David Linhardt

David Linhardt graduated from Purdue University in 1965 with a degree in Chemical Engineering.  From 1965 to 1993, he worked for The Dow Chemical Company in a wide variety of technical, manufacturing and management positions, in both the US and in foreign locations.  From 1980 to 1994, he and his family resided in Midland, MI.

From 1979 to 1983, David was an Environmental Specialist at Dow's chemical manufacturing complex in Midland, MI.  During this time, he prepared the initial Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) operating permit applications for the site's hazardous waste management facilities.  As a result of this experience, he acquired extensive knowledge about the hazardous waste facilities of Dow's Midland plant.

From 1983 to 1993, he worked in Dow's Agricultural Chemicals Production Department and was responsible for the technical and economic support of the manufacturing facilities used for the production of pesticides.  In 1986, he participated in the investigation of the accidental release of TCDD from the company's 2,4,5-T herbicide plant in New Plymouth, New Zealand.

He retired from Dow in 1993 after 28 years of service.  From 1993 to 2003, he was employed as a Raw Material Purchasing Manager for Rhone-Poulenc Ag, Aventis Ag and Bayer CropScience and was responsible for the sourcing of chemicals and chemical intermediates used in the production of agricultural chemicals.

Upon retiring from Corporate America in 2003, David formed a consulting company, ChemTelligence, Inc., that provides global chemical companies with assessments of competitors' manufacturing technologies and estimates of manufacturing costs and profitability.  He is currently President of that company 

David is in the process of writing a book,  Dioxin ... Dow Chemical and the poisoning of Midland, Michigan, about the dioxin contamination that is present in Midland and the adjacent river and the health risks to exposed residents and Dow employees.  He am also the publisher of DioxinSpin.com, a website dedicated to the exchange of information about dioxins, their presence in the environment, and the risk to human health from dioxin exposure.

He is married, has five grown children, and currently resides in Cary, North Carolina. 

Publisher's Personal Comments:

"Some Midland area residents have characterized me as a "disgruntled ex-employee".  This is easier than challenging the accuracy of the information that I report.  I will let the readers decide if this description is accurate.

The company terminated my employment as it began its first round of workforce reduction in 1993.  The "Class of '93" were provided with excellent separation packages – far superior to those in later years.  I exercised retirement options that substantially improved the financial security of my retirement.

I quickly found subsequent employment as a Raw Material Manager with a Dow competitor.  During this tenure, the volume of business between my new employer and Dow increased substantially.  Within a few years, I had converted approximately $2 million per year in raw material purchases from other suppliers to Dow.  This is hardly the action of a "disgruntled ex-employee" with malice towards the company.

In 2003, I began to become more aware of the dioxin contamination in Midland-Saginaw area.  Based on the information that I found on Dow's Dioxin Data web site, I began to notice "disconnects" as to what Dow was currently claiming and my knowledge of events as they occurred.  The company's current appraisal of the health hazards of dioxin exposure differs markedly from the information that the company provided while I was involved in the manufacture of pesticides, some of which were contaminated with dioxins. 

I began to study what I could find about the company's historic waste facilities and their operation plus the toxicity of TCDD and the other dioxins and furans.  Based on my research, I believe that dioxin exposure is extremely harmful to human health, that the Midland waste facilities were the source of the dioxin contamination that is still present in Midland-Saginaw area and, that the company’s past waste practices increased the amounts of dioxins released into the environment.

I also believe that the past management of the company has acted in a manner that has been detrimental to the best long-term interests of the stockholders (of which I am one) by its long-term refusal to admit responsibility and failure to implement remedial actions that could have been carried out at a cost far less than will be required in the future.

During the years that I worked in the Environmental Services Department (EVS) in the Midland plant, my job responsibilities resulted in almost daily exposure to the environmental emissions from the waste incinerators, the chemical waste ponds and the hazardous waste landfills.  In 1984, the EPA found TCDD soil levels inside the Midland plant as high as 36,000 ppt, while Dow reported TCDD levels as high as 51,000 ppt.  On an equivalent TEQ basis, dioxin soil levels inside the plant may have been as high as 458,900 to 650,000 ppt-TEQ.

To the best of my knowledge, Dow has never conducted any study on the long term mortality of the EVS workers at the Midland plant.  While it is hard to judge exposure, I believe that my cumulative dioxin exposure may be much higher than the exposure levels on many Midland plant workers, certainly higher than many Midland residents and some riverside residents.  Like many Midland plant employees and residents, I am concerned about the impact of dioxin exposure on my and my family's future health.

During the time period that my family and I lived in Midland, dioxin levels in the Virginia Park neighborhood were 1000 to 2500 ppt-TEQ – in some parts of the city closer to Dow, much higher than that.   I and my family lived on Chapel Lane and dioxin levels were much lower in our neighborhood.  I am very thankful for that.

My family's greatest dioxin exposure may have come from the dioxins carried home in my work clothes.  Since I was a salaried employee, I did not shower and change clothes before I left work.  In retrospect, hugging my children when I came home may have been dangerous to their health.  Cleaning my work clothes in a common clothes washer and drier also helped to spread dioxin contamination to my family.

In 1984, our four year old son was diagnosed with leukemia - a cancer linked to dioxin exposure.  He is now almost 30 years old.  We are very thankful for a very early diagnosis and the chemotherapy that was being introduced in the 1980's. 

Can I prove the linkage – no.  Do I believe that there was a linkage – yes.

I have been asked why am I speaking out about the hazards of dioxins and Dow's responsibilities?  My answer : to help others understand the risks of dioxin exposure and to, perhaps, spare even one family from the fear that comes when a child or an adult has a life threatening illness."