The Kepone Episode: Another Warning

Abstract

Man is resilient and nature forgiving, but both can be overwhelmed by carelessness and ignorance. The part of the Kepone story told in this issue of the Journal (p. 243) is a testimony to modern science; the whole Kepone story is testimony to modern man's inability to provide rational policy in prevention. For 16 months beginning in February, 1974, Kepone was produced by Life Science Products Company in a converted gas station in Hopewell, Virginia, under conditions where little or no attention was paid to basic industrial hygiene practice, thus allowing the workers to come into dermal, respiratory and probably . . .