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The Love Canal incident concerns pollution caused by toxic substances and waste. The story begins in the 1890s when William Love, an entrepreneur, promoted the construction of a canal to divert water from the Niagara River. The plan was to build a dam and a hydroelectric plant to power an industrial city, which was to be called Model City. However, the city and the dam were never built—only the canal was excavated. Afterward, the entrepreneur vanished, abandoning the project.

The land was later purchased by an electrochemical company, Hooker, to create a landfill. The canal quickly filled up, and by the early 1950s, it could no longer accommodate toxic waste. As a result, everything was buried, and the site was forgotten. In the 1970s, a new project was launched: the construction of a school district and a residential area. The construction work compacted the soil, and the old landfill, which no one knew about, was lost.

Then came persistent rains that caused depressions in the ground. These depressions filled with water, which came into contact with the toxic waste, causing it to resurface and contaminate the water supply. During this period, local residents began to experience health issues. Soon after, the community discovered that there was a toxic waste landfill beneath the ground, sparking protests and evacuations.

A lawsuit was filed against Hooker, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intervened, initiating the first environmental and epidemiological investigations. These studies revealed the likelihood that the contamination had caused genetic mutations.

In the aftermath of the incident, the federal government launched an investigation covering the entire U.S. to identify all forgotten landfills. Several were located, and cleanup efforts began.

This case became the first significant historical incident of chemical poisoning.