Silkwood

I recently saw the story of Karen Silkwood as portrayed by Meryl Streep. It was shocking to me that Kerr-McGee, the plutonium plant she worked at, could get away with such negligence in regards to their plant safety. What really was creepy was how the samples taken from her home showed huge levels of plutonium, yet the ones that the company took were moderately low. Picture from SanDiego.edu archives





The plant was basically killing people for profit, or at the very least had no regard for their safety and well-being. As is often the case, the whistle-blower gets the most heat, as co-workers of hers were disgruntled over her attempts to expose Kerr-McGee's unsafe practices. She died suspiciously in a one car crash while trying to expose these wrongs. The plant finally closed in 1975, but the civil litigation went on for years. It makes you wonder how often this sort of stuff goes on in large companies that we DON'T ever get to hear about. Big companies seem like they accept dirty business practices, as long as profits are rolling in.