We'll be adding updates and people's own stories on this page later.
 

This location's story in a nutshell:

Over 25,000 Employees at the Mattel-Portland (Beaverton) location manufacturing plant were exposed to Tri-Chloro-Ethylene, or "TCE".  TCE is a highly toxic deadly industrial grade solvent the company dumped on the ground and in the well-water of this property, and then essentially "served up" this water to the employees to drink, to use to make coffee/tea/hot chocolate, and as the water used in all cooking for the entire company-run cafeteria which was much-used by all employees, guests, and even frequently their families.  TCE has no taste, no smell, no color, nothing.  We are told that TCE is in the chemical family of what is called 'Industrial Chlorines' -- its got its own scientific family/grouping.  An old friend of mine -- a bio-chemist forever -- told me that "this is something akin to drinking a half-bottle of straight Clorox chlorine bleach every single day of being on that site", and that this family of chemicals is directly associated with Dioxins, Benzenes, and of course Industrial Chlorines.  I have recently received an email from a Scientist and Environmental Toxicologist who, after reading this website, tells me that they feel "this is a good message - I hope people hear it."  They go on to say, and again I quote, "As a Scientist and Environmental Toxicologist, I KNOW everything you say is true, but its even much worse than even you or most people know.  It's too bad we let it get so bad."  Pretty potent info.  From a pretty in-the-know source.  wow.

Anyway. 

In the spring of 1998 -- now very near to seven years ago -- the first chemical Tri-Chloro-Ethylene, or TCE, was discovered -- and really kind of by accident!  And, at more than 300 TIMES the Federal Standard allowable -- and on just this first of the discovered chemicals, the TCE.  The company had been dumping this and other chemicals directly on the ground, which had been going directly into the groundwater and drinking well-water for something close to 50 years.  And this site also drains directly into a popular creek, which then runs into a popular river, which then runs into a significant river for fishing (fish!), swimming, boating, etc., which then runs into an even bigger and more popular river, which all then runs into the Pacific Ocean. 

Think you've never been toxic poisoned?  Read again that last paragraph.  You may not have actually worked or even visited directly on-site at this particular toxic-poisoned location, but you or someone you really care about could have attended the Elementary Grade School just a quarter-mile downstream, or played in the popular creek as so many kids do, or gone fishing or eaten contaminated fish or shellfish from the popular river, or boated or gone water-skiing or may have gone swimming in the bigger and more popular river or eaten it's fish or birds, or swam or boated anywhere near the outpouring of the rivers into the Pacific Ocean, where red-tides and contaminated shell-fish seem to pop up on the news with frequency any more. 

Might you have done any one of these things?  Any one of these things may have made you toxic poisoned and with absolutely no idea it even happened.  And, remember too!  This surely is not the only site in the United States, nor certainly on this planet, that is seriously toxic poisoned! 

On with the nutshell story:

It became very very clear and very very quickly that, especially through half-buried media reports, the company was going to deny "any potential health impact" from chemicals exposure.  Companies are about MONEY and profits; especially in the top decision-making ranks who are usually the ones who pocket the most MONEY.  Something like this is certainly an arena they avoid like the plague -- oh wait!  this IS like the plague.  This is also very clearly where each of us, all of us, count.  If you work for a company, what kind of decisions are you making every day you wake up?  Are you 'allowing' your corporations to sweep things under the carpet?  YOU have a voice, a choice.  If your corporations and companies, anywhere on the planet, are doing anything which you view as unethical or downright unsafe (such as this toxic poisoning), speak up, write letters, inform the local constituency and leaders, inform the stockholders (yes!), and even quit that company.  If we all make more involved choices everyday of our lives about how we want to participate and go forward as a human race, then we need to start now by making the real decisive decision-making choices.  And not only in business, but also in how we treat each other every day.  Every day. 

Every day you wake up, Every day you make a choice; you count.

Onward with the nutshell:

In 1999, the next year after finding just this first deadly toxin, Tri-Chloro-Ethylene (TCE), the company had to be SUED to even try to notify former workers.  And former workers only.  That they "may" have been exposed.  I find no comfort at all in the company's use of the word "may".  The company has huge and worldwide resources, seemingly unlimited batteries of lawyers, and seemingly unlimited time to wait for all the rest of us to just die off so they don't have to deal with this at all (hundreds. hundreds. perhaps even thousands have already died).  Which appears to be the tactic they favor most. 

But I have to wonder about the U.S. Government and Regulatory Agencies which are supposed -- supposed -- to get involved in these kinds of things.  Where are they?  Even the Federal  ATSDR  (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) -- there's even a special agency for this!  "admits that these 25,000+ employees are the most highly contaminated group in the nation for Tri-Chloro-Ethylene, or TCE, and yet after seven years later there is still no study which has been initiated".  Why not?  I don't know.  And, - again - why not when they know that the list of former employees dying and already dead from kidney and liver cancers alone, and plenty of other heinous diseases already actually linked to TCE, gets longer and longer each week.  And, - again - in 2003, the ATSDR found that by "looking at death rates [also known as mortality rates] of those already dead amongst the former workers, shows a three-fold increase in kidney cancers and a two-fold increase in pancreatic cancers for this population". 

And, they know that the entire country of Sweden has outlawed TCE entirely.  And following that action, they know the entire United States State of California has also entirely outlawed TCE. 

So, if Agencies as highly-placed as the ATSDR already know so much about the deadly toxins at just this site, why haven't they done a study?  Why haven't they notified the entire country about just this one site?  Why haven't they urgently-notified every physician and healthcare professional on the planet about just this one site?  Why haven't they really done anything? 

Money. 

Do you know that the ATSDR wants us, the sick and dying former workers! to ante up over $100,000 to give to their ATSDR Government Agency! in order for them to do a study to see if they should do a study.  That's right.  They want us to give them $100,000 to do a study to see if they should do a study.  What happened to Government-funded Agencies for the public good?  Go figure.  This is just too ridiculous for further words. 

One group says, "We hope that the Truth about the severity of the health impacts suffered by this worker population will finally be told, and that they will have their day in court."  I just hope for Truth: anything further is too too too far away.  With the assistance of the company's barrage-teams of lawyers and oodles of resources and plenty of time on their side (they aren't sick with time running out! -- they didn't drink the water!), I feel it highly unlikely anything further is possible. 

And, speaking of courts.

Many many ask about Workmen's Compensation and legal recourses.  These just don't seem to be available to our population.  The company and its representatives told us all, many times, that "it would be fruitless to pursue Workmen's Compensation".  For the few who tried, this certainly proved true.  And the company's lawyers and representatives were certainly right there to put all their efforts toward no one getting any Work.Comp.!  After all, its the company that pays the money for the Workmen's Compensation Insurance, and it seems the Insurance carrier is more beholdin' to the money-paying company than to us deadly-poisoned workers.   And as far as lawyers for us?  Well, nobody wants to touch this!  Get into a legal battle with the giant likes of Mattel!  Not likely!  Not bloody likely!  There are well-known media personalities who feel the same way -- not likely!  They like their paychecks, thank you! 

Money.

Money.

Money!

So, take a look around you.  Is your life...your decisions... based on Money?  How beholdin' are you to your companies and corporations?  Perhaps if we all were a bit more independent of our J-O-B-S, then we might be able to make better decisions...every day.   Wouldn't it be nice to go to a job, any job, because we really enjoy being there and doing the work we do -- instead of feeling like we have to have to be there?  Perhaps we could become a bit more independent by making sure we don't have so much debt that makes us feel so beholdin' -- even trapped.  Do we really really need that new car?  Really?  Do we really really need that new/bigger/faster/shinier anything that then puts us even more in the "beholdin'" grip of the companies we work for?  I think you're smarter than that.  Get clear of debt.  Get clear of beholdin'..  Get back on the road of clear-headed decisions...every day.  They really really count.  So do you.

So much for the nutshell.  Thank you for staying with us.  We're all in this together.  I am you.  This could oh-so-easily be you or someone you really care about.  I am committed to doing all I can to change that kind of outcome.  Help me/us?  Count?