Recommended Books and Articles

The Poisoning of Michigan
Joyce Eggngton's classic book on The Poisoning of Michigan by the flame retardant polybrominated biphenylether or PBB, commonly called Firemaster has been reissued. This toxic tragedy unwinds with the suspense of a detective novel.

The story begins in 1973 when the Michigan Chemical Corporation in error delivered poorly marked brown bags Firemaster to the Michigan Farm Bureau. Employees there assumed that the bags contained the magnesium oxide supplement know Nutrimaster that had been ordered and mixed it into cattle feed to be delivered across the state. Only because one of the first farmers to lose his herd of dairy cows had incredible persistence and a degree in chemical engineering was the mystery of the poisoned animals eventually solved. By this time, the nine million residents of Michigan had been ingesting contaminated milk and meat for nearly a year. Eventually, millions of farm animals had to be destroyed, and humans with high levels of exposure had increased health problems.

A different mixture, with a similar name, Firemaster 550, is the major flame retardant being used in furniture and baby product foam across North America today. Interesting that 36 years after The Poisoning of Michigan, we are still finding chemical mixtures called Firemaster in our consumer product.