More than 40 years after Velsicol closed its doors, the PBB disaster’s impact continues

Individual stories fromthe people who lived through the PBBD Isaster that occurred in the early 1970s in St. Louis - and the rest of the state - will be on file at Central Michigan’s Museum of Cultural and Natural History.

Those stories are “incredibly emotional,” said Professor Brittany Fremion, who heads the oral history program.

Fremion was one of the speakers at the Tuesday virtual community meeting about PBB.

Fremion and her students have collected the experiences of people who lost their farms due to the PBB mix up with the animal feed, others who lost their jobs, still others who suffered health problems as well as the impact on the city of St. Louis.

“Therewas a lot of anger in the community,” she said.

Contaminated food was sold in the grocery stores and it took far too long for the state to discover the problem.

These “really powerful” stories can inspire future generations, she said.

Thousands of pages, alongwith videos, have been collected so far and she’s looking for more.

Another panelist on the community program was retired Alma college Professor dr. Ed lorenz and member of the St. Louis Citizens Superfund Task Force.

Lorenz pointed out that about 8 million people consumed PBB contaminated food in that time period.

The Velsicol Chemical Co was sued by a host of different parties but the agreement with the state allowed them to demolish the plant and leave the state with no consequences.

The river’s sediment has been cleaned — the clean up went down about 18 feet — and residential and athletic areas have been cleaned as well.

The cost so far has been about $150 million in taxpayer dollars.

And the plant site is undergoing cleanup now.

“It’ll be a half billion” before it’s done, Lorenz said.

“That’s far more than the company ever paid in wages and taxes,” he said. “And we’re not talking about health costs.”

The clean up too, will take far longer than the 42 years that the company existed, Lorenz said.

Even though St. Louis joined with Alma to create a new water system in 2015, some people were still asking if the water in St. Louis is safe to drink.

Lorenz assured them that it was. Other speakers included two from the Mid Michigan District Health Department- retired registered nurse Bonnie Havelchek and health officer Marcus Cheatham who also encouraged others to join the task force, which is now holding virtual meetings once a month.

Another virtual meeting is scheduled for Saturday at 9:30 am. You can join it on Facebook by going to www.facebook.com/Pbbregis-try/live/.