Episodes

  • Trailer

    Trailer
    Feb 15 2024
    A firefighter’s wife and a corporate lawyer in different parts of the U.S. get pulled into solving separate mysteries. Something was making cows die and deer haemorrhage to death in West Virginia. That same something could also be giving firefighters cancer – all over the country. When the lawyer and the firefighter’s wife met, they found out they were working on the same mystery. The mystery was caused by a man-made chemical that environmental regulators should have known about but didn’t. A chemical that is said to be so toxic it is unclear if any contact with it is safe. The chemical was created by a corporate giant, and then another corporate giant began using it to provide the world with so-called revolutionary products. Products, it turns out, come with a very steep price. This is a fascinating story of two people unravelling a ball of yarn that would reveal the poisoning of the world.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    5 mins
  • Who's Minding the Store?

    Who's Minding the Store?
    Feb 27 2024

    It begins with a memorial ceremony in Colorado for fallen firefighters. It used to be that firefighters died in fires or from inhaling toxic smoke. Today the majority die from cancer.


    We meet a firefighter from Newfoundland who attended the ceremony. We meet a union rep whose job is to reduce or eliminate the new risks, and a former union rep who points out how the top union brass failed firefighters by believing manufacturers that the turnout gear was safe.


    Meanwhile Diane Cotter is gathering turnout gear and raising money for a formal study. And 1300 km away a lawyer is grappling with questions about toxic chemicals in water that is killing a rancher’s cattle. Federal and provincial regulators aren’t interested in investigating the problem so the lawyer sues Dupont. He suspects chemicals from the plant are to blame and suing is the only way to get the internal documents to prove it.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    43 mins
  • The Best Regulations Money Can Buy

    The Best Regulations Money Can Buy
    Mar 5 2024

    Lawyer Rob Bilott completes the promise he made to his grandmother and has to decide if he will go back to corporate law or continue to fight the multinational company, Dupont. He tries to get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over the fight but gets nowhere.


    And a high-level U.S. government scientist explains how regulation really works.


    Still, Bilott manages to get Dupont to pay for a study of 70,000 people who drank water poisoned by the company’s waste.


    Meanwhile, Diane Cotter and Graham Peaslee cobble together the money for a study on PFAS chemicals in firefighters’ turnout gear. A robust study is needed to get the results published.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    50 mins
  • Pesticides for Dinner

    Pesticides for Dinner
    Nov 25 2025
    Pesticides for Dinner reveals how trust in Canada's food system is damaged by a regulatory system that works too closely with the industry and often fails to act when science uncovers the health dangers of approved pesticides.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    45 mins
  • The Birds and The Bees

    The Birds and The Bees
    Nov 26 2025

    Industry capture can happen when a regulator has too few resources and relies on industry analysis of studies on a product up for review. It can happen when the culture of the government agency is to support industry and ensure speedy approvals. It can happen because Industry has paid lobbyists who spend a lot of time calling and meeting with regulators to push their products.

    Most often it takes a court case or an investigative journalist to find the evidence for the interference. Day to day, people can only wonder when a regulator makes a decision that is questionable and detrimental to people and wildlife.

    Episode seven is a case study in how a Canadian scientist had her work dismissed and discredited by a collaboration between the regulator and the industry wanting to prevent its product from being banned. This is episode seven, The Birds and the Bees.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    48 mins