Dark Waters

Because I am enjoying being heatlhy, I've been out to dinner two Fridays in a row, first with Eddis then with Jenny and Nick. And I saw the above film with Marian. It was very upsetting. My dad spent his entire career at DuPont and was the construction manager at the Parkersburg, WV, plant at the centre of the film. There is no way he didn't know about the landfill full of toxic sludge that was poisoning the water table and water systems of Parkersburg. It was an outrageous example of corporate malfeasance and greed. The lawyer who took on DuPont won a $671 million settlement on behalf of more than 3,500 plaintiffs in West Virginia. Many died from the cancers caused by the chemicals DuPont manufactured.

Plant safety was my dad's responsibility. What does that mean when female employees were being exposed to chemicals that would deform their babies? I never was a big fan of my step dad but I am surprised that even he could sleep soundly at night knowing what DuPont was releasing into West Virginia's water shed.

March 11