Is Dow in Your Community?

Dow’s global headquarters in Midland, Michigan is also the site of a major manufacturing facility that has supplied the world with many products including various pesticides, war chemicals, and industrial chemicals since it was founded in 1897. As a result Dow has poisoned the largest watershed in the Great Lakes basin. The contamination stretches from Dow’s hometown of Midland for 22 miles of Midland’s Tittabawassee River, and then throughout the 30+ miles of the Saginaw River to the Saginaw Bay. The Saginaw Bay feeds Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes.At least 2,000 properties, including peoples homes, backyards, and parks have been found to be contaminated with the highly toxic compound, dioxin.

In 2002, the Dow facility in Midland County was ranked in the top 10% in all counties in the United States for high levels of carcinogens released to the air and volatile organic compound emissions (more details). Similar polluting records at other Dow facilities are found in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin as well as at Dow facilities around the world. According to a recent study by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Dow is the number six polluter of America.

Is Dow contaminating your neighborhood park, home and body? Find out who the major polluters in your community are.Unfortunately the Scorecard database is no longer updated regularly. One can find the pollutants released into the air in your county and the estimated neurological and cancer risks in your area at the following website: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata2002/tables.html

PERI's Misfortune 100' index is based on the toxic release inventory data and includes chemical toxicity and exposure estimates on the effects of the public’s health.