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Search the Globe: Today Yesterday 30 Days 12 Months Since 1979

Citizens recognized for environment efforts

By Alice Gomstyn, Globe Correspondent, 3/17/2002

our years ago, Mary Ellen and Michael Talbot's 9-month-old son began suffering seizures. At 10 months, he was choking on mucous that had mysteriously developed in his throat.

To their horror, the Talbots, of South Weymouth, soon learned that their son's medical problems stemmed from abnormally high levels of arsenic.

The Talbots spent countless hours dialing the numbers of neighbors, medical experts, city officials, and environmental groups such as Toxics Action Center trying to figure out what could be done about the poison invading their community. From their efforts, the environmental advocacy group South Weymouth Against Toxics was born.

At its 16th annual conference yesterday, the Toxics Action Center honored the Talbots and other citizens-turned-environmental activists for the contributions they have made in the fights to stop dangerous waste dispersal practices and harmful pollutants from threatening Bay State communities.

Arsenic was found in the water in Weymouth and may have had other sources as well.

''They deserve to be honored for the hard work they have done to protect their neighborhoods,'' said Matthew Wilson, director of the Toxics Action Center.

Other award recipients at the ceremony at Northeastern University included:

Dr. Sarah Little of Wellesley, a leader in warning Massachusetts residents of the dangers of pesticides; Mary Beth Palmigiano and Paul Sullivan, of Stop the Stop, a group working against the building of truckstops in neighborhoods; Lisa Anketell and Sydney Gonzalez, of River's Edge Residents, an initiative to force developers to take responsibility for building on environmentally hazardous land; members of the Woburn Neighborhood Association, which is opposed to landfills; and Jamaica Plain's Neighborhood Pesticide Action Committee.

This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 3/17/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.