Nancy Nichols on "Lake Effect" and Water Pollution

Nancy Nichols drew on her journalistic expertise while interviewing dozens of scientists, doctors, and environmentalists to determine if pollution could have played a role in her sister's death. While researching Sue's fatal cancer, she discovered her own: a vicious though treatable form of pancreatic cancer. Doctors and even family urged her to forget causes and concentrate on cures, but Nichols knew that it was relentless questioning that had led to her diagnosis. And that it is questioning—by government as well as individuals—that could save other lives.

Lake Effect is the story of her investigation. It reaches back to their childhood in Waukegan, Illinois, an industrial town on Lake Michigan once known for good factory jobs and great fishing. Now Waukegan is famous for its Superfund sites: as one resident put it, asbestos to the north, PCBs to the south.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• lake effect
• water pollution
• lake michigan
• pcbs
• pollution