ABSTRACT
Chemically, kepone is a chlorinated polycyclic insecticide and fungicide. Chlordecone was rst introduced as a pesticide in 1958 and was used until 1978, when its use in the United States was discontinued (NCI 1976, IARC 1979, HSDB 2009). Chlordecone was used as an insecticide for leaf-eating insects, ants, and cockroaches; as a larvicide for ies; and for control of insects that attack structures. Chlordecone was also used on bananas, nonbearing citrus trees, tobacco, ornamental shrubs, lawns, turf, and owers. The dry powder is readily absorbed through the skin and respiratory tract. Occupational workers handling kepone without appropriate workplace safety dress and PPE suffered chemical poisoning. The symptoms included, tremors, jerky eye movements, memory loss, headaches, slurred speech, unsteadiness, lack of coordination, loss of weight, rash, enlarged liver, decreased libido, sterility, chest pain, and arthralgia (sharp pain, extending along a nerve or group of nerves, experienced in a joint and/or joints). Kepone, also known as chlordecone, is a toxic, non-biodegradable insecticide that a chemical plant in Hopewell, Virginia, dumped into the James River from 1966 until 1975. The chemical’s negative effect on the environment was documented and eventually publicised, leading authorities to shut down the Allied Chemical Corporation plant that produced kepone and to order shing bans and advisories. The environmental and medical scandal was one of the rst of its kind to play out nationally, and while it eventually led to the destruction of the Virginia shing industry, it also led to improved environmental awareness.
