Yet another story of the toxic toll that decades of chemical neglect have taken on America's workers.
In April 2004, Fred Milford, a foreman at the Plant 36, Upper Tuscarawas Plant wastewater treatment plant in Akron Ohio died of cancer after a long illness. Since then, at least 10 of Fred's 15 co-workers have been diagnosed with cancer or other life-threatening diseases. All of them worked at the plant which employe call "Plant 666."
The problem is that Plant 36 was built on top of a toxic waste dump run by Rubber City Sand and Gravel, a dump used by Goodyear tire. EPA testing found that well water that the workers drank contained "benzene, a cancer-causing chemical that had infiltrated the water at more than 20 times the federally accepted amount. The agency also found other dangerous chemicals, such as vinyl chloride and lead. "
EPA knew about the dump site when it approved the plant. As a result of continuous groundwater and soil test, the site was placed on EPA's "medium priority" list. The plant workers, however, were never informed of the problems:
Meanwhile, Mike and his fellow workers had no idea what they were ingesting. County officials who knew of the site's history never felt it necessary to tell them. "The well water had been tested over the years, and the levels were fine," says Bob Hollis, a former manager.
It wasn't until the ferric chloride spill in 1991 that the employees of Plant 36 learned the truth about their workplace. "I felt totally violated," Mike says. "I couldn't believe that people would let that happen -- that we'd be exposed like that and they wouldn't tell us until they had their backs against the wall."
Workers approached the county. The county brought in eight experts to quiet their concerns. Environmental experts showed them graphs that said the contamination was too far below ground level to harm them. A doctor then checked out each worker for tumors and cancerous moles. Everyone was fine. The county also started trucking in fresh water for employee use.
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Toxic Toll of American Workers 
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