Milwaukee Barrel Plants May Affect Health, Epidemic Of Health Screening Burdens Elders, Find More Meaning In Your Life

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We discuss first-hand reports of the effects of Milwaukee’s barrel recycling plants on workers and neighbors, look into how too many required health screenings can be a pain for older people, and talk with one author who has wrote a book to help you better understand your self and your desires.

Featured in this Show

  • Air Quality Near Wisconsin Industrial Plant Spurs Health Concerns

    Sometimes, it’s just a smell. Other times, opaque white smoke streams onto the ground, obscuring the grass like a fog.

    For residents who live near a Mid-America Steel Drum plant, the air conditions could be more than a nuisance. A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found the air could be making people sick — from nasal problems, to headaches, dizziness, and numbness in the fingers and toes.

    “They can’t explain what it is,” Journal Sentinel reporter John Diedrich told WPR’s “Central Time.” “Though when they’re near the plant, things seem to be worse.”

    The investigation was the latest in a nearly year-long series from the Journal Sentinel focused on safety and conditions at Mid-America and its parent company, Container Life Cycle Management. A whistleblower spurred the investigation.

    The company cleans out and refurbishes 55-gallon industrial drums for reuse, carrying anything from vegetable oil, to chemicals and paints. In the Milwaukee area, it has facilities in St. Francis, Oak Creek and Milwaukee.

    The whistleblower was a safety consultant, hired by the company to address the safety hazards in one of the plants.

    “What he saw startled him in terms of lack of safety, and also the lack of commitment on the part of the company to change anything,” Diedrich said. “He was so concerned about that that he became a whistleblower and started recording secretly, the safety managers to the company describing dangerous conditions, chemicals being mixed together, chemicals being burned off into the surrounding areas, unsafe work conditions for employees and for residents living nearby.”

    One explanation for the strange smells in the area, Diedrich said, is burned materials inside the barrels, which is done as part of the refurbishing process.

    The Journal Sentinel hired an industrial environmental testing company to test the air in areas around the St. Francis plant for over a week.

    “During that time they identified and found organic chemicals in the area, and at levels that would constitute a nuisance,” Diedrich said. “And also would constitute contributing to some chronic ailments like these mentioned.”

    According to Diedrich’s reporting, a nuisance odor is “generally defined as interfering with people’s enjoyment of their property or causing serious annoyance because of their repulsive smell.” There is no federal definition.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also did independent testing in the area, identifying some of the same pollutants. It’s still researching the possible health effects, and has yet to release a report.

    However, its own inspectors started to feel some of the same ailments that residents had reported, Diedrich said, including fatigue and dizziness.

    The company faces more than 70 violations from five different government agencies, he said.

    The Journal Sentinel reported that odor complaints in the St. Francis area, related to the plant, have gone on for decades. The St. Francis Common Council recently added the issue to its meeting agendas for the foreseeable future.

  • Milwaukee Barrel Plants May Be Affecting Health Of Workers, Neighbors

    Last year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel exposed dangerous conditions and environmental violations at a group of barrel recycling plants in the Milwaukee area. Recently, reporters talked to nearby residents and former employees about the how the plants affect their lives and health. We find out what they had to say and where an ongoing investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency stands.

  • 'Overdiagnosis' Burdens Older Patients

    Decades of public awareness campaigns have made screenings for diseases like cancer seem like a good thing. But some researchers say there’s an epidemic of “overdiagnosis” in America’s older adults, which sometimes does more harm than good.

  • Following Your Heart To Prioritize What Really Matters

    A Wisconsin writer who has endured many challenges shares how she finds purpose, joy and gratitude in her daily life.

Episode Credits

  • Judith Siers-Poisson Host
  • Dean Knetter Producer
  • Gretchen Brown Producer
  • Chris Malina Producer
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
  • John Diedrich Guest
  • Liz Szabo Guest
  • Keri Olson Guest