The Poisoning of Michigan

By Joyce Egginton

Book Overview

The highly toxic PBB poisoning of Michigan remains the most widespread chemical contamination known in U.S. history. The Poisoning of Michigan is an investigative journalist's account of the contamination of Michigan's dairy cattle with the highly toxic chemical PBB (polybrominated biphenyl) in 1973. A near relation of PCB, this now-banned substance, designed as a fire retardant, was mistaken for a nutritional supplement at a chemical plant. It ended up in cattle feed that was distributed to farms throughout the state. By the time the error was discovered, virtually all nine million residents of Michigan had been ingesting contaminated milk and meat for almost a year.
A new introduction by the author and an afterword by three distinguished environmental scientists explain how the legacy of Michigan's poisoning lives on--and how equally toxic substitutes for PBB still invade our homes and lives. This new edition of Egginton's environmental classic--first published in 1980 and long out of print--tells how the tragedy affected both the farm community and the wider populace, and how federal and state authorities failed to respond. "We were mired in a swamp of ignorance," one state official admitted.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870138677
• ISBN13: 9780870138676
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Little known MI history

As a person who grew up in Michigan and worked on former dairy farms, I was surprised when my college environmental science teacher recommended this book, as I had never heard of the PBB disaster. An issue of this proportion should be remembered by the communities affected, yet aside from scholarly articles, little has been written on this subject, and this part of history is being lost from the memory of Michigan. This book is a very straightforward read. It has depth enough that someone with science background or agricultural background remains interested, but has simple and clear writing that is easily discernible to any reader. It is the best source of information that I have found relating to the PBB incident.

From the Dust Jacket:

The story begins in 1973 when the Michigan Chemical Corporation delivered by mistake an unknown quantitiy of PBB to an agricultural feed company. Employees there assumed that the poorly marked brown bags contained the magnesium oxide that had been ordered and mixed it into tons of cattle feed to be delivered all across the state ...