The Cancer Factory
Industrial Chemicals, Corporate Deception, and the Hidden Deaths of American Workers
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- $24.99
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
“No journalist knows more about toxic chemicals in the workplace than Jim Morris. The Cancer Factory is the crowning achievement of his estimable career spent walking fence lines, factory floors, and doctor’s offices.”
—Dan Fagin, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Toms River
“The Cancer Factory could not come at a better time, as we reckon with how our bodies pay the price for our nation’s toxic history and as today’s workers fight not for only their rights but for their very lives.… A powerful and essential read.”
—Anna Clark, author of The Poisoned City
The story of a group of Goodyear Tire and Rubber workers fatally exposed to toxic chemicals, the lawyer who sought justice on their behalf, and the shameful lack of protection our society affords all workers
Working at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company chemical plant in Niagara Falls, New York, was considered a good job. It was the kind of industrial manufacturing job that allowed blue-collar workers to thrive in the latter half of the 20th century—that allowed them to buy their own home, and maybe a small boat for the lake.
But it was also the kind of job that exposed you to toxic chemicals and offered little to no protection from them, either in the way of protective gear or adequate ventilation. Eventually, it was a job that gave you bladder cancer.
The Cancer Factory tells the story of the workers who experienced one of the nation’s worst, and best-documented, outbreaks of work-related cancer, and the lawyer who has represented the bladder-cancer victims at the plant for more than 30 years. Goodyear, and its chemical supplier, DuPont, knew that two of the chemicals used in the plant had been shown to cause cancer, but made little effort to protect the plant’s workers until the cluster of cancer cases—and deaths—was undeniable.
In doing so it tells a broader story of corporate malfeasance and governmental neglect. Workers have only weak protections from exposure to toxic substances in America, and regulatory breaches contribute to an estimated 95,000 deaths from occupational illness each year. Based on 4 decades of reporting and delving deeply into the scientific literature about toxic substances and health risks, the arcana of worker regulations, and reality of loose enforcement, The Cancer Factory exposes the terrible health risks too many workers face.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Morris debuts with a devastating and thorough critique of corporate greed, deception, and lack of concern for worker health, focusing primarily on Dupont Chemical and Goodyear Tire Company. Drawing on in-depth interviews with workers and their families, Morris documents how employees at the Goodyear factory in Niagara Falls, N.Y., have suffered from a high rate of bladder cancer for decades, and details the lack of an adequate response by corporate leaders and the U.S. government. Opening the account with the story of Rod Halford, a longtime chemical operator at Goodyear who began urinating blood in the early 1990s, Morris shows how Halford had been poisoned by a highly carcinogenic agent, the chemical ortho-toluidine, supplied by Dupont. Both Goodyear and Dupont were aware of the danger, but failed to inform workers or implement protective measures. Although many of the ill workers, including Halford, eventually sued Goodyear, the company settled the lawsuits rather than going to trial, effectively concealing the charges from the public. Morris goes on to spotlight the many American industries where dangerous chemicals are used by workers (the problem is only getting worse, Morris contends, with staggering numbers of new chemicals being introduced every year), and describes how European regulation has been much more successful in reducing cancers. Well documented, lucidly written, and disturbing to read, this is an urgent wake-up call.