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“We Lived on Top of a Time Bomb”

One family’s story of the perils of living on the infamous Love Canal

HUNDREDS of persons nervously stood in line enduring the sweltering heat. There was hardly a breeze in the stuffy schoolhouse that was now an emergency testing center. The worst was feared.

Women wept. Children screamed as needles punctured their skin and samples of blood were withdrawn. All dreaded the results. Would chemical contamination be found in their blood?

Among these were Jean Guagliano and her four children. Her husband lay critically ill in a hospital after receiving major surgery. Two of her children were crying. Five-year-old Frankie kept pleading, “I’m scared, Mommy, I’m scared!” The day before, the leaking dump​—Love Canal—​that lay next to their home had been declared “a great and imminent peril to [their] health.”

“It was like a dream​—some horrible nightmare,” said Jean.

Yet as she waited those five hours amid the heat and the confusion, she could not help but think back over the strange occurrences during the eight years they had lived on Love Canal.

Strange Happenings

The children loved to play on the dump. “Remember those ‘fire rocks’?” asks the mother. “I sure do,” replies Michael. “We used to throw them against concrete and they would make a bright flash. They were fun. But really the weirdest thing on the dump was the way some of the dirt kept changing color. It would be pink, then red, purple, orange, green​—even blue!”

But there were more serious curiosities​—the choking odors that gagged her when she took the children across the Canal to school; the unstoppable black mold coming through the walls; the pitiful neighborhood dog with his black nose burned off to a sickly pink stub; the children’s feet regularly blistering and peeling from walking barefoot over the dump; and her constant and severe headaches.

Her eight-year-old daughter was in and out of the hospital​—often in intensive care. She eventually required surgery because of a serious kidney and bladder problem. Also Frankie, while sleeping by a heat vent bringing up vapors from the basement, suddenly stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. Only quick action by a team of doctors saved him.

Her neighbors also suffered. Miscarriages, birth defects, asthma, chronic skin rashes, cancer and tumors became common topics of conversation. Finally a crisis was reached.

Health Emergency Declared

On August 2, 1978, the Commissioner of Health declared Love Canal a health emergency. This decision precipitated the blood tests. Returning home after this ordeal, Jean and the children now pondered their future. The health order recommended that all pregnant women and those with children under two “move from their homes as soon as possible.” Yet husband Frank was still hospitalized.

Testings of the air the family breathed confirmed the danger. Nine suspected cancer-causing vapors were found in their home! “But how much of these vapors is present?” pleaded Jean. The businesslike official replied, “Your readings are over 300.”

“So what does that mean?” responded Jean, now so frightened she could hardly hold back the tears. “Well, 0 is safe,” confessed the official, “yet some of your neighbors’ readings are over 1,000!”

The family realized the inevitable. But they, like many, had no place to go. Also, because of their home mortgage most were unable to pay rent somewhere else. Selling their homes seemed hopeless​—who would buy? And yet they were living atop a chemical cesspool that had already invaded their homes and possibly their bodies.

To prevent panic, government officials set up meetings with the residents. By then Frank, no longer hospitalized, attended with Jean.

“You’re Letting Us Die!”

You could feel the tension as the government officials arrived. Many who waited were bewildered and dazed with fear. Eyes were red from tears. Mothers, holding their children, openly wept. One man ran up to an official and begged that he arrange for his children to be moved away. When no assurances came, he fell to the floor and cried hysterically.

“People were screaming and making fists,” said Frank, “while others were pleading.” The officials tried to reassure them by claiming that their lives were not in immediate danger. One woman pointed to the Canal and shrieked: “Whatever’s in there is in us now!” One official was assaulted. The attacker had lost her fourth fetus.

“You’re letting us die!” shouted a man. “You’re going to stand there and watch us all die!” However, government funds did arrive and approximately 240 homes were to be purchased and evacuated.

Soon, by dribbles and then en masse, people left. The Guaglianos were among the last to leave, and they found themselves behind an eight-foot chain-link fence put up by the government to isolate a six-block area. “For two months we lived behind that green fence,” added Jean. “It was an eerie feeling, knowing that the dangers were still there, but you couldn’t get away from them.”

One by one their neighbors’ homes were boarded up. “Before, there were lots of noises in the neighborhood,” said Frank. “Children playing, lawn mowers, cars​—but suddenly it got quiet, too quiet. It was like a death street.” Still the most gruesome discovery was yet to come.

What Is Really in the Canal?

Test wells were dug, not only to analyze the chemical contents, but also to drain some of it off into ditches. Over 80 different chemicals were immediately detected. Local news reporter Michael Brown, in his book Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America by Toxic Chemicals (1980), describes the danger of those compounds:

“We now know that the drums dumped in the canal contained a veritable witch’s brew of chemistry, compounds of truly remarkable toxicity. There were solvents that attack the heart and liver, and residues from pesticides so dangerous that their commercial sale has subsequently been restricted or banned outright by the government; some of them are strongly suspected of causing cancer.”

Hooker Chemical reportedly admitted to dumping 200 tons of trichlorophenol (TCP), a chemical waste resulting from the manufacture of certain plant killers. ‘So, just another chemical,’ you may think. “But we soon became ‘chemical experts,’” revealed Jean. “We learned that when TCP is produced, often a by-product is dioxin.”

“Dioxin is so poisonous,” interrupted Frank, “that three ounces (85 g) in New York’s water supply would wipe out the entire city!” On skin contact the invisible odorless gas causes lesions and even in microscopic amounts it can trigger cancer and birth defects. There is no known cure or antidote. Tensions ran high as workers began digging drainage ditches and these got closer to the Canal itself. Would they puncture an old barrel and send up an explosive cloud of poisonous chemicals?

“We found it,” were the frightening words of Dr. David Axelrod, one of the health experts. “The dioxin, in a drainage trench behind 97th Street”​—the street the Guaglianos lived on! The fact that some of its estimated 130 pounds (59 kg) had migrated out of the dump was especially frightening. For like the arms of a giant octopus, underground rivers or swells had carried the chemicals, including dioxin, considerable distances from the Canal, and in some instances in high concentrations. “And we lived right on one of those ‘wet’ areas,” said Jean.

Panic!

Mass hysteria again blazed in the streets, because new evidence showed an increase of birth defects, miscarriages and a host of other ills by those living in the “wet” areas outside the fence, in “safe” areas, according to government officials. Health officials now warned women of the area not to get pregnant for at least six months after leaving the area.

Teenagers, with their whole life ahead of them, anguished about what kind of children they would bear in the future. Would theirs be helplessly deformed like one child born on Love Canal with a hole in her feeble heart, bone blockages in her nose, partially deaf, deformed external ears, a cleft palate and mentally retarded? Some residents marched in protest.

The weeks dragged on. It became apparent that hundreds of other homes were in dangerous areas and very little economic assistance was forthcoming. A feeling of hopelessness prevailed.

“After being lied to and deceived so many times, some residents feel you can’t have confidence in government or anything else,” reported one resident. “Anything else” often included even religion, as this resident continued. “I’m turning away from church, and I don’t care what religion it is.” It was not that they became atheists, but as Jean explained: “Some said they felt abandoned by God. They had prayed and yet no help came. So many stopped going to church. Others, so weary and concerned about getting out, just pushed religion into the background.” The only real “hope” to many was money, as one resident frankly admitted: “Money is life. It’s the ability to get out of here!”

Family life suffered in the process. “My family is going to pieces,” confessed one resident, “and there are divorces all over the place. My husband is so desperate: There is no way he can get us out, no way for him to protect his family, and that gets to him. That gets to everybody.”

Suicides and nervous breakdowns reportedly occurred in the area 27 times more frequently than normal. “One of these who took the ‘easy way out’ lived eight doors away. She was heartbroken when they told her she would lose her home,” Jean said. “She lost all hope,” added Frank, “and several months later she jumped to her death in the gorge by the Niagara Falls.”

Then, reflecting over the experience, Jean soberly continued: “The not-knowing-what-to-expect was an enormous emotional strain on everybody, but many were like her, they had no real hope for the future. It was only our Bible-based hope as Jehovah’s Witnesses, our knowing that God will soon ‘bring to ruin those ruining the earth’ and make our globe a beautiful paradise, that got us through. It kept us sane.”​—Rev. 11:18; Luke 23:43.

‘How Can You Encourage Others?’

“One neighbor ‘cried on my shoulder’ daily,” related Jean. “When I tried to cheer her up, she would say: ‘Jean, you’re going through the same things. I don’t see how you can stand there and encourage others.’” Jean then revealed how her whole family could do it. “I told her it was my faith in Jehovah God. We as a family kept relying on our faith and the assurance that God gives in the Bible that he will sustain those who worship him and throw their burdens​—no matter how heavy—​on him.”​—Ps. 55:22.

“Really our faith kept us united as a family,” stressed Frank. “We drew closer together, whereas in many other families everyone was hysterical and they broke apart. In fact, the local Homeowners Association reported that four out of every ten couples that moved from the area split up. Yet it still was not easy coping with the pressures.”

“One Good Cry”

“There were many times that I felt like crying,” confessed Jean, “but the more I encouraged others, even our kids, to rely on God and pray to him for strength, the more strength I received. I would stop and think, ‘Well, I really am relying on Him.’”

“But when we got the offer from the government to buy our house,” added Frank, “and we saw how little money it was, and that now everything was over, we all had one good cry. Oh, how they had built up our expectations! But the settlement put us in a deep financial ditch.” After this tearful outburst, the family finally prepared to leave.

The Future​—A Confident View

Many residents were emotionally crushed by the experience. They felt their future was ruined. Counselors were sent to the area to help to stem the rising number of suicides.

A counselor who had heard of the Guaglianos’ problems approached Jean and was amazed at her optimism. “But your problems are very real!” uttered the counselor. “I know they are,” answered Jean, who explained the basis for her feeling. After a short conversation, the counselor broke into tears and said: “Here I’m supposed to be encouraging you, but you are inspiring me! You really have control of yourself and you’ve got an inner strength.”

Yes, this inner strength even pervaded their youngsters who endured much. Lisa, when realizing the possible cause of her kidney problems, nervously asked her mother: “If the chemicals are inside me, how will they get out?” Yet this young girl found real strength from her own personal Bible study and prayers and encouraged a classmate who was likewise suffering: “Don’t worry about Love Canal, because Jehovah will fix up all of this in the new earth!”

It was this precious hope that gave this family confidence to endure a living nightmare. Even still, the drama of Love Canal is far from over. In May of 1980, it was decided that over 700 additional families should relocate. Evidence has shown chromosome damage among some of the hapless victims.

Is Love Canal the only chemical dump where poisons are silently seeping into the homes and lives of unknowing victims? Could your own community​—your own home—​be in danger? Some startling facts are revealed in the following article.

[Box on page 9]

THE CHEMICAL PLAGUE THAT DESTROYED A TOWN

A loud screeching, hissing sound was the ugly announcement of the escape of dioxin during a chemical plant accident that was ultimately to convert a town into a virtual man-made desert.

During 1976, in Sevesco, a small town near Milan, Italy, it is estimated that between 22 and 132 lbs. (10-60 kg) of dioxin were released into the air. Four thousand acresa of land were contaminated. Thousands of animals died in agony and crops had to be destroyed. Hundreds of persons developed nausea, blurred vision and severe liver and kidney pains. Children especially developed oozing sores on exposed skin. One thousand acres were evacuated, leaving hundreds homeless. Even two years after what was termed “Italy’s Hiroshima” a 215-acre site is still so contaminated no one can live there.

The city​—its core still dead—​is “in the middle of the hottest controversial subject in the world,” according to its mayor, who adds: “This is an event that literally questions our civilization.”

[Footnotes]

[Graph on page 7]

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DID LOVE CANAL MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

21.1.

8.9

8.1

2.0

[Picture on page 8]

DANGER KEEP OUT

[Picture on page 11]

The Guaglianos with the two of their children born on Love Canal. ‘It was our Bible-based hope that kept us sane’