come.

it is an interest of seals to be a bit keeping up. in all of this here. at the end of the sixty's leo does jones was a prisoner here in holmesburg a suburb of philadelphia in the united states. a prisoner but also a guinea pig for industry like thousands of other inmates. ace but this is will the bit of woods as in the human experimentation was born oh many times have you taken that corey that about. maybe twenty is that it's a. little bit was different as is that they was one in some sounds i was on like two does that it's you know ok. this practice was confidential at the time because multinational chemical companies came here to test the risks of their products. to earn

a few dollars the prisoners participated in several tasks but none of them knew what they were being given. when they would do they would create the tape. and stick in implements to the police to get them pull it and then put in troponin the substance would have been was there was in it for in that area and what up enough to. almost body musk in pigmentation. the centenarians all long it lasts. in many school around in the air as you sun in the papers they mean that it was informed consent for the was just in pain between them from being labile. if anything go wrong. one company did everything they could to keep this

a secret they even paid leo this jones for his silence. dow chemical. the leading manufacturer of plastics in the world and the third largest manufacturer of pesticides dow chemical has an annual turnover of forty eight billion dollars and fifty thousand employees around the globe. in the wake of this chemical giant there's an industry of staggering profitability and industry in a frantic race to innovate each year their new toxic products reach the market these multinationals all have one thing in common a culture of secrecy. following us. polluting lands rivers and groundwater. behind the fumes of these factories we have discovered tens of thousands of victims. in india children are born with severe disabilities. in the us those who have dedicated their lives to this

industry everybody will get it because it and the money and the benefits it was secure are now paying the price those guys are all dead and i should have meant by they are. faced with these tragedies the chemical giants have adopted a specific course of action. lack of transparency cynicism tonight. in the meantime they continue to reap the profits. in holmes bird prison. dow experimented on the inmates with one of the most carcinogenic products in the world dioxin.

it's one of the molecules in agent orange the powerful herbicide that doll produced for the american army during the vietnam war. the air force dumped it on the vietcong for a decade at the same time. the tests were being performed at holmesburg. from that time on dow was already aware of the dangers of dioxin the company put it in writing in this confidential note from june one thousand nine hundred sixty five . dioxin is exceptionally toxic. some months later dow would study its side effects on the prisoners. can i say. in the way you know one. of them when the. we would contest something. with.

fish an incumbent. in one way and. we found one of the doctors that perform the tests at holmesburg in the one nine hundred sixty s. . today he's an oncologist at northwestern hospital in chicago. sigman vitamin is preparing to retire. he is one of the few witnesses still alive every day i had a over all of twenty. they were coming in all day. all day long people were all absolutely will it was. a machine. one thousand nine hundred sixty seven sigmund weitzman was only twenty one years old he was an intern at holmesburg the senior physician overseeing the tests never told him the names of

the products used on the prisoners. only realized later that he administered human beings we show him what dow knew back then about the chemical. this is serious. yeah. this is the first time you you read this. i mean. i'm appalled just very. casual. guilty that i was. you know. it's just simple. you know as if these people are just experimental animals and nowadays it would be

criminal. was never prosecuted when prisoners tried to take action against the company the statute of limitations had expired. this multinational would not only poison inmates with dioxin but also tens of thousands of people in midland michigan in the north of the u.s. . middle of. the birthplace of. chemical company. revolutionary chemical killers. this is where agent orange was manufactured. it's production created waste extremely high and.

secretly dump this waste into the river that flows through the city. in one thousand nine hundred. one man would discover the truth we had a conclusion there that it was a major source of not the only source to the river and certainly to the community and that people were at risk. at the time milton clarke was a toxicologist for the e.p.a. the government agency responsible for environmental protection. with his colleagues he wrote a report condemning dallas practices. just as much right before the report's publication the corporation would succeed in pressuring the acting chief of the e.p.a. in washington. we went into shock we had never heard of such a thing ever that the company that we were regulating they would have the right to

review a report comment on it before it's released and when the desk and it was critically important to say that people were at risk but they did not want to just basically want to squash the report ok and eventually the final report they prevailed and so they truncated it down and removed critical sections and all the conclusions were taken away. pressured by his superiors milton clarke was forced to censor the report. the result pollution in midland michigan would continue for thirty years with impunity. and the executives that would continue denying the dangers. there is no health. there is absolutely no evidence of the oxen doing any damage to humans. in two thousand and six one woman was attacked the multinational again.

at the time mary gate oversaw all the offices at the environmental agency in the middle in the regional she had leverage she'd been nominated by the president of the united states george w. bush. newly appointed she demands that more testing be done in the city. these astronomically high levels of tax and levels that my staff think maybe some of the highest levels ever in the united states one of things that was astonishing to me when this came to my attention was that for almost thirty years this very serious problem had not actually been addressed on. these high levels though yeah we found it and and and yards along side the river system parks where children play where people launch their boats were fishermen put their boats in the water this is where people live so i immediately called dow senior officials and said we're very concerned about these levels we need you to take action as that unfolded the

company was not happy it's extremely expensive to clean up this much contamination hundreds of millions of dollars if not more. to lodge a complaint to dow goes directly to the white house. i was asked. may first of two thousand and eight to either resign or quit by the end of the day. ok were you surprised yes very much so in my thirty some years of working in environmental protection and much of that spend in the government i would have never expected that that was acting in its own interests the doubt was trying to make sure that it saved as much money as possible. as a result of these maneuvers for decades thousands of people have lived surrounded by dioxin without knowing the risks. we were. to meet these victims. but in midland it's hard to loosen tongues.

has supported the city for one hundred twenty years and reminders are in every corner. of the bank the stadium the library the public park the high school. the shadow of the company is everywhere. to protect him he said look up and up and basically. in the. yasi will leave you this is who you were talking to. a lot of this will be good for you it's already. been a lot of i think about a lot i skid but i'm looking at him as are

a lot of us up the money into. his head in the long long i left my. home and. decides who will be and i'll tell him so. often. fall that far to be made by. other people who are dull films of office on the upper. level. that. i. feel. we all willingly accepted the risk of being shot wounded taken prisoner but no signed up to be figured poisoned by our own people the stuff that was leaked or biological. chemical products said do not truck tires all types of styrofoam whole polystyrene these batteries trucks there was

a complete denial i think at all levels of government that there was any connection between burn pits and what these brave soldiers were suffering from to compensate every soldier marine airman and sailor that was on the ground that are complaining about illnesses from their exposure from the berm pits would really literally send a be a broke and they don't want to pay it so the way to the decades a lot of those soldiers will die in time and they will have to pay a. call for help and get the middle finger to be used to model the. delayed and i hope you die. the. only one person agreed to break the code of silence. this book counter has spent most of her life here near the river this is where she raised her family.

oh this is where we used to have the zip line way back here how can we use to have all trails that wind down through here i don't even know if you can see any of them over here. but eighteen years in and that land is very fertile. and it was used for motor cross trails and hiking trails and dune buggy trails and. just you know recreation in the woods the prairie kids it was like a wonderland it was you know an adventure they could explore and they could build forts and they do all those things no one advised you that there was dioxin done there. just that we found a magical spot for us to play in place of family.

for nearly forty years the family would live here blissfully unaware of their toxic surroundings. every spring the river floods their garden bringing in a fresh wave of dioxins. not discover the true extent of the contamination until two thousand and seven. when tests were conducted in her garden by the local environmental agency. the levels of dioxin were up to seventeen times higher than the legal limit for toxicity. i have my oldest daughter has auto immune diseases you have. kids. many of them do have. disease. i would say all of them. a lesser degree and some to a more severe degree and my husband had

a very. answer. real quick. her late husband herbert there was a doctor a few days before he passed away breast the last which was brave enough to. when he was dying to have his blood drawn when he didn't have very much blood left dioxin levels were taken the thursday before he died on sunday he was willing to do it. to ascertain that there was a connection. and. the results of my husband's business his levels these actual. spoke elders husband had sixty four point five nanograms of dioxin per liter of blood three times the us average. we married forty six years. i am glad i have treasured ten more years yet. and. you know that

it's been a major impact on my life. the american environmental agency has finally forced down to clean the river. but the process has only just begun it could take decades and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. he however no date is set for decontaminating neighboring yards like alice book elders. refused all our requests for an interview. in the multinational merely sent us an email stating that we seek science to be solutions that protect human health while also contributing to the well being of the local community. on the other side of the world another contamination is wreaking havoc as

a result of one of the worst industrial catastrophes in history thousands of children have been affected. but dow has never dealt with. it happened in india in bhopal. in one nine hundred eighty four the local chemical plant exploded. killing twenty thousand people and releasing tons of toxic products. at the time the factory belong to union carbide a pesticide giant that would buy up in two thousand and one. the site of the bhopal explosion is still saturated with chemical pollution. over the years these products have spread into the city's groundwater systems. for fifteen years the inhabitants have demanded a full decontamination. invain down refuses to act. the

decaying steel site is still excessive today. here we meet mr issue on a former engineer at the time he was in charge of the storage of the chemicals in this laboratory one of those both. this only time goes to the meeting and discarded and. right in from. a present but. squire going to pull up and goes around to do this. is that dangerous you know it is dangerous because there's no put up with. this but he says. among the products stored in the factory there was lindane an extremely toxic insecticide.

today it is forbidden all over the world according to our guide the soil surrounding the factory is full of it. this whole area as i look on it and there's in the local effect. that. there are dumping water and then on the ground. and i. made up the band's inexorable ride. on this as fuck and they did then just. along thinking that. benzene hexa chloride is the scientific name for lindane. we go down to the area of the spill to take some samples. the smell is unbearable. we'll have the soil analyzed just before leaving mr swan shows us where the pesticides were made. here beads of

mercury my exposed in the open air. according to the world health organization this is one of the top ten most dangerous chemical products in the world we take some more samples. as well and you know it's enough to get. the results of our two tests are astonishing. inside the factory the level of mercury is five million times higher than the environmental standard. at this level of concentration the risks of developing liver skin or lung cancers are considerable. and the levels of lindane are just as alarming exceeding one hundred thousand times the standard level. this can provoke severe cases of cerebral degeneration. yet only twenty metres away we see children

playing cricket on the contaminated ground. fights oh yeah i mean i do you often come to play cricket here. do you know that's a chemical blend that is then. i mean for your diggers. and then either you can. i know that these children come here every day to play on the land near the factory they don't seem to realize the risk that they are exposed to. why do they get inside the country and not all outside yeah yeah i had to make it back to get out of the gentleness of that adequate bit of that and that's. what i believe and i'm getting better and he's going over into games that it's not

been made up that. these kids are not the only ones in danger in both. the chemical contamination stretches far beyond the walls of the factory. toxic waste has penetrated the land and has polluted the water of many neighborhoods up to three kilometers from the factory and fifty thousand people live there. we went to take water samples to identify the molecules present in their wells. like in shock as family home. they've lived in this house for almost thirty years. the water they consume contains one point nine micrograms of mercury per liter. two

times the standard level of toxicity. in. the. field and i mean that. is what it. was defeated. the problem is even in boiled water mercury is still a carcinogen. if you. think this is. you. thinking. that. because even if. in other areas of bhopal it's not mercury but lindane that wreaks havoc on human lives. this is a problem in preventing our neighborhood situated one kilometer away from the factory. the municipality has had drink above water since two thousand and eleven

but for many years the inhabitants have been drinking severely polluted water. that's the case for money and her thirteen year old daughter ruch now since her birth she's suffered from limited mental development and muscular dystrophy she can neither talk nor stand up by herself money her mother drank contaminated water every day during her pregnancy. that. most people. a few months after rush nose birth a governmental study was conducted in the area the levels of lindane were extremely high in the water seventeen times the world health organization limit. did you know of that do want to drink you when you were pregnant was full of this is

a side from the factory then why didn't we want to get in on this. why do you think this is what's going into wash now no. it isn't it is. not one of the even we're not. due to her disability rush has never been able to go to school every day she comes to the rehabilitation center. without these daily exercises she would be completely paralyzed today. is the founder of the center she has watched all these children grow up. if anybody any money for it and not give you money but at the you know you have

a you can find a group and i think to find these and the money people think you. know that they might have never done but if someone. does you know provision i might by going to what. we saw. so i know you're not. you know just i mean. i mean. if it up as well i must. get off on getting the rest but those were the.

yes equestrian in the. skies or financial survival. when customers go. well reduce some lower. that's undercutting but what's good for food markets it's not good for the global economy.

the headlines are. a brutal government crackdown on a shia town in saudi arabia. and here on our t.v. we hear from the. voices of safety. and. discipline. under. donald trump a guy. that's off to one pyongyang nuclear threats will be met with. war crimes for stripping palestinian.