The Massena Environmental Health and Justice website is collecting data for a study on the health hazards of PCBs and its effect on the people of Massena. PCBs are known to cause cancer and are linked to numerous other health problems including diabetes. The major industries of Massena released PCBs into the environment from the 1950's through the 1980's, exposing the people of the town to these toxic chemicals.
PCB's were manufactured by the Monsanto Company between 1935 and 1977. It has been recently disclosed that Monsanto was aware of the dangers posed by PCBs but continued to manufacture it and allow individuals to be exposed to the chemicals.
PCBs are known as forever chemicals because they build up in our bodies and never breakdown in the environment. The exposure to very small doses of PCBs can cause serious health problems and because of their latency period - the time between when an individual was exposed to when the illness appears can be over twenty years.
The data we collect will be used to seek legal counsel for litigation that will compensate the people of Massena for the ills and injustices inflicted on them by these companies’ negligence and criminal activity.
If you've lived in Massena and would like to be included in this action, please fill out this survey.