Kepone

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Kepone

Kepone (C₁₀Cl₁₀O) is an organochlorine pesticide that was manufactured by the Allied Chemical Corporation in Virginia from the late 1940s to the 1970s. Kepone was responsible for human health problems and extensive contamination of the James River and its estuary in the Chesapeake Bay . It is a milestone in the development of a public environmental consciousness, and its history is considered by many to be a classic example of negligent corporate behavior and inadequate oversight by state and federal agencies.

Kepone is an insecticide and fungicide that is closely related to other chlorinated pesticides such as DDT and aldrin. As with all such pesticides, Kepone causes lethal damage to the nervous systems of its target organisms. A poorly water-soluble substance, it can be absorbed through the skin, and it bioaccumulates in fatty tissues from which it is later released into the bloodstream. It is also a contact poison; when inhaled, absorbed, or ingested by humans, it can damage the central nervous system as well as the liver and kidneys. It can also lead to neurological symptoms such as tremors, muscle spasms, sterility, and cancer . Although the manufacture and use of Kepone is now banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), organochlorines have long half-lives, and these compounds, along with their residues and degradation products, can persist in the environment over many decades.

Allied Chemical first opened a plant to manufacture nitrogen-based fertilizers in 1928 in the town of Hopewell, on the banks of the James River in Virginia. This plant began producing Kepone in 1949. Commercial production was subsequently begun, although a battery of toxicity tests indicated that Kepone was both toxic and carcinogenic and that it caused damage to the functioning of the nervous, muscular, and reproductive systems in fish, birds, and mammals. It was patented by Allied in 1952 and registered with federal agencies in 1957. The demand for the pesticide grew after 1958, and Allied expanded production by entering into a variety of subcontracting agreements with a number of smaller companies, including the Life Science Products Company.

In 1970, a series of new environmental regulations came into effect which should have changed the way wastes from the manufacture of Kepone were discharged. The Refuse Act Permit Program and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Program (NPDES) of the Clean Water Act required all dischargers of effluents into United States waters to register their discharges and obtain permits from federal agencies. At the time these regulations went into effect, Allied Chemical had three pipes discharging Kepone and plastic wastes into the Gravelly Run, a tributary of the James River, about 75 mi (120 km) north of Chesapeake Bay.

A regional sewage treatment plant which would accept industrial wastes was then under construction but not scheduled for completion until 1975. Rather than installing expensive pollution control equipment for the interim period, Allied chose to delay. They adopted a strategy of misinformation, reporting the releases as temporary and unmonitored discharges, and they did not disclose the presence of untreated Kepone and other process wastes in the effluents. The Life Science Products Company also avoided the new federal permit requirements by discharging their wastes directly into the local Hopewell sewer system. These discharges caused problems with the functioning of the biological treatment systems at the sewage plant; the company was required to reduce concentrations of Kepone in sewage, but it continued its discharges at high concentrations, violating these standards with the apparent knowledge of plant treatment officials.

During this same period, an employee of Life Science Products visited a local Hopewell physician, complaining of tremors, weight loss, and general aches and pains. The physician discovered impaired liver and nervous functions, and a blood test revealed an astronomically high level of Kepone—7.5 parts per million . Federal and state officials were contacted, and the epidemiologist for the state of Virginia toured the manufacturing facility at Life Science Products. This official reported that "Kepone was everywhere in the plant," and that workers wore no protective equipment and were "virtually swimming in the stuff." Another investigation discovered 75 cases of Kepone poisoning among the workers; some members of their families were also found to have elevated concentrations of the chemical in their blood. Further investigations revealed that the environment around the plant was also heavily contaminated. The soil contained 10,000–20,000 ppm of Kepone. Sediments in the James River, as well as local landfills and trenches around the Allied facilities were just as badly contaminated. Government agencies were forced to close 100 mi (161 km) of the James River and its tributaries to commercial and recreational fishing and shellfishing.

In the middle of 1975, Life Science Products finally closed its manufacturing facility. It has been estimated that since 1966, it and Allied together produced 3.2 million lb (1.5 million kg) of Kepone and were responsible for releasing 100,000–200,000 lb (45,360–90,700 kg) into the environment. In 1976, the Northern District of Virginia filed criminal charges against Allied, Life Science Products, the city of Hopewell, and six individuals on 1,097 counts relating to the production and disposal of Kepone. The indictments were based on violations of the permit regulations, unlawful discharge into the sewer systems, and conspiracy related to that discharge.

The case went to trial without a jury. The corporations and the individuals named in the charges negotiated lighter fines and sentences by entering pleas of "no contest." Allied ultimately paid a fine of 13.3 million dollars, although their annual sales reach three billion dollars. Life Science Products was fined four million dollars, which it could not pay due to lack of assets. Company officers were fined 25,000 dollars each, and the town of Hopewell was fined 10,000 dollars. No one was sentenced to a jail term. Civil suits brought against Allied and the other defendants resulted in a settlement of 5.25 million dollars to pay for cleanup expenses and to repair the damage that had been done to the sewage treatment plant. Allied paid another three million dollars to settle civil suits brought by workers for damage to their health.

Environmentalists and many others considered the results of legal action against the manufacturers of Kepone unsatisfactory. Some have argued that these results are typical of environmental litigation. It is difficult to establish criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt in such cases, and even when guilt is determined, sentencing is relatively light. Corporations are rarely fined in amounts that affect their financial strength, and individual officers are almost never sent to jail. Corporate fines are generally passed along as costs to the consumer, and public bodies are treated even more lightly, since it is recognized that the fines levied on public agencies are paid by taxpayers.

Today, the James River has been reopened to fishing for those species that are not prone to the bioaccumulation of Kepone. Nevertheless, sediments in the river and its estuary contain large amounts of deposited Kepone which is released during periods of turbulence. Scientists have published studies which document that Kepone is still moving through the food chain/web and the ecosystem in this area, and Kepone toxicity has been demonstrated in a variety of invertebrate test species. There are still deposits of Kepone in the local sewer pipes in Hopewell; these continue to release the chemical, endangering treatment plant operations and polluting receiving waters.

[Usha Vedagiri and Douglas Smith ]