ANDRZEJ KRAUZE
In 1997, construction workers digging an 8.7-km railway tunnel in Sweden began experiencing unusual symptoms: nausea, dizziness, and numbness in their fingers. Around the same time, people living near the dig site discovered paralyzed cows in adjacent pastures and dead fish floating in nearby pools. The cause of these mysterious ailments was a sealant called Rocha-Gil that the construction company had used to fill leaking cracks in the tunnel’s walls. The sealant had contaminated the surrounding ground and surface water with a toxic chemical—acrylamide.
Faced with a national environmental scandal, the construction company abruptly halted its work and called in a group of researchers, including analytical chemist Margareta Törnqvist of Stockholm University, to examine the effects of acrylamide exposure on tunnel workers. Her study revealed ...
