People have 4.7 times the national average of leukemia'
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The interview below is with Larry Wilson of Yellow Creek Concerned Citizens.
Socialist Action: What caused you to become involved in environmental issues?
Larry Wilson: A leather tanning company wiped out my family farm by dumping its waste into a stream that goes through the farm. It killed all my livestock and contaminated my garden to where the vegetables were not edible.
People living around the creek were getting sick. We have 4.7 times the national average of leukemia, which is confirmed by a governmental agency, the Center for Disease Control. We have over 10 times the national average of cancer.
We've lost about 10 percent of our population to cancer. Just recently, my son got central nervous system damage and suffered permanent vision impairment because of an immune system problem brought on by the chemicals.
S.A.: What was the reaction of other people in the community?
Wilson: It's a very rural area back in the mountains where over 50 percent of the people are illiterate. There's only about 1000 people in the entire land by the creek. Once they learned what was going on, they became involved. We have 450 active members. We consider that pretty fair.
S.A.: What was the reaction of workers in the plant?
Wilson: It was very hostile. We've had some instances of violence and a lot of threats. Initially, there were demonstrations by workers against us.
The company said the community was responsible for shutting down two-thirds of the plant. In fact, they had made a decision years before to transfer that particular portion of the operation and the 300 jobs that went with it to Argentina, where the environmental laws are looser. And more important, according to their testimony under oath, the wages and benefits are much, much cheaper there.
Although it was an economic decision, they tried to convince the workers that community people were trying to put them out of work. It's an example of something we see all the time. It's an attempt to keep us from getting together because once we do, there's more victims than there are victimizers.
Just recently, after 10 years, some workers are looking around and seeing that whatever
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discussion.