Living Downstream 2010

     This film is based on a book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.  Sandra was diagnosed with bladder cancer when she was 20 years old.  Later she was working with environmental toxins in a lab but she changed her job to writer and lecturer.  She wanted to reach people with the information she has collected over many years about toxins in our water and soil.  Sandra didn’t expect to get a cancer diagnosis in college and she never thought she would be a public speaker either.  Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world.  The industrial compound, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been banned but in one area the cleanup will take 68 years or more.

     Sandra lives in Trumansburg, New York.  Jeff de Castro, her husband is a sculptor and art restoration expert.  They have two children.  There have been other people in her family with cancer but Sandra cannot have genetically contracted it because she was adopted.  Bladder cancer has been linked to smoking, parasitic infection, radiation and chemical exposure.  The cells develop mutations that allow them to grow out of control and not die.  The area where Sandra lives has air pollution, lead, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.  Most jobs have moved to Ithaca but previously most of the land was cleared of timber and farms were established.     Pesticides were used on the farms.  Frogs in the nearby water have been changed from males to females and given birth.  3½* (I liked this movie)

85 min, Doc directed by Chanda Chevannes with Sandra Steingraber,

Note:  Imdb 6.9 out of 10, 57% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 6 reviews.