The company became notorious in 1977, when residents near its chemical waste site, Love Canal, reported extraordinarily high incidences of leukemia, birth defects, and other injuries.

Although Hooker had sold its old chemical waste dump site to the Niagara Falls School Board in 1953, the company was held responsible as a result of a lawsuit thereafter.

In 2002, filmmaker David J. Ruck told the story of the Hooker Chemical Company and its environmental negligence in Montague, Michigan, in the documentary film, This is Not a Chocolate Factory.

[3][4] The films, The Killing Ground and A Fierce Green Fire, also explore the history of several of Hooker Chemical's dumping sites and the Love Canal tragedy.

PBS’s American Experience broadcast “Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal” on April 22, 2024, A Madrona Productins Film copyright 2024 WGBH.