The reaserch sometimes depends on the state. As with the mercury contamination problem, the only two states in the Union that have not declared some significant percentage of their fish unsafe to eat are also the only two states that never singed off money to pay for the research to be done. I can personaly attest to the Asthma problem. Growing up, the first 17 years of my life, I knew 3 of kids with asthma, 3 out of hundreds. Now, of the 10 or so kids I know that are under the age of 15, 2 have asthma.
Your story from Marietta is very common. It happened in Lima as well. The only people who can change it are the locals, who dont dare do anything to mess with these joints for fear of losing the jobs. The Ottowa river has almost no fishlife whatsoever, apart for a population of Carp, many of which grow heavily tumored with age. That river joins the maumee and dumps into lake Erie.
Good quotes:
What kills me inside is that everyone in the country needs to read this, yet only 2 or 3 people here will actualy read it all. It's up to you whether you agree with him or not. But if you dont read it, if you dont inform yourselves, you dont deserve to weild the power of a ballot.