Torn

Ok, I'm really torn about the shit thats going on around here. God where do I start. The people that live on the Tittabawasee river have a class action suit against The Dow Chemical Co. in Midland because of dioxin contamination. Here's the low down: Dioxin contamintation of anything higher than 90 PPT (parts per trillion) requires cleanup. Dioxin in the flood plains of the Tittabawasee river is around 1000 PPT. I'm totally for the people suing. Their claims are that their property is not worth what it would be if it wasn't contaminated.

Dow is not claiming responsabilty and some of the pro Dow people of Midland are writing into the newspaper saying that the word "Toxic" is not as serious as we think. They also are trying to raise the cleanup rates to over 1000 PPT so they don't have to clean it up. (Note: the people of Midland are up river of Dow so they are not effected.) Studies have been done on the animals along the river and we are now told not to eat wild turkey or any birds that live along the river because their chock full of dioxin. Now Dow is asking the city of Midland to lower their Companys property taxes cuz since they're located right on the river their property is not worth what their paying because of the dioxin contamination. Fuckers! Dow is also claiming that the long term affects of dioxin exposure is unknown.

Well.....

My grandparents had a farm just a stones throw from the river. My grandfather, aunt, and mother all died of brain tumors. My mother was diagnosed at the Mayo clinic in Florida and they told us that this was very strange since brain tumors are not hereditary. I also know of two teenage girls that have both had brain tumors, and almost a dozen others that have died of different kinds of cancer. My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer and a couple of my uncles had Hodgkins disease.

Whether the cancer is because of the dioxin or not, who knows. I don't really think that all these people were all rolling around on the banks of the river. What they do all have in common is that they all have wells that are probably fed by the Tittabawasee river. Shit my family started hauling their drinking water when the contamination was first discovered back in the 80's. I remember as a teen when we first moved back here from Tucson and my mom made the comment one winter, "Oh look the river is frozen over", and as a smart ass teen I was like, "Duh, its winter" and she then told me that the river never froze when she was growing up and most of her life. (Note: it never froze down river from Dow, that is)

I really want to write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper and let them know what I know. But what will the effects be? I'm worried if it all snowballs that they might just bulldoze everything including my grandparents old homested where my mom and most of her siblings were born. Maybe if I don't say anything everything will just remain the same and it will actually prevent the urban sprall thats been eating away at all the rolling farm land.

I don't know....I'm torn