Un-fucking-believable. Via Philadelphia Will Do:
The Environmental Protection Agency identified a Merck and Co. Inc. research facility in suburban Philadelphia as the source of a cyanide-related discharge that killed more than 1,000 fish in the Wissahickon Creek last week.
According to officials in EPA’s mid-Atlantic region, a representative from Merck notified the EPA Tuesday that about 25 gallons of potassium thiocyanate was released into the sewer system on June 13 from a vaccine research pilot plant in West Point, Pa.
Merck spokeswoman Connie Wickersham said the discharge was not in keeping with company’s policies governing the disposal of chemicals.
Ya think?
I would write more, but I’m kind of foaming at the mouth over this.
I’m not even angry; the foam’s just a by-product of the CYANIDE IN THE LOCAL WATER!
Previously:
We’re All Going to Die
The Clean Party
9 Comments on "Merck’s Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Eli:
Well, if it hasn’t killed you, then you’re probably building up a tolerance. Merck is helpfully trying to protect Philadelphians from a terrorist cyanide attack.
Matt:
You bring me hope, Eli.
Eli:
And you bring me Faith. Deal?
Wait, which one is Kelly Ripa?
Josh:
Doesn’t it feel like perhaps we’re reaching a tipping point on mass acceptance of the legitimacy of environmentalism and the importance of protecting our planet? Not to say the powers-that-be won’t do anything to stop it, but between Al Gore, dining out last night for Penn Environment, the Daily Show covering the Berkeley Pit it seems that maybe there’s beginning to be a pop culture awareness of the issue.
Or we’re just all going to die.
Matt:
Yes, Josh, yes yes yes.
That, at least, is how it feels to those of us in Philadelphia. Part of me thinks that this doesn’t really hit you in the gut until it’s happening where you live.
I wonder how people in other parts of the U.S. would react to this story. My guess is that there would be sympathy and some degree of horror, but not that visceral “is my drinking water safe?” reaction.
Perhaps that’s why people aren’t up in arms about the EPA’s dissembling about the air quality around Ground Zero in the weeks and months after 9/11.
Comandante Agi:
Little does your Senator know that the weapons of mass destruction lie in his own backyard. Oops, my bad, I forgot that Santorum doesn’t even live in Pennsylvania.
Eli:
That, at least, is how it feels to those of us in Philadelphia. Part of me thinks that this doesn’t really hit you in the gut until it’s happening where you live.
Of course, since it happened in a blue city, no-one really cares. Poison some *Texans* and you’ve got problems.
Joseph:
Good post, Matt. Coming on the heels of the cyanide subway attack news, this story makes one wonder if maybe we are our own worst enemy.
eRobin:
I caught an WHYY news item talking about someone drinking the water in the Schuylkill - was it the Schuylkill ? - because they’re having some big river event and the water had to be clean and it’s fed by the Wissahickon. So some officials had a press event at which they swam in the water to prove it was safe. It was surreal.
Comments