When, in 1962, the landmark anti-pesticide book Silent Spring was first published, Velsicol was the sole manufacturer of two pesticides – chlordane and heptachlor – featured prominently within it.
[1] In 1979, Australian politician and medical researcher John Coulter gave a lecture that mentioned how Velsicol had handled information about the cancer-causing properties of the two pesticides.
In 1973, a packaging error at the plant resulted in several thousand pounds of PBBs contaminating cattle feed which was later fed to animals across Michigan.
This error led directly to Gerald Ford's half-hearted approval in 1976 of the Toxic Substances Control Act, which "remains one of the most controversial regulatory bills ever passed".
In 2014, the neighborhood around the plant was found to be contaminated with DDT, presumably by Velsicol decades before, prompting the removal and replacement of soil at 96 residential properties.
According to the CDC, several studies have shown that people exposed to high levels of endrin experience convulsions, jerking of legs and arms, twitching facial muscles, sudden collapse, or even death.
The civil court imposed a $30,000 penalty on Velsicol on August 31, 1978, for more than 300 violations of the NPDES permit which restricts the releases of pesticides endrin and more into sewage.