50th Anniversary of PBB Accident News

 By GREG NELSON | gnelson@medianewsgroup.com | The Morning Sun

 December 23, 2022

In the early 1970s there likely weren’t many people, with the exception of scientists, chemists and those who worked at the former Velsicol Chemical Co. plant in St. Louis, who had ever heard of polybrominated biphenyls, or PBBs.

Just a few years later, however, that would no longer be the case when PBB, used at the plant in the manufacturing of a highly toxic fire retardant, and sold under the brand name FireMaster, was mistakenly mixed with a nutritional cattle supplement used by Farm Bureau resulting in what since has been termed the worst agricultural disaster in Michigan’s history.

There are now plans to commemorate the tragic incident, which occurred in 1973, with a three-day conference set to take place May 18-20 at the Wright Leppien Opera House in downtown Alma [and other sites in the community].

The event is being sponsored by the Pine River Superfund Citizens Task Force, Alma College, Central Michigan University, PBB Citizens Advisory Board, Mid-Michigan District Health Department and Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.

It is being funded with a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council.

“Speakers will include those who researched PBB in the 1970s after the disaster, and those who are currently researching the health effects in families,” Task Force Chairperson Jane Jelenek said. “Also those who have expertise in the role of communities who advocate for monitoring, and sometimes carry out the tasks necessary to keep the local environment clean.

“Awards will be given to many of the PBB pioneers from legislators to scientists to farmers to doctors, nurses, veterinarians and also ordinary citizens.”

In addition, there will be tours of the plant site, known as “ground zero,” where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, have spent millions of dollars in an effort to remediate the 52-acre parcel over the past two decades with no end in sight.

The conference will also highlight the 344-page account of the incident, “The Poisoning of Michigan,” published in 1980 by journalist Joyce Egginton, Jelenek said.

There are three objectives in holding the event, according to Alma College professor and task force member Ed Lorenz

“We want to remember what happened, what are the lessons for us now and in the future, and what do we know about the health of residents,” he explained.

Since 2018, the task force has partnered with Atlanta-based Emory University Rollins School of Public Health in an “academic-community partnership that assesses the health outcomes of PBB exposure,” Jelenek said.

CMU and the University of Michigan are also part of the study, she added.

The PBB mixup wasn’t actually discovered until it was already in the food chain a year after it had occurred. By that time the contaminated bags had already been shipped to mills and used in the feed of dairy cattle and other livestock resulting in the contamination of milk and dairy products, beef, pork, lambs, chickens and eggs.

Many of the animals had to be destroyed, including 30,000 head of cattle, 4,500 pigs, 1,500 sheep and 1.5 million chickens.

Also, 800 tons of animal feed, 18,000 pounds of cheese, 2,500 pounds of butter, 5 million eggs and 34,000 pounds of dried milk products had to be discarded.

More details on the conference, including the cost and how to register, will be announced in the coming months.