily man-made chemical produced from petroleum and coal. Occurs naturally in petroleum and coal tar.
- C-56 - trade name used by Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp. for hexachlorocyclopentadiene used in the manufacture of Miran and Kepone. Little known about effects on humans, but in industrial use, very low exposure recommended.
- 2,4-D - a herbicide sometimes used to keep down weeds in roadside ditches. Also known as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid.
- Mirex - a pesticide used against ants. Thought to cause liver damage and some animal birth defects.
- Kepone - a pesticide used against ants and roaches. Suspected of causing cancer in humans.
- PCBs - term used to describe approximately 200 chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls used in electrical/electronics and plastics industries. Known to cause severe liver damage to humans and have a variety of bad effects on fish and wildlife. Manufacture is now banned.
Source
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/lovecanal/chemlst.html
http://onlineethics.org/environment/lcanal/hertz.html