Educational Media Reviews Online

When one thinks of heritage, thoughts of warmth, pride and nostalgia usually surface. This is not the case when you hear about chemical heritage. The directors of the film use the phrase “chemical heritage” to describe the legacy that one generation has handed down to another. The legacy that corporate entities and government have handed down as by products of their manufacturing.

Through interviews with people of different nations, the film shows how international in scope the problem of synthetic chemicals is. Winona, Texas is a small rural town that once had great hope for the future. Those hopes were dashed when a chemical corporation came in and began leaching chemicals into the soil, groundwater and air. Some residents died and others were born with genetic defects.

The film touches on the reluctance of politicians and governments in the U.S. and abroad to tackle the issue of synthetic chemical wastes. It also goes on to say that the citizens are to blame as well. People do not want to give up all the modern conveniences that they have come to rely on daily. This presents a double edged sword for all parties concerned. Agencies do not want to ban all these harmful chemicals because not enough studies, if any, have been done to document their effects. The scientific community maintains that it would take years if not decades to be able to test most, not all, synthetic chemicals for their effects. Throughout the film, images of chemical symbols are superimposed on different objects to create a scientific view. Those images bring home the fact that no matter what the object is, human, animal, plant, building, it has been touched by synthetic chemicals.

The film was done well and leaves the viewer questioning what the next step is. It does not set out to present a plan to rid the world of synthetic chemicals. Instead, I think, the film presents these initial facts, figures and images in an attempt to inform and motivate the public. The public has to be involved with changing as well as government agencies and industry.

This film is recommended for college and university libraries. Libraries at institutions with programs in Environmental Health, Sociology and Political Science would benefit most by adding this film to their collection. On a much smaller level, public libraries could also benefit from a public information standpoint although this wouldn’t be as popular as Snow White on DVD.