Dr. Gregory Wilson, Department of History

Faculty Research Grant, Research for Lunch Presentation

January 28, 2016

12:15pm to 1pm, CAS 124

“Toxic Dust: The Virginia Kepone Disaster and the Legacy of Chlorinated Insecticides”

Abstract

This book will analyze the history and legacy of the 1975 poisoning of workers and contamination of the James River near Richmond, Virginia by the chemical Kepone, the brand name of chlordecone, a white, powdery pesticide similar to DDT. About 1% of Kepone made its way into domestic use in ant and roach traps; 99% went to Europe to battle the Colorado potato beetle and to the banana plantations of the French West Indies to eradicate the banana root borer. A number of significant events followed in the wake of the disaster, including a global ban on chlordecone. This case study of Kepone will illuminate the larger political ecology and environmental legacy of toxic substances in the South, the United States and the globe.

Bio

Greg Wilson specializes in the history of recent United States and Ohio history. He is the author of Communities Left Behind: The Area Redevelopment Administration, 1945 -1965 and the co-author of Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State and the upcoming Above the Shots: An Oral History of the Kent State Shootings.

Please join us to learn more about Dr. Wilson’s exciting research. Feel free to bring your lunch!

Questions? Contact RschSrvsGA8@uakron.edu