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PBB: An American Tragedy
329 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 28, 2015
Okay where do I begin? This book should be mandatory reading for every Michigander!
Brag alert: While I knew my Dad worked for the State of Michigan in the Attorney Generals Office for 2 decades I didn't realize that he was solely responsible for the largest settlement awarded at the time of 13 million dollars to the citizens of this State that were affected. He worked on PBB from 1978 until the settlement in 1984. I spoke with him today after finishing this book and he said "the entire state is contaminated and what people don't realize is it never goes away, your body cannot break it down". Sadly, he threw away all his files when they moved a few years ago. What a wealth of knowledge that would have been. He referred me to the Detroit Free Press two weeks ago that referenced PBB and how birds are literally falling out of the sky....today!!! He also told me to look into Dow Chemical (agent orange) and how the people in Midland are advised against walking on their own grass without shoes. Today, not 3 decades ago...today! And closer to my side of the state, my Dad also mentioned White Lake and Hooker Chemical. I'll have to dig into that. On an interesting side note, our photographer, who is a retired cop, I met with Monday to pick up Andrew's senior pictures. We met halfway at a fast food chain in Coopersville. When I was leaving I made some mention of eating his "cow-burger" and hopefully it was not contaminated with PBB. His eyes lit up and went on to share his story with me. As a new cop in 1976, Jack got a call regarding dying cows in Coopersville. (The still standing farm was across the street and could be seen from the fast food chain). The farmer instead of selling out and cashing in decided to shoot his entire 235 herd instead of infecting consumers. Neighbors called to complain bc not all the cows had died. Jack had to go and locate the wounded animals and "finish them off". Jack shared with me that as a cop he saw many homicide scenes but when he has nightmares it's of that night. Low and behold, that evening I'm reading this book and there is his story word for word in black and white on page 187!
I cannot recommend this book or simply learning more about this current issue enough.
Brag alert: While I knew my Dad worked for the State of Michigan in the Attorney Generals Office for 2 decades I didn't realize that he was solely responsible for the largest settlement awarded at the time of 13 million dollars to the citizens of this State that were affected. He worked on PBB from 1978 until the settlement in 1984. I spoke with him today after finishing this book and he said "the entire state is contaminated and what people don't realize is it never goes away, your body cannot break it down". Sadly, he threw away all his files when they moved a few years ago. What a wealth of knowledge that would have been. He referred me to the Detroit Free Press two weeks ago that referenced PBB and how birds are literally falling out of the sky....today!!! He also told me to look into Dow Chemical (agent orange) and how the people in Midland are advised against walking on their own grass without shoes. Today, not 3 decades ago...today! And closer to my side of the state, my Dad also mentioned White Lake and Hooker Chemical. I'll have to dig into that. On an interesting side note, our photographer, who is a retired cop, I met with Monday to pick up Andrew's senior pictures. We met halfway at a fast food chain in Coopersville. When I was leaving I made some mention of eating his "cow-burger" and hopefully it was not contaminated with PBB. His eyes lit up and went on to share his story with me. As a new cop in 1976, Jack got a call regarding dying cows in Coopersville. (The still standing farm was across the street and could be seen from the fast food chain). The farmer instead of selling out and cashing in decided to shoot his entire 235 herd instead of infecting consumers. Neighbors called to complain bc not all the cows had died. Jack had to go and locate the wounded animals and "finish them off". Jack shared with me that as a cop he saw many homicide scenes but when he has nightmares it's of that night. Low and behold, that evening I'm reading this book and there is his story word for word in black and white on page 187!
I cannot recommend this book or simply learning more about this current issue enough.
April 14, 2018
Very interesting explanation of a terrible accident in MI that ended up poisoning millions of people back in the 1970s. My mom met a lady who was directly affected by this tragedy. She recommended that my mom read this book to learn about this terrible tragedy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews