Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company's Disposal of Its Waste

Hexachloraphine was used as a disinfectant throughout the 1950s and 60s. The US Food and Drug Administration halted its production in 1972 when it was discovered that the chemical compound was responsible for the brain damage and deaths of more than 15 Americans. A Missouri company had run out of disposal space for the waste produced by its manufacturing plants. In 1971, the company made a deal with a local farmer named James Denny to store barrels of its waste in a trench on his property. Five years later, in 1979, the Environmental Protection Agency received an anonymous tip about the disposal site. It turned worse when EPA officials tested the soil and discovered the presence of dioxin.