The Poisoning of America
(11 of 11)
Some officials charged with protecting water supplies fear that much of the chemical damage already done to underground reservoirs is irreparable. Says New Jersey's English: "What's in the ground is there. It's too late to do anything about it." Perhaps so. Yet the growing public concern, the increasingly cooperative attitude of the chemical industry and the toughening resolve of federal and state governments reflect a new willingness of the nation to grapple with one of modern technology's least understood and potentially most insidious threats to health.
The circle must be made complete. The society that created the plethora of new chemicals that so enhanced human life must now use its scientific genius to make sure that those creations work safely for mankind.
—By Ed Magnuson.
Reported by Peter Stoler/New York and J. Madeleine Nash/Chicago
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