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Toxic Legacy of Love Canal

1978

A federal health emergency is declared in Niagara Falls, N.Y., where hundreds of families in the Love Canal area are evacuated and eventually relocated because of toxic sludge leaking into their homes. The community was built over an abandoned canal that had been filled with nearly 22,000 tons of hazardous waste over a decade. For years, families suffer health problems, including birth defects, cancers and autoimmune disorders.