"All
along, the answer was right in our own backyards," one member
explained. "We have so many industries producing powerful toxic
emissions nonstop, and for the longest time they've just been
contaminating the water we drink, our garden soil and the air we
breathe. Sometimes you can't stay outside more than a few hours,
because the smell of chemicals is so strong."
Members of the Newtown Florist Club began gathering data, in collaboration with the EPD and other government agencies, to show a correlation between industrial emissions and the unusually high rate of cancer, lupus and other health problems found in the neighborhood.