Toxic Docs

Meet Karuna Vikram, our social media intern!

This summer, Karuna Vikram, a NYC high school student, has helped author a series of posts about material in Toxic Docs. You can read them here here [https://www.toxicdocs.org/blog/author/karuna/]. We decided to get to know her more, and our interview is below. Q: Who are

Occupational Health Hazards

Environmental health is often analyzed separately from occupational health, but they're often less distinct than we think. That's something clear in this document about fuel tank cleaners, who fell sick shortly after lead exposure while on the job. From nausea to blindness to even death, numerous

Lead and Lobbying in the 1990s

[https://www.toxicdocs.org/d/YGwj4k3VL1BO1kz5d8gw9dXKN?lightbox=1] In its final days, the Lead Industries Association (LIA) was still mounting aggressive campaigns to protect its members. Following the 1996 re-election of Bill Clinton, it received the following proposal from a public relations company, Nutter & Harris. The document laid

PFASs/Teflon Documents from Sharon Lerner (The Intercept)

Sharon Lerner (@fastlerner [http://twitter.com/fastlerner]) is one of the best investigative journalists working today. Now a reporter for The Intercept, Lerner specializes on the environment and health. In the past couple years, has been writing a series of reports on PFASs. The series was a National Magazine Award

Featured Document: Lead and the Blame Game

We've blogged previously about The Lead Papers [https://www.toxicdocs.org/blog/forthcoming-the-lead-papers/], our collection of 70,000+ documents on lead. We'll finish importing all of them next week. We recently discussed a document [https://www.toxicdocs.org/blog/lead-and-publicrelations/] that

The Lead Papers: Part 5

We've just pulled in a little under 10,000 new documents on lead, bringing our total in The Lead Papers [https://www.toxicdocs.org/search?page=1&substance_id=5940d1134523b86a51c3f57e] to a little more than 40,000 documents on lead. Click here [https://www.toxicdocs.org/search?

Using ToxicDocs in the Classroom: The Tetraethyl Lead Controversy, Part IV

Students in Columbia's Corporate Behavior and Public Health class spent the first few weeks of the semester using ToxicDocs to research the case of tetraethyl lead, which was added to gasoline between the 1920s and the 1960s despite serious concerns from public health officials. This is the fourth

Lead and Public Relations

In 1972, NBC News produced a segment on lead for one of its programs. It led to alarm from the lead industry, which arranged for representatives from the International Lead Zinc Research Organization, an industry group, to meet with NBC heads. This 2-page document [https://www.toxicdocs.org/d/

$1 billion+ judgment to clean up leaded paint

It's one of the largest environmental health judgements ever. Paint companies, the California Supreme Court ruled last week, will be required to help pay around $1 billion for lead paint remediation in the state. You can read more about it here at law.com [http://www.law.com/

Using ToxicDocs in the Classroom: The Tetraethyl Lead Controversy, Part III

Today, we're continuing our series of blog posts highlighting student investigations into tetraethyl lead using ToxicDocs primary sources. Tetraethyl lead was added to gasoline beginning in the 1920s through the 1960s despite the serious concerns of public health officials. Check out the first post in the series here

Using ToxicDocs in the Classroom: The Tetraethyl Lead Controversy, Part II

This is the second in our series of blog posts highlighting student investigations into tetraethyl lead using ToxicDocs primary sources. Tetraethyl lead was added to gasoline beginning in the 1920s through the 1960s despite the serious concerns of public health officials. Check out the first post in the series here

400+ new documents on Tetraethyl Lead

Leaded gasoline wasn't banned in the United States until the late-20th century. Against mounting challenges from the scientific community, the industry continued to downplay its risks. We are still dealing with leaded gasoline's residual effects, including contamination in soils. As we detailed in another blog

The Lead Papers Part Three

The Lead Papers are 70,000 documents that we will be uploading over the next few weeks. Previous installments have included the personal files of Robert Kehoe, leaded gasoline's foremost defender, and numerous other installments, including material from the Lead Industries Association. Click here [http://www.toxicdocs.org/

Using ToxicDocs in the Classroom: The Tetraethyl Lead Controversy

ToxicDocs isn't just for researchers. This blog post is about its use in a current class, called "Poisoned Worlds: Corporate Behavior and Public Health," right here at Columbia University.

Fish and PCBs

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published the cartoon above in 1976. The humor is grim and reflects a larger realization about the toxic world PCBs created, including to a critical food source. We house the world's largest collection of PCB documents. You can read them here. [https://www.

The Lead Papers: Part Two

Last week, we told you about The Lead Papers [https://www.toxicdocs.org/blog/forthcoming-the-lead-papers/], a project where we'll be dropping 70,000+ documents about lead throughout the next few weeks. Our first drop was The Kehoe Files [https://www.toxicdocs.org/blog/the-kehoe-

A 350-Word Announcement on a Huge Publicly Available Database of Once-Secret Documents about Major Industrial Poisons (3 minute read)

E-mail: contact@toxicdocs.org Web: www.toxicdocs.org [http://www.toxicdocs.org] Facebook www.facebook.com/ToxicDocs [http://www.facebook.com/ToxicDocs] Twitter: www.twitter.com/ToxicDocs [http://www.twitter.com/ToxicDocs] Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health City University of New York, Graduate Center 1/28/2018

Media Alert: Chemistry World

Chemistry World is a popular website on various scientific and policy issues from the chemistry... world. It is published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom. Rebecca Trager did a nice write-up of Toxic Docs here [https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/database-offers-free-access-to-

Asbestos and Talc: A Toxic Docs Special Collection

When mined, the mineral talc was often contaminated with asbestos. Researchers increasingly expressed concern about the potential health effects of talc for workers and consumers. Toxic Docs has created a Special Collection of talc documents on this issue. They are both from individual companies as well as the trade association

The Kehoe Files: Part 1 of The Lead Papers

Over the next few weeks, Toxic Docs will unveil 70,000+ documents (or about half a million pages) on the lead industry. This first batch is something we're calling The Kehoe Files. Leaded gasoline was hailed by some in the 1920s as a dangerous, deadly additive that would,

Remembering Jock McCulloch

We are sorry to report the passing of environmental health historian Jock McCulloch from mesothelioma. Based in Australia, Dr. McCulloch was the author of several pioneering works on the history of silica and asbestos, particularly in the South African context. He taught at RMIT. Dr. McCulloch was an early champion

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on Toxic Docs

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is one of Congress's foremost champions of aggressive climate change mitigation. As former Attorney General of Rhode Island, he oversaw the state's unprecedented legal action against the lead industry, holding them accountable for the dangers of lead paint. Documents that emerged in that

Forthcoming: The Lead Papers

Over the next few weeks, Toxic Docs will unveil 70,000+ documents (or about half a million pages) on the lead industry. These documents span widely. They date from the start to end of the 20th century. They focus in particular on the dangers of leaded gasoline; household paints; and

Media Alert: UnDark Magazine

ToxicDocs is featured in a story by Tik Root at UnDark. You can read it here [https://undark.org/article/toxicdocs-industry-chemicals-online/].

How to Use Toxic Docs : A Quick Guide (5 min.)

Toxic Docs is designed with two overarching principles: simplicity and speed. We don't overwhelm you with buttons, checkboxes, and other bloat that slows down your experience and search. This short tutorial takes you through the basics quickly. 1. Simple Keyword Search Type anything into the search bar to