Kodak's Toxic Moments

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http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16030

 

Kodak's Toxic Moments

 

May 29, 2003Viewed on May 30, 2003

 

Maureen Reynolds, a former neighbor of Eastman Kodak's sprawling Kodak Park

facility in Rochester, New York, suffers from more than her share of Kodak

moments -- believing that Kodak poisoned her and her neighbors. She wasn't

suspicious when her three-year-old son developed asthma. Rushing him to the

hospital for adrenaline shots was traumatic, but these things happen. She also

wasn't suspicious about the thin layer of ash on her car's windshield. She even

noticed ash sometimes on her young son's glasses. Cities have dirty air,

however, and a little ash isn't uncommon.

 

Things started getting strange, however, when Reynolds' herself developed asthma

at age forty. During the next ten years she developed cancer, neuropathy,

fibromyalgia, arthritis and the autoimmune disease, Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

(PBC) -- a rare disorder that only affects one person in a million.

 

Reynolds moved out of her Kodak Park neighborhood four years earlier, after

living there for 23 years. As Reynolds began to confront the downturn in her

health, she noticed that many of her old friends from the neighborhood were

suffering similar fates -- plagued by fibromyalgia and a host of other diseases.

Curious, Reynolds starting focusing on the rarest disease that she suffered from

-- PBC. PBC, which primarily attacks women, is related to Primary Sclerosing

Cholangitis (PSC), which primarily affects men. What she learned was startling.

PSC is one of a host of ailments from which Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent

Orange suffer. After a little more research she discovered that, like her Kodak

Park neighbors, these same veterans also suffer from neuropathy, diabetes,

asthma and cancers of the thyroid and pancreas.

 

#1 in Dioxin

 

The most potent ingredient in Agent Orange is dioxin -- which is often blamed

for health problems suffered by those exposed to the herbicide. Reynolds' former

neighbor, Kodak, has been releasing massive amounts of the same toxic substance

into the Kodak Park environment. A 1992 trial burn at Kodak's incinerator

released more dioxin into the environment than all of New York's other tested

hazardous waste incinerators combined. Dioxin is a sore subject in Western New

York since it was also found to be responsible for much of the sickness in

Niagara Falls' Love Canal neighborhood.

 

According to the EPA, Kodak released more dioxin into New York's environment in

2000 than any other source. Kodak isn't just number one in dioxin emissions,

however. As of 1999, they've also ranked as New York State's leading producer of

recognized airborne carcinogens and waterborne developmental toxicants. They've

also gained notoriety as New York's number one source for releases of suspected

endocrine, gastrointestinal, liver, cardiovascular, kidney, respiratory and

reproductive toxicants as well as neurotoxins. Kodak alone released more toxic

chemical emissions listed in the federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) than all

of the 144 major polluters in Erie (Buffalo), Niagara (Niagara Falls) and Monroe

(Rochester) counties combined.

 

During the 13-year period from 1987 to 2000, thanks primarily to Kodak's toxic

stew of emissions, Rochester ranked number one in the U.S. for overall releases

of carcinogenic chemicals, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group

(USPIRG). Kodak alone was responsible for over 90 percent of the 64.4 million

pounds of carcinogens released during that period into Rochester's air and

water.

 

Cancer in Kodak Park

 

The end result of this dumping is a toxic-laden environment poisonous to human

life. Hence, it should come as no surprise that according to the National

Institute of Health and the National Cancer Institute, the Rochester area is in

the top ten percentile for death rates from 13 different types of cancers. The

New York State Department of Health found that " women living near Kodak Park had

approximately an 80 percent greater [than average] risk of developing pancreatic

cancer, " which is often fatal. That rate increased to 96 percent among women who

lived in the Kodak Park area for at least 20 years, leading the Department of

Health to suggest that the longer people live near the Kodak facility, the

greater their risk of getting pancreatic cancer becomes.

 

Children seem especially susceptible to toxins in the Kodak Park area

environment. One concerned area mother conducted a door to door survey in the

Kodak Park neighborhood, eventually documenting 33 cases of brain cancer in

children living within five miles of the Kodak facility. Currently the parents

of five of these children are suing Kodak for $75 million, holding the

corporation responsible for poisoning their children. The concern about

children's health is further exacerbated by the realization that there are 21

schools located within three miles of the sprawling Kodak facility.

 

Kodak's Public Relations division has been active for generations working to

keep community protest at bay. Charlie Roemer, who lives two blocks from the

Kodak facility, remembers a time 40 years ago when the company used to placate

the community by offering to repaint cars whose finishes were damaged by ash

from their smokestacks. Roemer says the " persistent bad smells " that have

continuously come from the plant since his family moved into the community 51

years ago are just something people in the Kodak Park community learned to

tolerate. He recalls how his neighbors, during particularly bad air days in the

1960s, would chalk the stink up to " Kodak cleaning their stacks. " On other days,

especially during wind shifts, the stench of Kodak's effluent emissions into the

Genesee River would overwhelm the neighborhood. In an effort to demonstrate how

safe the stinky water was, the company at one time maintained a small aquarium

near its discharge pipes, with fish allegedly swimming in waste water.

 

Let Them Drink Methylene Chloride

 

Groundwater studies conducted in and around Kodak Park in the late 1990s show,

however, that fluid wastes from the Kodak plant are anything but benign. A 1996

study, for example, found methylene chloride concentrations as high as 3,600,000

parts per billion. The permissible legal level is five parts per billion. In a

self-congratulatory Earth Day 2003 press release, Kodak claims to have reduced

methylene chloride emissions by 50 percent. They don't mention, however, that

the New York State Comptroller's office points out that Kodak " only undertook

serious remediation efforts after numerous fines from New York State and the

EPA. " It's also no accident that the press release doesn't contain data about

current emissions. Given Kodak's previous astronomical emissions levels, a 50

percent or even a 99 percent cut still leaves an unacceptable amount of

methylene chloride entering the environment. The federal Occupational Safety and

Health Administration classifies methylene chloride as a workplace carcinogen.

The Environmental Protection Agency labels it a " probable human carcinogen. " For

Charlie Roemer, it's the probable cause of the advanced prostate cancer he was

diagnosed with three months ago.

 

Many of Kodak's workers, like the residents in the Kodak Park area, have similar

health horror stories. Ramona Miller worked at Kodak for 21 years, including

working in a lab during a period when she was breast feeding her newborn baby

girl in 1988. Miller blames her work at Kodak, which involved moving toxic

samples in and out of drying ovens in what she describes as a " poorly vented

environment, " with the chronic health problems afflicting both her and her

daughter. Her daughter suffers from bi-lateral spasticity, a form of cerebral

palsy which Miller believes was induced by toxins accumulating in her breast

milk. Miller herself suffers from various nervous system disorders. She

continued, however, to work at Kodak while conducting research about the various

chemicals she was exposed to while breastfeeding. Eventually she started getting

panic attacks when she approached Kodak Park, much as a crime victim would when

revisiting the scene where she was victimized. Miller finally left her job a

Kodak last year. Kodak hasn't acknowledged any responsibility for Miller's

health problems nor those of her daughter.

 

The hazards of working at Kodak are widely known. A 1987 article in the Journal

of Occupational Medicine cites one of Kodak's own studies showing " an elevated

number of deaths due to pancreatic cancer in workers exposed at Kodak Park to

methylene chloride.

 

For workers and neighbors who believe they were injured by Kodak's legal and

illegal dumping of toxics into the environment, finding lawyers willing to sue

the politically powerful Kodak in what is essentially a company town is a

difficult proposition.

 

Crime and Politics

 

Politics is a game Kodak has learned to play well, contributing funds generously

to both Democratic and Republican war chests. In 1994 the EPA fined Kodak

approximately $8 million for environmental violations at Kodak Park. The EPA's

laundry list of environmental crimes Kodak was guilty of included illegal

disposal of hazardous wastes, illegal use of incinerators and waste piles,

failure to notify the EPA of groundwater contamination, making undocumented

shipments of hazardous wastes, and having a 20 year history of leaky underground

pipes, among other violations. In 1995, however, Governor George Pataki's

Economic Development Commissioner, Charles Gargano, in a letter to Kodak's

former CEO, George Fisher, wrote, " Your leadership at Kodak is an inspiration to

those of us trying to reengineer state government and make it more responsive to

the needs of our business customers. "

 

Such indifference to the criminal activities of, and tacit support for, the

state's largest industrial polluter is shocking. But the letter to Fisher also

had another purpose -- that being to announce a $20+ million state aid package

composed primarily of tax credits. As the state money and tax abatements poured

in during 1996, Fisher's compensation package as CEO soared to over $9 million.

 

Recidivism in Kodak Park

 

Despite the generosity of the Pataki administration, Kodak remained the state's

number one industrial polluter. Showing no remorse for his company's past

criminal activity, in May of 1996 Senior Vice President Richard T. Bourns told

the New York State Assembly Subcommittee on Manufacturing, " In 1994 we believed

that unjustified environmental regulations were the greatest competitive

disadvantage associated with manufacturing in New York. Simply put, regulations

that did nothing to help the environment were costing jobs. " The upside for

Kodak, according to Bourns, was that, " Under Governor Pataki, that is beginning

to change. " Still, for Kodak, this change wasn't coming fast enough. While

complaining about the same state income tax that partially financed the Pataki

administration's handouts to Kodak, Bourne warned that " Unless New York makes

significant changes to be more competitive, Kodak investment will increasingly

go elsewhere. "

 

For environmental and community activists, this is exactly what the problem is

at Kodak: Their investment is going elsewhere. Michael Schade, Western New York of New York's Citizens' Environmental Coalition (CEC) argues that

pollution control efforts at Kodak are not up to date. His organization is

demanding that Kodak phase out emissions of extremely toxic chemicals. Kodak,

despite modest investments in environmental safeguards made in lieu of fines,

has still shown itself to be a serial environmental offender, being found guilty

by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation of violations dating

from 1993 to 1999, which included dumping wastes into the Genesee River. Thanks

in large part to Kodak, that river has the dubious distinction of receiving more

toxic wastes than the Hudson River.

 

While continuing to poison the environment at Kodak Park, the company has

attempted to make rhetorical gains in the fight against the perception that it

is a polluter. One of Kodak's many Earth Day 2003 pronouncements boasted how the

EPA, recently under the command of Bush appointee Christie Whitman, announced

that " Eastman Kodak Company is a remarkable example of how organizations can

combine environmental concerns with smart business strategy. " Both the Whitman

EPA and Kodak point to the company's new motion picture film cleaning technology

which reduces the use of ozone depleting chemicals. Critics argue that Kodak is

making small highly publicized improvements while maintaining a toxic status quo

in Kodak Park. In an image-driven world, such a frontal assault against reality

can be quite effective, hence environmentalists and public health advocates must

be more vigilant than ever in working to expose Kodak's toxic legacy.

 

Just Say No! to Kodak

 

Things may be changing soon, however. CEC and a host of other groups located

around the world have been turning the heat up on Kodak. On May 7th, Kodak

shareholders voted on a resolution that would have forced the company,

literally, to clean up its act. Using neighboring Xerox, which saved $300

million over three years by adopting a more environmentally friendly closed-loop

production system, shareholder proponents of the resolution argued that in the

long run, a clean company exercising respect for the environment would be a more

profitable company as well. The resolution won the support of the New York State

Comptroller Alan Hevesi's office, which manages the state's retirement fund.

Hevesi, whose office pointed to Kodak's " long history " of releasing

" bioaccumulative pollutants " at Kodak Park, argued that " Adopting and practicing

sound environmental policies not only preserves our natural resources, but makes

good business sense. " Though it was voted down, supporters see the six percent

of the vote that it garnered as a success, arguing that such numbers are

promising for a first-time shareholder resolution.

 

Activist organizations also organized the first-ever National Day of Action for

Clean Air at Kodak. Protestors from Washington State to Texas, Illinois and New

York, picketed drugstores selling Kodak film and related products. In this new

Kodak moment, CEC's Schade argued that, " For the health and safety of our

communities, we need to raise our voices and expose the true picture of Kodak's

pollution. It is critical that we stand up and demand the right to a clean and

safe environment for our children. " Suddenly, after decades of suffering alone,

this is no longer just the Kodak Park community's issue. Activists from diverse

nations around the globe such as India, Norway and Malaysia are banding together

bring the message to Kodak that the global market will not tolerate what they

are doing in Rochester. Given Kodak's international presence and their need to

protect their brand image around the world, continued community activism will

mean it's only a matter of time before Kodak listens and cleans up its act.

 

To learn more about Kodak and toxic pollution, see Kodak's Toxic Colors. To

volunteer to help CEC with this and other environmental struggles, call them at

(716)885-6848.

 

Michael I. Niman is a professor of journalism and media studies at Buffalo State

College and a frequent contributor to AlterNet. His previous articles are

archived at MediaStudy.com.

 

 

 

© 2003 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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