Jim Morris: Exposing the Chemical Cartel Through Investigative Journalism

We are being poisoned by chemical companies who are polluting the air and water, while also killing their own workers and residential neighbors. And it’s getting worse. In this episode of the Truth & Justice League podcast, Mark Mueller sits down with investigative journalist Jim Morris for an in-depth discussion on how and why the governments at the state and federal level are failing us. He profiles little-known cases where citizens are standing up to companies like Exxon and Dupont, who are doing everything in their power to cover up their damages. These corporations continue to lobby lawmakers to be less and less restrictive as the pollution gets worse. What are we going to do about this as citizens? What can we do as citizens? There is hope, and you can tune into this podcast episode to find out what is being done to combat companies at the local level against this multi-billion dollar industry. This bi-partisan issue of public health and safety has seen the state, federal government, and the EPA lobbied to overlook the damage being done by these companies.Jim Morris is a journalist with over 40 years experience writing long form articles and books related to public health in the workplace, and he is the Executive Director and Editor in Chief of the non-profit investigative news organization Public Health Watch Group based in Austin, Texas. They are partnering with NPR, Univision, local governments and communities to make information available that has been hidden from the public view by large corporations and compliant media. Production facilities are expanding their development in spite of the evidence that they are harming the environment, polluting water, injuring and killing their workers and people living nearby. This discussion provides a fascinating and horrifying history of the chemical industry and its long record of covering up scientific facts and the harmful effects of its chemicals. It also reveals how these companies have steamrolled local communities and governments to open and operate toxic industrial plants that cause cancer, other diseases, and devastating damage to land and water.---------Jim Morris is the founder of Public Health Watch and has been a journalist since 1978, focusing on public health and the environment. He is the author of “The Cancer Factory,” an investigative book on chemical exposures in the workplace published by Beacon Press in 2024. He has received more than 85 awards for his work, including the Barlett and Steele Gold Award, the George Polk award, the Sidney Hillman award, three National Association of Science Writers awards, three national Edward R. Murrow awards and five Texas Headliners awards. Morris spent more than 13 years with the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative news organization in Washington, D.C., as a senior reporter, managing editor, acting CEO and executive editor. While there, he directed a global investigation of the asbestos industry that won the John B. Oakes award for environmental reporting from Columbia University and an IRE Medal from Investigative Reporters and Editors in 2011. Morris helped edit “Breathless and Burdened,” a 2013 investigation into the flawed federal black lung benefits program that won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He conceived, and was a lead writer on, the 2014 series “Big Oil, Bad Air,” a collaboration with Inside Climate News and The Weather Channel that garnered 10 national awards for its revelations about toxic air emissions from hydraulic fracturing.IG: @pubhealthwatchX: @pubhealthwatchFB: @pubhealthwatchhttps://publichealthwatch.org/Visit the website to learn about stories, studies and government reports on toxins, science and cases where people are going to trial against large corporations. Subscribe to the newsletter “The Watch” by the Public Health Watch Group. Subscribe to the “Fumed” podcast on the NPR app, Spotify and Apple podcasts.