TheDonoraFluorideFog.docVIP

The Donora Fluoride Fog:A Secret History of Americas Worst Air Pollution Disaster This article appears in the Fall 1998 Earth Island Journalby Chris Bryson The anniversary of the worst recorded industrial air pollution accident in US history - which occurred 50 years ago this October in Donora, Pennsylvania -will go virtually unmarked. The Donora incident, which killed 20 and left hundreds seriously injured and dying, was caused by fluoride emissions from the Donora Zinc Works and steel plants owned by the US Steel Corporation. In the aftermath of the accident, US Steel conspired with US Public Health Service (PHS) officials to cover up the role fluoride played in the tragedy. This charge comes from Philip Sadtler, a top industrial chemical consultant who conducted his own research at the scene of the disaster. Fifty years later, Earth Island Journal has learned, vital records of the Donora investigation are missing from PHS archives. Fifty years later, US Steel continues to block access to their records of the Donora disaster, including a crucial air chemical analysis taken on the final night of the tragedy. The Donora Death Fog Horror visited the US Steel company-town of Donora on Halloween night, 1948, when a temperature inversion descended on the town. Fumes from US Steels smelting plants blanketed the town for four days, and crept murderously into the citizens homes. If the smog had lasted another evening the casualty list would have been 1,000 instead of 20, said local doctor William Rongaus at the time. Later investigations by Rongaus and others indicated that one-third of the towns 14,000 residents were affected by the smog. Hundreds of residents were evacuated or hospitalized. A decade later, Donoras mortality rate remained significantly higher than neighboring areas. The Donora Death Fog, as it became known, spawned numerous angry lawsuits and the first calls for national legislation to protect the public from industrial air pollution. A PHS report