The Swann Chemical Company was an American chemical company started by Theodore Swann, described by one historian as "a flamboyant Birmingham mogul and New South industrialist." Swann Chemical first operated a chemical manufacturing plant in Anniston, Alabama where PCBs were first made on an industrial scale after development of a new process under leadership of Theodore Swann.[1] The plant was later bought by Monsanto Industrial Chemicals Co. in 1935.[2][3][4] The plant, just west of Anniston, had around 1,000 employees.[5]
One historian wrote that, "In many ways, the spirit of Swann Chemical became the corporate culture of Monsanto."[5]
References
- Ted Dracos. Biocidal: Confronting the Poisonous Legacy of PCBs Beacon Press, November 2010^
- Poisoned By PCBs: "A Lack of Control" Chemical Industry Archives, retrieved 30 November 2015^
- Thomas R. III Head. PCBs—The Rise and Fall of an Industrial Miracle Natural Resources & Environment, Spring 2005, retrieved 30 November 2015^
- Peter Montague. How We Got Here -- Part 1: The History of Chlorinated Diphenyl (PCB's) HudsonWatch.net^
- Ellen Griffith Spears. Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town University of North Carolina Press, April 2014^