Falmouth Coop images, 1977

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Falmouth (Michigan) Cooperative Association was where farmers bought cattle food in bulk for their herds. PBB was accidentally mixed into cattle feed and distributed to Falmouth Coop Assoc. by Farm Bureau Services. Farmers unknowingly bought contaminated feed at Falmouth and fed it to their cattle, who were sickened and deformed by the PBB. Farm animals ingested PBB-contaminated feed in many counties in Michigan, resulting in PBB entering the state and national food chain through milk, meat, and eggs, poisoning Michiganders and other people who unsuspectingly ate Michigan food products.  By 1977 scientists knew that anyone who had ingested PBB had it in their systems and mass burial pits in Oscoda and Kalkaska were debated, and later filled with dead animals-cattle, swine, sheep, and poultry. For a brief synopsis of this event and the start of the PBB health survey see this article in the New York Times May7, 1978. https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/07/archives/experts-testing-3500-in-michigan-for-pbb-effects-michigans-longest.html





















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