‘Toxic Stew’ Stirred Up by Disasters Poses Long-Term Danger, New Findings Show

Humankind will not perish due to guns or bombs. Humankind is slowly and surely perishing due to self-inflicted chemical and environmental factors caused by their deniers. Life protecting laws, rules and regulations that are supposed to reduce or stop those factors are being stripped away in the name of quick and selfish profit. Humankind must not allow itself to go quietly into the night. And do so rapidly, with vigor.

Well, that was predictable. Sigh.

Kicking the environmental can down the road has hit a wall.

I'd be interested in what the residents of the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans have to show and say about this. When we were.there in 2017, and again last week as Barry came ashore, there was STILL Katrina debris scattered about, many areas around NOLA were already at very high water marks, and we heard that all the flood waters washing down into the Gulf were killing marine life. As we drove North just in front of Barry, and as it caught up with us in Missouri, we saw endless flooded rivers, streams, fields, roads. The debris load was extreme, and the water looked like something from some kids chemestry set that got knocked over. These scenes and effects will only get worse, think of all the fields OUR FOOD is grown in with these chemicals in and on them. And the recent regime has rolled back and continues to decimate ANY food safety, chemical safety, nuclear inspection. The world may indeed end with a bang AND a whimper.

Curious to know how the recent rise of flesh eating bacteria relates to the mix of warming waters due to climate change and pollutants coming from farm and industrial runoffs?

This issue has been "under-the-radar" for too long. Fortunately, there have been many people working together across sectors - advocates, policy makers at state and city levels, a small group of foundations, scientists, health practitioners and businesses working on raising awareness, collaborating on initiatives that connect the problems to solutions for transforming the root causes and mitigating damages of the ubiquitous "toxic stews" in our homes, communities, and workplaces. Thanks for shining some light on this critical sleeper issue. Time for a great green & just economic transition.

While I give some truck to the argument that "companies didn't know back then" what dangers lurked from manufacturing of and with toxic elements, I think it's a good time for a robust discussion on how much responsibility those companies, if still in existence, bear for the ill effects being felt today. This is important going forward to understand how much current manufacturing is allowed to externalize the social/public health costs associated with their businesses. We claim the invisible hand of markets is at the heart of our economy and society. Therefore, placing responsibility on those enterprises should stimulate development of better containment processes, use of fewer chemicals, and greater attention to the "cradle to grave" factors that otherwise affect people who never made a dime from those businesses.

I was living in Houston during Harvey. There were several groups from churches who helped with demolitions and cleanups. It would be interesting to see how many have experienced health problems. Houston has some Superfund sites on the East Side which were submerged during the hurricane. Of course, the chemical plants are their own mini-city. It’s also, in general, a city with a lot of paved areas (tons of runoff) and typically more herbicides with the numerous golf courses etc.

"We are sitting on a pile of toxic poison." I'm not sure what is more dreadful -- that there is emerging concern that changing climate means more of these poisons are dislodged, or that we have contaminated our "nest" to begin with. What have we wrought?

" As the dangers become better understood, governments need to do more to contain toxic chemicals during disasters, rather than hoping those chemicals will harmlessly be absorbed into the environment..." Are you kidding? Governments and companies through regulations , safety protocols and storage standards and regulations (to name a few) need to do much more to contain toxic chemicals BEFORE disasters...so there are less illegal substances , pools of pollutants and unregulated toxic dumps and storage facilities to worry about at any time other time when it becomes too little too late and too much that is suddenly put into the environment and going to do more damage and harm imaginable because it was not stopped, cleaned , protected and shipped away as it should have been in normal times as logic and public safety would expect and demand. How about the remediation of neglected or purposely slowed cleanups of old and current industrial sites and regulation of chemical ,gas and oil companies many of which who do not even report what contaminants and chemicals they may be storing and /or using as to reveal such information is considered privileged or commercially sensitive? Houston was rife with such areas and companies storing or using all sorts of solvents and chemicals and MOST were harmful and toxic especially when mixed into floodwaters or released into groundwater traps or even storm water drains. It's too late when a disaster occurs...that's why they are disasters.

Its incredible to think that almost nobody thinks about this issue! Most people tend to see things that vanish in a flood, or burn up in a fire as "gone" but in reality, as this article illustrates so well, that is absolutely not true. While the item itself is no longer there, traces, or in some cases, almost all of the constituent chemicals remain! For years we have worked to develop ever more persistent/degradation-resistant chemicals for use in a wide variety of things, so of course they would stick around. And with this administration's version of "Environmental Leadership" those persistent contaminants will only proliferate. The time for "let's hope they disappear" and "its no big deal" is well behind us, now is the time for action.

All nations, petroleum based economies. If climate change wasn’t enough, now the toxic underbelly of a petroleum based economy rears its ugly head. As if carbon in the atmosphere was the worst of it. HA!