Karuna Vikram

The document we are highlighting today is a letter from the Industrial Hygiene Foundation of America to Dr. Robert Kehoe at the University of Cincinnati. The letter is from Jan 29, 1964, and

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the news cycle is filled with journalism on the crisis--the spread of the virus, a potential vaccine, the deaths. In 1957, the newspapers were reporting on

In 1979, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a question and answer booklet to help schools investigate, find, and remove the asbestos that could possibly be lurking in their buildings. However, these guidelines

The history of America is the history of lead. That is what the National Lead Company claimed in the 38 page booklet they compiled outlining the history of their company and products. This

The document we are highlighting today could seem to be particularly puzzling. It is a letter from February 3, 1976, where a Monsanto employee heartfeltly thanks Mrs. Polsen for her "touching letter.

The document we are highlighting today is a memo from the Scientists' Committee for Public Information, Inc (SCPI). It is titled "Lead Poisoning in Slum Children" and dated 14th February, 1969.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organic chemicals that were mainly used in the manufacture of hydraulic fluids and as cooling agents in electrical transformers and capacitators. Exposure to PCBs, mainly through contact or ingestion,

DDT was developed in the 1940s as a potent synthetic insecticide and was initially used both to control insects in crops and agricultural settings, as well as to combat diseases like malaria. However,

Leaded gasoline was one of the last lead containing products to be banned by the government. The EPA fought to enforce regulations on leaded gasoline well into the 1970s, but by then, it

Vinyl chloride is a colorless gas used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plastic polymer. Exposure to vinyl chloride gas affects the central nervous system, causing dizziness and headaches. Over long periods of

Today's post examines two newspaper articles from February, 1980. The articles describe the plight of a handful of women from Missoula, Montana, who suffered several miscarriages. They filed a lawsuit against Chemical Co.

The document we are looking at today is a newspaper article from 1981. It highlights a study that suggests children with parents who worked with chemicals had a higher chance of getting brain

In Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway's book, Merchants of Doubt, industries like tobacco and DDT kept contreversies around scientific consensuses alive in order to impede restrictions and other action. This office report

Through the 1970s, asbestos fibers could be found all around a typical household. Asbestos was used to line products like hair dryers, dishwashers, toasters, and a range of other appliances to provide cheap

We have posted about the "Dutch Boy" as a powerful symbol reprsenting the National Lead Company. In the 1950s, Dutch Boy became the face of an aggressive advertising campaign selling white

In 1936, Lawrence Nelson filed a case against The International Smelting and Refining Company. The document charges the corporation with knowingly exposing its workforce to toxic compounds without properly informing them of the

Lawrence Nelson was a workman at the International Smelting and Refining Company handling white lead. He was employed from June 2nd, 1927, to May 3rd, 1935. In 1936, due to his prolonged exposure

A meeting between four lead corporations was held on May 11, 1942. Representatives from St. Joseph Lead Co., American Smelting and Refining Co., National Lead Co., and United Smelting Refining and Mining Co

The document we are looking at today is a collection of asbestos advertisements from 1946 by the Ruberoid Company. The primary product for sale was the "handy home use roll" of

Lead pipes have been used to carry water from the time of Rome. By the 1920s, cities in the United States began to recognize that these pipes played a role in causing lead

In May 2019, a 2 billion dollar verdict was delivered against Monsanto that concluded that the popular weedkiller, Roundup, caused cancer. This was the third case in the past two years that found

The document that we are highlighting today is a compilation of lawsuits filed against many large industrial corporations, mostly from the 1990s. The lawsuits were filed by employees of these companies, claiming damages