Poison powder : the Kepone disaster in Virginia and its legacy / Gregory S. Wilson, James C. Giesen, and Erin Stewart Mauldin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilson, Gregory S., author.

Giesen, James C., author.

Mauldin, Erin Stewart, author.

Series:

Environmental history and the American South.

Environmental History and the American South Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chlordecone--Toxicology--Virginia--Hopewell--History.

Chlordecone.

Chlordecone--Toxicology--History.

Chlordecone--Environmental aspects--Virginia--Hopewell--History.

Chlordecone--Environmental aspects--West Indies, French--History.

Pesticides industry--Environmental aspects--Virginia--Hopewell--History.

Pesticides industry.

Pesticides--Government policy--United States--History.

Pesticides.

Environmental health--United States--History.

Environmental health.

Environmental justice--United States--History.

Environmental justice.

Allied Chemical Corporation--History.

Allied Chemical Corporation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (252 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Athens, Georgia : University of Georgia Press, [2023]

Summary:

"In 1975, workers at a small makeshift pesticide factory in Hopewell, Virginia became ill after exposure to Kepone, the brand name for a powdered version of the poison chlordecone. News of a few ill workers led to the discovery of mammoth, widespread environmental contamination of the nearby James River and the larger landscape of the small, working-class town. Dumping of the chemical had been going on for years. Workers at the plant-a converted gas station that seems to have ignored safety regulations-had been breathing in the dust for more than a year. The chemical made their bodies seize and shake. Aspects of this environmental tragedy are all too common: corporate avarice, ignorance, and regulatory failure, along with politicization of science, condescending experts, racism, and classism. The impact was not only in Hopewell, but also on the far away fields where Kepone was used to combat insects. In this book, Gregory Wilson explores the conditions that put the plant and the workers there in the first place, and the effects of the poison on the people and natural world long after 1975"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

The James River before Kepone

Hopewell, Allied, and the Beetle Battles

The Kepone Shakes and a Poisoned River

Biocitizenship and Accountability

A Crime against Every Citizen

Kepone and the Environmental Management State

The Present and Future of Kepone

Epilogue.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780820364032

0820364037

9780820363493

0820363499

OCLC:

1375295389