Love Canal Again

Five years ago a health emergency was declared at Love Canal in upstate New York.a Toxic wastes had been dumped there that, officials decided, made it too dangerous for humans to live there any longer. Hence, most people moved away, but other living creatures stayed; among them were small brown animals with short tails and short ears known as meadow voles.

Recently some officials claimed that it was safe for humans to move back into the area​—although others disagreed. In view of this disagreement, a recent study of the meadow voles living in and around Love Canal is very interesting. The study was conducted by Professor John Christian and published in the magazine Natural History.

What did he find? He found that there was a big difference between the voles living right in the Love Canal dump area, those living near the dump and those living a mile away. While the average life span of voles living a mile from the area was 154 days, that for voles living close to the dump was 105 days. For voles actually living on the Love Canal dump, the life span averaged 84 days.

The precise reason why the Love Canal voles are dying so early is not yet known. But it seems to indicate that after five years the toxic wastes at Love Canal are still dangerous to living things.

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