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The Poisoning of Michigan
Uses court testimony and interviews to document the events which led cattle in Michigan and, ultimately, Michigan's people, to become contaminated with a highly toxic chemical-polybrominated biphenyl
- GenresNonfictionHistory
351 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 7, 2007
This is an excellent book, written by a U.S. correspondent for the London Observer.
Not much is known, outside of Michigan, of the mistake at a Michigan chemical plant and Farm Bureau feed plant that caused a highly toxic chemical -- polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) -- to be mixed into animal feed and subsequently spread through poisoned meat, eggs and milk into nearly all of the population of Michigan; as well as significant parts of the U.S. and at least part of Canada.
"The Poisoning of Michigan" provides an excellent account of how State and Federal government, State-funded university research institutions, and the corporations responsible for the mixing of the poison consistently evaded responsibility, downplayed scientific evidence, and outright lied -- both to the farmers whose livestock had been poisoned and to the unsuspecting public, claiming that danger to both animals and humans was either minimal or nonexistent. This despite mass-burial of cattle, sheep, chickens and other livestock in pits near Kalkaska and Mio, Michigan, and tons of the toxic chemical which caused it all being buried and incinerated in Michigan, Nevada and New York landfills and later leeched into the surrounding water tables and environment.
One cannot read Egginton's book about the largest, most extensive and disastrous chemical disaster in U. S. history, and not think of the Bhopal disaster, which happened halfway around the world, a decade later.
As one of the nine million Michiganders exposed to PBB during the early to mid 1970s, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Not much is known, outside of Michigan, of the mistake at a Michigan chemical plant and Farm Bureau feed plant that caused a highly toxic chemical -- polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) -- to be mixed into animal feed and subsequently spread through poisoned meat, eggs and milk into nearly all of the population of Michigan; as well as significant parts of the U.S. and at least part of Canada.
"The Poisoning of Michigan" provides an excellent account of how State and Federal government, State-funded university research institutions, and the corporations responsible for the mixing of the poison consistently evaded responsibility, downplayed scientific evidence, and outright lied -- both to the farmers whose livestock had been poisoned and to the unsuspecting public, claiming that danger to both animals and humans was either minimal or nonexistent. This despite mass-burial of cattle, sheep, chickens and other livestock in pits near Kalkaska and Mio, Michigan, and tons of the toxic chemical which caused it all being buried and incinerated in Michigan, Nevada and New York landfills and later leeched into the surrounding water tables and environment.
One cannot read Egginton's book about the largest, most extensive and disastrous chemical disaster in U. S. history, and not think of the Bhopal disaster, which happened halfway around the world, a decade later.
As one of the nine million Michiganders exposed to PBB during the early to mid 1970s, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
April 26, 2023
This book was absolutely mind blowing. The Author writes this book in such a unique way to tell the story of PBB entering the food supply chain in Michigan and impacting 9 million Michiganders in the 1970s. As a reader, discovering the impact that this had on the lives of farmers was truly eye opening coming from personal interviews that the author had with multiple dairy producers at the time. It’s very much worth the read, and I couldn’t put it down or stop thinking about it for months afterwards.
September 2, 2016
“I don’t think the governor was an uncaring man. He believed what his advisors told him. He was hoodwinked by his own people. Then he was in such a deep trap, how could he pull himself out?”
“As for the people of Michigan, they got the information too late. If they had known they were being poisoned they would have risen up in indignation but when they eventually found out they had already ingested the stuff.”
No this isn’t a story about the lead in drinking water crisis that is currently happening in Flint Michigan. The Poisoning of Michigan covers an environmental disaster that happened forty years previously. “Although it remains one of the most widespread chemical contaminations this country has every experienced, it is also the most underreported disaster I have known in a long journalist career punctuated by reporting on disasters.”
Rick Halbert was a successful chemical engineer that gave up his engineering career to take over the family farm. When his cows suddenly sicken, he suspects the new feed he has been getting from the Battle Creek Feed Mill. Officials at the mill assure him that all is well, but his cattle keep getting worse. Through Rick’s dogged determination, the contamination is found.
But that is not the end of the story. Through gross incompetence on all levels of the government, the contamination has spread through dairy herds, chickens, pigs, and crops that were grown on land that manure was spread on. No one understood the contamination and its effects, worse yet, the Farm Bureau and State Government in Michigan wanted to keep it under wraps to not ruin Michigan’s economy. And thus, Michigan’s population was slowly poisoned in the 1970’s and the poisoning has not ended in current days. The poison, PBB, binds to fat in humans and doesn’t disappear out of the system. Because it bioaccumulates in the fat of humans, it is passed on through breast milk from mother to child. Even now, 80% of Michiganders have it in their system. Health effects include cancer, strange skin rashes, and stomach ailments.
Farmers with low levels in their herds could find no help. Even after destroying their sick herds; they were told there was no financial help. With low levels, they were able to sell their herds to market if they chose and the poisoning would continue through the food chain. It was frankly depressing to read about.
As an environmental engineer who grew up right where this took place right before I was born, I was very disturbed that I had never heard of through school, from family, or at college. Indeed, it was covered up so effectively that most major reporting on it was from out of the country, like in Great Britain, which is where the author of this book is from. It made me wonder about my own family. Do I have PBB in my bloodstream? I was born right afterwards, but my mother could have passed it to me. Did I pass it to my children? It would be great if you could be tested and educated on whether you should be breastfeeding your children or not.
Egginton’s writing was superb and supremely engaging. The book has a new forward from 2009 as well as a great afterward on the subject. I brought this camping with me over the fourth of July and my friend Gretchen couldn’t stop reading it whenever I left the book laying around. Gretchen first clued me into this story through an article on Facebook. She also let me borrow the movie, Bitter Harvest staring Ron Howard, from the 1980’s that basically tells Rick Halbert’s story. It was engaging and disturbing just like this book. I keep thinking about this book. It was a great read and the message was an important lesson about how easily our food chain can be contaminated. I wish this message was out in the public more.
I bookmarked about every page of this book with one favorite quote or another. Here is just a sampling of a few:
“Yet the Love Canal crisis affected only about 660 families occupying 36 city blocks, while Michigan’s contamination affected an entire state.”
“I have not forgotten the anger I felt in 1976 when Michigan’s Department of Public Health declined to advise new mothers whether or not to nurse their babies – this after 96 percent of random samples of breast milk from Michigan women showed the presence of PBB.”
“…discovered that PBB was ten times more toxic than PCB, causing severe liver damage.”
“My own family doctor looked me in the eye one day and said, ‘Are you sure you are not poisoning these children?’” – Carol Curtis, Farmer’s Wife
“If my husband was a cow they would have killed him. They would have sent him to Kalkaska and buried him, because the PBB in his fat was over the tolerance level.” – Betty Motz, farmer’s wife.
“There was the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, the governor, our elected officials covering up what two corporations were doing to the people of Michigan, telling farmers to sell sick cows to the public to save themselves financially.”
“This experience has made bigger people of us, he said, “We can better appreciate the frustrations and hurt of those who are regarded as second-rate citizens. For a long time I could not understand the racial unrest in this country, the student disorders of the late sixties. Now I know what happens to a person who is stripped of his dignity, why he becomes unruly.” – Garry Zuiderveen
Overall, this crisis was disturbing and fascinating to read about. What is sad is that a lot of the lessons learned through this crisis have not been applied to modern crisis such as Flint. The government is not equipped to help large scale health complaints of citizens. But as in this crisis, it does take dedicated citizens to sound the alarm in order to find ways to solve the problem. In the 1970’s the problem was covered up in order to not hurt the economy nor the Governor’s office. This was similar to the modern Flint crisis where the government wanted to save face and covered up mounting evidence. I hope more people read about the poisoning of Michigan in the 1970’s and think about the vulnerabilities in our food supply and how we can help this problem before we have another mass poisoning.
Do you have any superfund sites close to where you live? Do you know how to find them? Where you effected by the PBB crisis?
Book Source: I purchased this book from Amazon.com
This review was first published on my blog at: http://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2016/...
“As for the people of Michigan, they got the information too late. If they had known they were being poisoned they would have risen up in indignation but when they eventually found out they had already ingested the stuff.”
No this isn’t a story about the lead in drinking water crisis that is currently happening in Flint Michigan. The Poisoning of Michigan covers an environmental disaster that happened forty years previously. “Although it remains one of the most widespread chemical contaminations this country has every experienced, it is also the most underreported disaster I have known in a long journalist career punctuated by reporting on disasters.”
Rick Halbert was a successful chemical engineer that gave up his engineering career to take over the family farm. When his cows suddenly sicken, he suspects the new feed he has been getting from the Battle Creek Feed Mill. Officials at the mill assure him that all is well, but his cattle keep getting worse. Through Rick’s dogged determination, the contamination is found.
But that is not the end of the story. Through gross incompetence on all levels of the government, the contamination has spread through dairy herds, chickens, pigs, and crops that were grown on land that manure was spread on. No one understood the contamination and its effects, worse yet, the Farm Bureau and State Government in Michigan wanted to keep it under wraps to not ruin Michigan’s economy. And thus, Michigan’s population was slowly poisoned in the 1970’s and the poisoning has not ended in current days. The poison, PBB, binds to fat in humans and doesn’t disappear out of the system. Because it bioaccumulates in the fat of humans, it is passed on through breast milk from mother to child. Even now, 80% of Michiganders have it in their system. Health effects include cancer, strange skin rashes, and stomach ailments.
Farmers with low levels in their herds could find no help. Even after destroying their sick herds; they were told there was no financial help. With low levels, they were able to sell their herds to market if they chose and the poisoning would continue through the food chain. It was frankly depressing to read about.
As an environmental engineer who grew up right where this took place right before I was born, I was very disturbed that I had never heard of through school, from family, or at college. Indeed, it was covered up so effectively that most major reporting on it was from out of the country, like in Great Britain, which is where the author of this book is from. It made me wonder about my own family. Do I have PBB in my bloodstream? I was born right afterwards, but my mother could have passed it to me. Did I pass it to my children? It would be great if you could be tested and educated on whether you should be breastfeeding your children or not.
Egginton’s writing was superb and supremely engaging. The book has a new forward from 2009 as well as a great afterward on the subject. I brought this camping with me over the fourth of July and my friend Gretchen couldn’t stop reading it whenever I left the book laying around. Gretchen first clued me into this story through an article on Facebook. She also let me borrow the movie, Bitter Harvest staring Ron Howard, from the 1980’s that basically tells Rick Halbert’s story. It was engaging and disturbing just like this book. I keep thinking about this book. It was a great read and the message was an important lesson about how easily our food chain can be contaminated. I wish this message was out in the public more.
I bookmarked about every page of this book with one favorite quote or another. Here is just a sampling of a few:
“Yet the Love Canal crisis affected only about 660 families occupying 36 city blocks, while Michigan’s contamination affected an entire state.”
“I have not forgotten the anger I felt in 1976 when Michigan’s Department of Public Health declined to advise new mothers whether or not to nurse their babies – this after 96 percent of random samples of breast milk from Michigan women showed the presence of PBB.”
“…discovered that PBB was ten times more toxic than PCB, causing severe liver damage.”
“My own family doctor looked me in the eye one day and said, ‘Are you sure you are not poisoning these children?’” – Carol Curtis, Farmer’s Wife
“If my husband was a cow they would have killed him. They would have sent him to Kalkaska and buried him, because the PBB in his fat was over the tolerance level.” – Betty Motz, farmer’s wife.
“There was the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, the governor, our elected officials covering up what two corporations were doing to the people of Michigan, telling farmers to sell sick cows to the public to save themselves financially.”
“This experience has made bigger people of us, he said, “We can better appreciate the frustrations and hurt of those who are regarded as second-rate citizens. For a long time I could not understand the racial unrest in this country, the student disorders of the late sixties. Now I know what happens to a person who is stripped of his dignity, why he becomes unruly.” – Garry Zuiderveen
Overall, this crisis was disturbing and fascinating to read about. What is sad is that a lot of the lessons learned through this crisis have not been applied to modern crisis such as Flint. The government is not equipped to help large scale health complaints of citizens. But as in this crisis, it does take dedicated citizens to sound the alarm in order to find ways to solve the problem. In the 1970’s the problem was covered up in order to not hurt the economy nor the Governor’s office. This was similar to the modern Flint crisis where the government wanted to save face and covered up mounting evidence. I hope more people read about the poisoning of Michigan in the 1970’s and think about the vulnerabilities in our food supply and how we can help this problem before we have another mass poisoning.
Do you have any superfund sites close to where you live? Do you know how to find them? Where you effected by the PBB crisis?
Book Source: I purchased this book from Amazon.com
This review was first published on my blog at: http://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2016/...
May 18, 2018
I picked this book up from the free cart at my local library because it had Michigan in the title. It was truly horrifying from page one!!! The Halbert farm where the first known case of PBB poisoning occurred is only about 25 miles from my home! How had I not heard of this statewide poisoning before I picked this book up (I was only 5 in 1972)?? The further I got into the book, the angrier, disgusted, and more horrified I became. Here it is 46 years later, and what is the state of this state with all the buried and incorrectly incinerated infected cattle, swine, sheep, horses and chickens??? Is the PBB all gone from the environment??? Is it gone from our bodies??? Are any milk, meat, and eggs truly safe to eat now?? Will any state bureaucracy even tell the truth? How any farmers could trust Farm Bureau (or any government agency, for that matter!) after this tragic event is beyond me! How is it that NO ONE is talking about the statewide PBB poisoning at all, especially after the Flint water crisis???!!!
I would love to know how the cancer (and all the other symptoms, too, for that matter!) statistics in Michigan compare to another unpoisoned state's statistics. Are the state's affected consumers, who believed the governor's, Farm Bureau's, MDA's, and Michigan Chemical's assurances that PBB's were harmless, going to be screwed over like all the farmers?
I would love to know how the cancer (and all the other symptoms, too, for that matter!) statistics in Michigan compare to another unpoisoned state's statistics. Are the state's affected consumers, who believed the governor's, Farm Bureau's, MDA's, and Michigan Chemical's assurances that PBB's were harmless, going to be screwed over like all the farmers?
August 5, 2020
This was a very difficult and sad book to read but well worth the effort. Human errors triggered a health catastrophe in the early 1970's that exposed the weakness of science at the time. When new chemicals (PBB, a fire retardant), are developed and accidentally enter the food chain without knowing the short or long term consequences, very bad things happen, and they did in Michigan.
Corporations, government agencies, universities, medical personnel and politics are all part of this story. Although well intentioned, no one was equipped to stop the spread of PBB, into the feed of dairy cows which ultimately ended up in humans.
Very detailed and extremely researched from beginning to the legal proceedings and conclusions.
Corporations, government agencies, universities, medical personnel and politics are all part of this story. Although well intentioned, no one was equipped to stop the spread of PBB, into the feed of dairy cows which ultimately ended up in humans.
Very detailed and extremely researched from beginning to the legal proceedings and conclusions.
May 10, 2018
I'm tagging out on this one. I JUST WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! This book is so overly detailed it's practically unreadable. The author does a commendable job at finding information and sources, but her timeline is wonky and the sheer number of names makes for taxing reading. As terrible as the contamination of cattle, milk, poultry, and meat in Michigan were, I think one could find a better summary of events elsewhere.
August 27, 2022
Oh mannnnn..... back in 1973ish, a bunch of fire retardant was accidentally fed to thousands of cows in Michigan. Over 30,000 farm animals were killed and buried in a pit in Kalkaska to try and help contain the chemical exposure. Contaminated meat and milk were fed to nearly every Michigan resident.
This story is frightening. The books is very detailed... you might end up skimming thru some of it. Recommended. Sadly.
This story is frightening. The books is very detailed... you might end up skimming thru some of it. Recommended. Sadly.
March 29, 2019
A readable account of an awful series of events.
June 13, 2023
I'll admit, although being born and raised in Michigan, I'd never once heard of the PBB contamination of the 1970s, or PBBs (polybrominated biphenyls) in general, prior to reading this book. 'The Poisoning of Michigan' was namedropped in a public health book club I belong to, and I assumed it was another telling of the Flint Water Crisis. What a surprise! The author's writing is doggedly detailed, almost too much at times, with a vast amount of people, agencies, animals, and chemicals introduced and explored. What's more surprising, and disheartening, is that Michigan is struggling today with a similar environmental and public health problem stemming from the historic and long-term use of "forever chemicals", such as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). At least this time around, the government's response has been more prompt and transparent.
“There was no precedent for a disaster like this, no ready formula for the kind of government help which is available when the cause can be blamed on the Almighty. Nobody wanted to shoulder responsibility for the series of human errors which had begun in the chemical company, been compounded in the feed plant, and had spread through scores of dairy farms in rural Michigan. Nor did state authorities want to broadcast the fact that contaminated milk and meat must have been sold for months in urban supermarkets across the state.”
“Because of the Michigan accident, at least nine million people have PBB in their systems. But because of the way in which our world has developed, everyone living in an industrialized society has accumulated a peculiarly personal combination of chemical residues which may, or may not, eventually cause harm. Nobody knows whether some of these cancel others out, or whether, their combined effect is additive, antagonistic, or synergistic. Given all these unknowns, the accepted concept of a standard ‘tolerance level’ for any contaminant becomes meaningless.”
“There was no precedent for a disaster like this, no ready formula for the kind of government help which is available when the cause can be blamed on the Almighty. Nobody wanted to shoulder responsibility for the series of human errors which had begun in the chemical company, been compounded in the feed plant, and had spread through scores of dairy farms in rural Michigan. Nor did state authorities want to broadcast the fact that contaminated milk and meat must have been sold for months in urban supermarkets across the state.”
“Because of the Michigan accident, at least nine million people have PBB in their systems. But because of the way in which our world has developed, everyone living in an industrialized society has accumulated a peculiarly personal combination of chemical residues which may, or may not, eventually cause harm. Nobody knows whether some of these cancel others out, or whether, their combined effect is additive, antagonistic, or synergistic. Given all these unknowns, the accepted concept of a standard ‘tolerance level’ for any contaminant becomes meaningless.”
December 14, 2015
This book depressed me to no end. I knew nothing about the 1973 PBB contamination of livestock feed in Michigan until I read a reference to it in Bonnie Jo Campbell's "Mothers Tell Your Daughters." After reading Egginton's superb account of the crisis, my prior ignorance of the disaster may depress me more than the disaster itself. The perfect storm of individually innocuous mistakes and expediencies that combined to cast a 40 year long (and counting) shadow on public health, policy and agriculture in Michigan is horrifying to behold, and a strong cautionary tale for policymakers with term-limited memories to remember as safety nets get cut down in the name of local control and "individual responsibility."
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September 17, 2014I actually read this book around 20 years ago. The incident came up in another book I'm currently reading. Truly horrifying!!
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October 15, 2018flipped through but didnt FULLY finish it i read half fully tho got the gist freaked the living shit outta me okurr
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews