US built a neighbourhood upon 22,000 tons of buried toxic waste, then children began returning home with burns

Originally designed to be a groundbreaking canal project, this site succumbed to a fate of pollution as industrial and municipal waste accumulated over decades. The catastrophic rainfall in 1976 triggered the release of these harmful chemicals into nearby homes, displacing numerous families. This incident catalyzed the formation of the Superfund program, dedicated to remedying toxic environmental disasters across the nation. William T. Love, a 19th-century real estate and railroad entrepreneur had a visionary idea of digging a canal that would connect the upper and lower Niagara River bypassing the Falls to generate power for a new "Model City." But soon Nikola Tesla invented alternating current, enabling the economical transmission of energy over long distances, leaving the idea useless.By then, the 3,200 feet of the Love Canal had been dug. With a failed purpose, it first became a local swimming hole and then a dumping ground for municipal and industrial waste beginning in the 1920s, as per a report by Buffalo News. While the initial waste was more or less harmless, the organic chemical revolution starting in the 1940s resulted in toxic chemicals and residues being deposited at t...