Toxicology Disasters

Sue M. Ford, PhD, D.A.B.T. is Associate Professor and Director of the Toxicology Program at St. John’s University in Queens, NY. She received her B.S. in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University and M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from Michigan State University, serving as a graduate fellow at the Center for Environmental Toxicology. After post-doctoral positions in biochemistry at SUNY/Buffalo and toxicology at Bristol-Myers she joined St. John’s in 1987 where her research is focused on renal toxicology and in vitro metabolism of kidney cells. In 1994 Dr. Ford was an AAAS Environmental Science and Engineering Fellow, EPA Industrial Chemicals Branch, Washington, DC. and in 1999-2000 a visiting research investigator at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Ford is a member of the Society of Toxicology and has served as president of the specialty section In Vitro and Alternative Methods as well as the Mid-Atlantic regional chapter (MASOT) of the Society. She was Chair, Education Committee Subcommittee on Undergraduate Education from 2010-2013. Dr. Ford has taught toxicology at the undergraduate and graduate levels for over 30 years. She has been recognized for her contributions to undergraduate education by St. John’s (Teaching Excellence, Undergraduate Teaching, Commencement May 2008), the Society of Toxicology (SOT Endowment Fund Undergraduate Educator Award, 2012), and was a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences (2012-2013). In June 2018, she participated in an International Faculty Development program in Havana, Cuba.

1. Disappearing Towns: Times Beach (MO), Chernobyl (Pripryat, USSR), Centralia (PA), Love Canal (NY)
2. Pharmaceuticals: Elixir Sulfanilamide, thalidomide, Te Genero, diethylstilbestrol
3. Industrial: Valley of the Drums, Seveso (Italy), Bhopal (India), Jilin chemical plant explosions (China)
4. Oil Spills: Torrey Canyon (England/France), Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon, East China Sea
5. Food: Ginger Jake and TOCP, Iraq- mercury, Melamine, Turkey X (mycotoxins), PBBs (Michigan), 2018 methanol in liquor (India), Yusho (Japan)
6. Water: Cuyahoga River, Bangladesh, Minamata (Japan & Canada), James River, Newtown Creek, Flint, Dunsmuir spill (Calif. 1991), Dams and storage tanks (eg. Brazil); Hexavalent chromium, Hudson River/PCBs, PFOAs (Hoosick Falls, etc.)
7. Radioactivity: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl/Fukishima, Atomic Homefront (St. Louis), Goiânia (Brazil)
8. Mining: Tar Creek, Summitville, St. Lawrence (fluorspar), Sunshine Mine Disaster (Idaho), Itai-Itai Disease
9. Government (Military, DOE): Hanford, Cannon AFB (NM), Agent Orange
10. Air Pollution: Donora, London Killer Smog, Asian Brown Cloud
11. Dioxins: Agent Orange, Times Beach, Seveso, WTC, Irish pork crisis
12. Occupational: Phossy Jaw, Radium Girls
13. Terror, Malice, and Mayhem: Tokyo subway attack, Dubrovka Theater Siege, Tylenol murders