The United Steelworkers union and local health groups are calling for a state investigation as a result of a report suggesting a rise in birth defects and chronic diseases in Joplin, Missouri. The report was complied by the union, and state health department officials said the agency knew about many of the issues, but further analysis is required.
According to the report, "Joplin is afflicted by a significantly higher rate of a whole host of different kinds of birth defects." They include ones involving the central nervous system, heart, other circulatory and respiratory anomalies, genital organs and urinary organs, and these defects have been trending upward for Joplin since 1999.
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The union’s report noted that Joplin has a long history of lead mining and smelting and, with that, a legacy of soil and water pollution. Lead causes a wide range of diseases and birth defects as do other contaminants from lead smelting, according to the report. The union began looking at the state’s health data on the city after plant workers grew concerned about health issues. 250 workers at the Eagle-Picher Technologies battery plant are members of the union.
Most of the corporations in Joplin with government contracts had NO oversight from the EPA. It is as if, to keep government contracts as low priced as possible, the government had the EPA turn a blind eye to the pollution entering our water and air. If the corporations performing their works had to pay for filtration systems, water cleaning systems, etc (making batteries, or for munitions incineration, etc) then those companies would have to raise their prices. It seems a conflict of interest that the EPA, CDC, OSHA and other government agencies who are meant to protect us….also work for the government… who GAINS the MOST from the lower prices…when ‘health related equipment’ or upgrades for clean water and clean air compliance is not required, (as it should be) then the government profits. That is a conflict of interest. Our health has suffered greatly and our water still has contaminants due to the Army giving us a “Technical Impracticability” (which saved the government 60-90 million dollars to LEAVE the toxins where they were). Joplin, then, is a military site, as is the former Jayhawk Ordnance Works in Cherokee County, KS right across the state line. Radiation and pesticides and Perchlorate Rocket Fuel come from that site even today, as they leach into the aquifers, blow in the wind and we eat, drink or breathe them daily. Hence, our children have birth defects significantly higher than the national average. 25% of the children from Carterville Elementary (Webb City school district) had IQ’s below 70 (2013). Attorney’s are afraid to touch this. Thank you United Steelworkers, but our birth defects remain high even though you accomplished getting upgraded filters at Eagle Picher and EBV and EBV was made to cut their incineration emissions by 200,000 pounds a year. Now if we could just get the Agent Orange found at the head of Spring River in Verona (at the Syntex plant) from leaching into both aquifers…and remove the Agent Orange dumped into the Neosho Digester on Shoal Creek which is the drinking source for Joplin, in part, (being mixed with water from the deep aquifer wells)…we MIGHT reclaim our health by the next generation…maybe…