| Fact: | Occidental Chemical in Pottstown produces PVC plastic. |
| Fact: | When PVC is produced or burned, DIOXIN is created. |
| Fact: | According to Greenpeace, PVC smokestacks create some of the largest DIOXIN problems. |
| Fact: | PVC production effects are felt everywhere, but some communities like The Greater Pottstown Area are hit hardest because the PVC production is located in their community and they are forced to directly breathe the DIOXIN emissions. In severe cases, entire communities have been literally wiped off the map, like Reveilletown, Louisiana in 1987, when it became so contaminated that all residents were relocated and every structure was torn down. |
| Fact: | DIOXIN is a known human CARCINOGEN. |
| Fact: | EPA says even VERY SMALL doses of DIOXIN can result in HAZARDS to human HEALTH and the environment. It is irrelevant if Occidental claims they only produces a small amount DIOXIN. NO ONE knows how much DIOXIN is spewed into our air from Occidental’s PVC production. In addition a tiny amount of DIOXIN is enough to do you a lot of health harm. |
| Fact: | Since humans are unable to expel the PVC’s organochlorines from their bodies, these compounds accumulate in fatty tissue, resulting in contamination levels thousands of times greater than those found in the surrounding environment.
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| Fact: | EPA has concluded that levels of DIOXIN currently found in most adults and Children, even those who do not live near PVC production facilities, are already high enough to trigger significant health effects. What is Occidental’s DIOXIN emissions into our air doing to the people in the Greater Pottstown Area?.
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| Fact: | Occidental’s DIOXIN emissions into our air from their PVC production are NOT reported, measured, estimated, or counted in the TRI data, nor are these dangerous air emissions in the Greater Pottstown Area considered under the Clean Air Act. |
