Films We Like: Living Downstream
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 10:28AM 
I did a short writeup about the new documentary Living Downstream a couple of weeks ago, and since then we got our hands on a a screener of the film. The film captures the personal story of Steingraber's life and struggle with cancer, following her to speaking engagements around the country, back to her childhood home, and into the urologist's office, where she is reminded that her cancer could return at any time.
Steingraber grew up in Central Illinois, and she was diagnosed with bladder cancer when she was 20. The women in her family had a history of cancer, but there was a catch: Steingraber was adopted. That got her thinking about the environmental factors that might have caused her cancer, such as the heavy industry nearby and the widespread use of hormone-disrupting pesticides, like atrazine.
The film takes a brief detour from Steingraber's public speaking tour to focus on atrizine, which is a water soluble chemical that is blanketed on fields and gets in groundwater and can be carried hundreds of miles from where it was originally sprayed. Charismatic biologist Tyrone Hayes has a cameo, catching frogs in atrazine-contaminated waters, and explaining how endocrine disruptors can cause breast cancer.
Steingraber says she seeks to continue the work of Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, who herself had breast cancer, and the filmmakers refer to Carson several times in the film. In 1993, Steingraber left her tenure-track university job to commit herself to preventing the production and use of chemicals that are known to cause cancer. "I see myself now as somebody who spends her days putting jigsaw puzzles together," she says.
The film, directed by Chanda Chevannes, is well-paced and beautifully shot on at least 10 different locations around the country. A bunch of new screenings have been added to the Living Downstream website, so be sure to check if it's coming to your town.
-Mark
Reader Comments (1)
This looks like a very important documentary and topic. I hope my city is selected!