Journalism
In addition to publishing the newsletter, the Video Documentary Team produced a 7:30 minute video tape of the entire study. If you would like to have a copy, please forward a blank VHS video cassette to :
by Catherine Drummond of Camden High School
When we interviewed the people who work at some of these plants they described how they are trying to improve the smell. Some of the questions that were asked were: Why did the city of Camden allow such bad smelling plants to be in this area? Why couldn't they put them some where else where no one lives, like out in the country somewhere? They didn't really know because they just work there. Another question we asked was do the employees ever get sick or tired of the smell. They responded that yes they get sick and tired of the smell. They wish that they could hurry up and find a way to reduce the strong pungent odor that is making it smell so bad in the South Camden area.
As we toured the area we also interviewed some of the residents. We asked them, if they could make a change in this area what would they do. One of the residents replied that she moved to the area because her old neighborhood had too much crime and she feared for her children. She said that she sometimes cry at night because her kids can't even go outside and play without complaining about the smell. We asked if she has ever gotten sick from the smell. She replied that she has been in the hospital twice because the smell was so bad that she had bad stomach pains she had stopped eating. She also told us that in the summer time she doesn't leave her front nor her back door open because the odor gets into her house and stays there for days. She said if she could move she would because no human being nor any animal should have to live in a place which smells so bad.
People living in the South Camden area have many environmental problems to cope with in their daily lives.
by Anthony DiMichele
The Welsbach/General Gas Mantle building and the surrounding area are contaminated with radiation and students were not allowed to go inside. But they were given Geiger counters to test what spots on the street around the factory are still radioactive. Those are called "hot spots." The students were not there long enough to be affected by the radiation. But people, like the employees of the company next door, who spend a lot of time at the site, have to be protected. The floor of their building was sealed and pipes were installed to vent the radioactive gasses from the ground.
Mumford and Ross explained that it would cost a huge amount of money to clean up the site completely and that might include getting rid of the building. The cleanup also had to include a number of houses in the neighborhood where the ground was contaminated by dumping radioactive dirt from the factory.
Students thought it would be best for the neighborhood if the site was cleaned up and destroyed, permanently removing the danger.
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