Below is a transcript of our conversation with CMU History Professor Brittany Fremion…
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty. Fifty years ago, the Michigan Chemical Company owned by Velsicol Corporation, cross contaminated its fire retardant containing polybrominated biphenyls or PBBs,with another of their products, a livestock feed. The result was the worst agricultural disaster in U.S. history. CMU history Professor Brittany Fremion led a conference on the subject of what happened and has co-authored a book on the subject. We had the chance to talk about both…
Has this gained the attention to where what happened here is being looked at much more closely to try to prevent things like this from ever happening again?
Brittany Fremion:
I sure hope so, David. I think that's the point of the book. It certainly was part of our rationale and having a conference to mark and commemorate the 50th anniversary last May at Alma College. The book itself we released this spring. Actually, it was 50 years that week in April. From the day that Rick Halbert, that chemist turned farmer, who proved that it was PBB, in fact in feed that was making his herd and other farm animals and people sick. So, the conference again, it marked the 50th anniversary of the disaster happening in 1973. It was this three-day event where we brought together policymakers and humanists and artists and public officials to talk about what have we learned in the 50 years since this this disaster. And I think we've learned that the community has really significant knowledge that a lot can come from academic and community and public agency partnerships that we should work together as a team. And that we can learn a lot from the past, that this historical knowledge can really help to better protect us and prepare us for future large-scale contaminations. And so, I think that the book is a way to extend that conversation. It is an outcome from that conference. It's an Open Access resource that you can find online at the Michigan PBB disaster at 50 website. It's intended to continue to amplify community voices and stories. It includes reflective essays from our community partners like the Michigan PBB registry team at Emory University. There are oral history interviews. There's experts from the Michigan PBB oral history project in their interviews with people who reflect upon life then and now, the impact that this disaster has had on them and their well-being and their family, their community.
DN:
And is there a point where you would want to take another step back to look at where we've come even after marking all of this at 50 years?
BF:
So much of this is still ongoing and we have so much yet to learn. So, $1.2 billion in today's money with inflation is the rough estimate in terms of cost to the state’s agricultural industry is the impact that this had in the 70s. That doesn't include the more than $500 million that has been invested in the cleanup of the former plant site and the burn pit in St. Louis, MI. That doesn't include the cost of medical bills that people have paid because of their immediate responses to being exposed or the long-term health outcomes that we suspect are tied to it. So, I think it's critical that we continue to raise awareness so we can advocate for funding to support healthcare and health research. I think it's critical that we have funding to support the cleanup of the Superfund sites and make sure that St. Louis has a space and that the community where people can come to learn about this disaster and reflect upon its significance.
DN:
Thank you for taking the time to share the substance and contents of the book, the accomplishments of the conference, what we've learned, what we still have to learn and where do we go from here. Thank you so very, very much.
BF:
Thank you. And thank you to the community members who have really, (they) helped us and inspired us to pursue this work, whose stories have certainly transformed us, and to our funders, The NIHS, MHC and our universities.
