Cathy Hinds

1
Cathy Hinds

• The fight against PCBs

2
The Ideal Life

• Cathy was born in Portland, Maine and grew up to
  become an aid in a Nursing Home. She married
  young and gave birth to two daughters before
  moving to Grey, Maine at the age of 23.

• I wanted a quiet place with clean, fresh air.
  East Grey seemed ideal-out behind us there was
  even a farm with cows. It was just what a city
  girl would dream of for her kids.

3
First Signs That Everything Was Not Ideal

• Soon after moving to Grey, Cathy noticed
  something different about the water. Her
  daughters developed symptoms even the doctors
  couldnt explain, including
• Skin rashes
• Dizzy spells
• Poor balance
• Respiratory problems
• To make matters worse, in 1977 Cathy miscarried
  her third child. She soon moved to Gloucester,
  Maine in 1982 in the hopes that things would be
  better.

4
The problems intensify

• many other people in Grey began to experience
  medical problems because of the water.
• Government health officials sent out letters
  advising the community not to drink, cook with,
  or bathe in the citys water until the problem
  was solved.

5

The Culprit is identified

• The McKin Company cleaned up fuel tanks, oil
  spills and handled wastes for 300 companies.
• It turned out that they placed the waste in
  underground storage near Grey.
• No one had been aware of contaminants that were
  seeping into the aquifer.
• And the firm was quickly shut down.

6
PCBs

• The water was found to have high levels of PCBs
  (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) from the waste that
  was carelessly disposed. This caused a number of
  health problems for the people of Grey,
  including

• hearing and vision problems
• spasms,
• acute poisonings
• irritations of the nose throat and
  gastrointestinal tracts
• changes in liver function
• and even cancer.
• This also could have caused Cathys miscarraige.

7
Cathy and Cheryl

• Cathy, with the help of Cheryl Washburn sought to
  raise public awareness through a televised
  documentary called The Killing Ground
• These two women also formed the Environmental
  Public Interest Coalition (EPIC)
• Together they spoke out in favor of new laws to
  require state governments to regulate and monitor
  toxic chemicals from production to disposal.

8
Now

• Cathy Hinds continues to work on McKin site and
  is involved with many organizations.
• She has cofounded the Maine Citizens Coalition on
  Toxins which is now the Maine Peoples Alliance
• She also helps lobby for Congress for the
  strengthening of the Superfund Law.

9
References

• http//www.epa.gov/safewater/dwh/t-soc/pcbs.html
• http//www.encyclopedia.com
• Garland, Anne Witte. Women Activists Challenging
  the Abuse of Power