Opposing Digits

A government scientist has been forced to resign, after discovering dangerous levels of a toxic chemical in the Mississippi River. The toxin, specifically known as perfluoronated chemicals (PFCs), is a byproduct of the manufacture of a number of products including Teflon. In late 2005, Dr. Oliaei Fardin found dangerous levels of PFC's in the Mississippi River downstream from a 3M Corporation's dumping site in Minnesota.

3M had been dumping 50,000 pounds of the toxic chemical in the river every year, in a heavily populated metropolitan area, where the river serves as the main drinking water source. PFCs have caused birth defects and deaths in animal studies and are considered a likely human carcinogen. Fardin, a scientist at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, found levels of PFCs in the area's fish that were the highest ever discovered in the world.

# posted by madthumbs @ 5:04 PM