Introduction (idea for quote used from the foreword of Poison[1])
Excerpt from Silent Spring by Rachel Carson [2]
“There was once a town where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings…
Then a strange blight crept over the area…Mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep sicken died. Everywhere was the shadow of death. The farmers spoke of much illness in their families. In the town, the doctors had become more and more puzzled by new kinds of sicknesses…
In the gutters under the eaves and between the shingles of the roofs, a white granular powder still showed a few patches; some weeks before, it had fallen like snow upon the roofs and the lawns, the ...view middle of the document...
The heating was turned off and the vessel contents continued to mix for another 15 minutes. After everyone from that shift left, the rupture disk in the safety valve burst at just after noon as a result of excessive pressure caused by an exothermic reaction in the TCP vessel. A chemical mixture in the form of a suspension cloud escapes into the air in a south-easterly direction and spreads over the communes of Seveso, Meda, Cesano Maderno and Desio.
Later, a foreman present at the plant called Dr. Clemente Barni, the deputy head of production, who is on standby call that day to inform him of the occurrences in Building B, and then proceeded to turn on the cooling system, thereby stopping the escape of the mixture. Dr Barni inspected the area immediately surrounding the factory and notices nothing out of the ordinary, but warns the inhabitants not to eat any local vegetables or fruit. Dr Barni calls the carabinieri of Meda and reports the incident. He inquires whether damage has been reported and requested that any such reports should be transmitted to ICMESA. Dr Paoletti reaches Herwig von Zwehl, the Technical Director of ICMESA, who was away for the weekend. Together they decided to first see the ufficiale sanitario or his deputy, then visit the mayor of Meda, Fabrizio Malgratti and the mayor of Seveso, Francesco Rocca. They attempted to contact the carabinieri several times with no success. They then decided to collect samples for analysis from the vessel and in the surrounding area. They decide to send the samples the same evening for examination in Switzerland. Dr Paoletti and Dr Barni visit the mayor of Seveso and request that the inhabitants of the presumably affected areas be warned not to eat or even touch fruit and vegetables. At the carabinieri station in Meda, two representatives of ICMESA meet with the mayor of Meda.
The ICMESA representatives...
