Free film on environmental links to cancer at Yale Peabody Museom of Natural History

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 NEW HAVEN - The Yale Peabody Museum will hold a screening of "Living Downstream," a documentary based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D, on Dec. 9.

The film follows her during one pivotal year as she travels across North America, working to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links. After a routine cancer screening, she receives some worrying results and is thrust into a period of medical uncertainty. Thus begin two journeys: her private struggles with cancer and her public quest to bring attention to the urgent human rights issue of cancer prevention.

Unfortunately, Sandra is not the only one on a journey—the chemicals against which she is fighting are also on the move. Several experts in the fields of toxicology and cancer research highlight their own findings on two pervasive chemicals: atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, and the industrial compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). We follow these invisible toxins as they migrate to some of the most beautiful places in North America. We see how these chemicals enter our bodies and how, once inside, scientists believe they may be working to cause cancer. Living Downstream is a powerful reminder of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the health of our air, land and water.

 

Living Downstream is the third of four in a series of environmental films presented by Audubon Connecticut and made possible by support from the Quinnipiac River Fund in partnership with the Yale Peabody Museum, Wallingford Public Library and Quinnipiac River Watershed Association (QRWA). The series focuses on the health of waterways, harmful effects of toxins in the environment and environmental stewardship. The final Peabody screening, The Work of 1,000, will take place in April 2012, on a day and time to be determined.

Representatives from local environmental organizations will be at each of the film screenings to speak with the public about the Quinnipiac River watershed and the work they are doing to protect its valuable natural resources.