Draft:Michael Harold Brown

Michael H. Brown

Michael Harold Brown is a Catholic author/journalist/speaker/and website owner in the United States. As a secular journalist, Mr. Brown exposed the Love Canal toxic waste environmental and health crisis in his hometown of Niagara Falls, for which he was nominated three Pulitzer prizes. The Love Canal crisis created many controversies. .His work appeared in publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, Reader's Digest, Science Digest, Discover, New York, Saturday Review, Rolling Stone, and others. His college lecture circuit tour on toxic contamination spurred the creation of many local activist groups in the 1980s . A cover story in the Atlantic won him the Sidney Hillman Award.

EARLY LIFE

Brown was born March 5, 1952, in Niagara Falls, and attended Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, where he worked on the school newspaper, ''The Ram', and graduated in 1975 with a major in journalism.

CAREER

Brown started as a general assignment reporter for the Press & Sun-Bulletin Sun-Bulletin, where, on April 7, 1975, he published the longest article in that newspaper's 153-year history, focusing on a teacher named Phil Jordan who was forced from the school (in Spencer, New York) because of his "psychic" demonstrations [2].

In 1975 he began work on a book about psychokinesis. The book, PK: A Report on Psychokinesis, was published by Steinerbooks in New York in 1976.

Returning to the Niagara Gazette as reporter covering the small towns of Lewiston and Porter, he became intrigued with the issue of toxic chemical waste disposal. This arose due to the existence in those towns of a company called Chem-Trol (later SCA) that was bringing in the most toxic compounds from around the nation and burying them in "secure landfills" at a wooded area near Lake Ontario, sparking the toxic-waste awareness in Western New York.

LOVE CANAL

Assured by the county health department and its commissioner that Love Canal was not a health risk [6], Brown nevertheless began making regular phone calls after a prompting by an engineer that someone would have to "dig in there and take a good look." At the time, the Hooker Company (now owned by Occidental Petroleum) was the largest employer in the area, with thousands of employees in more than a dozen countries.

Soon, Brown learned of unusual and severe skin problems and other ailments -- symptoms that Brown soon found were identical to those caused by tetra dioxin, known by some as the most poisonous chemical ever synthesized and the cause of a myriad of illnesses, including a serious skin disorder, "chloracne", that involved more than just the skin.

In May, Brown reviewed a memo from Environmental Protection Agency office in Rochester which stated that tests already conducted by the state suggested "a serious threat to health and welfare." [9] In the canal, the effluents went beyond solvents like benzene and trichlorethylene and included dozens of highly toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons used for pesticides, herbicides, and plastics, including C-56 (a building block for the now-banned pesticide Mirex) and TCP, or 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, which Brown learned virtually always carried, as an unwanted byproduct, tetra-chloro-dibenzo-para-dioxin, TCDD or "dioxin" for short. The burial of trichlorophenol at Love Canal was proven later in 1978 when a source from a remedial chemical company called Brown to inform him and Hooker confirmed it. Soon, dioxin itself was detected. The resultant news stunned officials and the nation.

With confirmation from the NY State Health Department, there indeed seemed to be an abnormal prevalence of miscarriages and birth defects alongside Love Canal, the state health commissioner, Dr. Joseph Whalen, declared an unprecedented health emergency, the first such emergency in American history. Brown collected sump-pump samples from a neighborhood a mile from the worst-hit section and had them analyzed, along with logging state air sample results.[12]

The declaration was made on August 2, 1978 [13], and led to massive national publicity, including on The New York Times front page and all three news networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC). Angry residents filled the streets, demanding evacuation, which soon was to come for 237 households. President Jimmy Carter also declared an emergency. The Times had the reporter, Donald G. McNeil, in Niagara Falls. Lois Gibbs, who lived several blocks from the canal but was very concerned about what she was reading formed a formal homeowners association and working full-time and tirelessly, helped keep the matter before the local media.

Brown's investigation continued through 1978 and early 1979. He expanded his investigation nationwide -- in a book released at the end of 1979 called 'Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America by Toxic Chemicals' [19], which was published by the Pantheon division of Random House and drew publicity around the nation including Today, Nightline, and McNeil-Lehrer. The book was excerpted or adapted in the Atlantic Monthly (cover story) [21], The New York Times Magazine (three times [22][23]), Reader's Digest [22] [23], New York [24], Family Weekly [25], and other publications. The issue of toxic chemical wastes had been established. Released in 2024, the PBS documentary, Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal, continues to call forth a reminder of the fight for the health and safety of our families.

PUBLISHING CAREER

In later years, Brown pursued spiritual writing full time with appearance on Joan Rivers, Sally Jesse Raphael, Mother Angelica, TBN, and "Ancient Prophecies." He wrote his first book, "Witness" on a Ukrainian martyr-mystic named Josyp Terelya, and a second, on apparitions of the Virgin Mary since 1830, called 'The Final Hour', a Catholic bestseller, followed by many books on the afterlife, spiritual warfare, devotion, healing, prophecy, and other spiritual topics. He also penned a supernatural Christian novel, "The Seven." He has visited more than thirty alleged apparition sites in various parts of the world. Brown and wife Lisa operate a Christian-Catholic news/commentary/and aggregate website, Spirit Daily.com.

PERSONAL LIFE

On October 30, 1993, Brown married Lisa Bassani, 33, in Albany, New York, where she was employed as a legislative assistant and researcher for New York State Senator Roy Goodman of Manhattan. They have three children, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary Rose. He and wife Lisa now live near St. Augustine, Florida.

PUBLICATIONS

• PK: A Report on Psychokinesis (Steinberbooks, 1977)
• Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America By Toxic Chemicals (Pantheon, 1979)
• Marked To Die (Simon & Schuster, 1984)
• The Toxic Cloud (HarperCollins, 1989)
• The Greenpeace Story (Dorling Kindersley, 1989)
• The Search For Eve  (HarperCollins, 1990)
• Witness (Faith Publishing, 1991)
• The Final Hour (Faith Publishing, 1992)
• Prayer of the Warrior (Faith Publishing, 1993)
• The Bridge To Heaven (Marian Communications, 1993)
• The Trumpet of Gabriel (Faith Publishing, 1994)
• Secrets of the Eucharist (Faith Publishing, 1996)
• The Day Will Come (Servant Publication, 1996)
• After Life (Faith Publishing, 1997)
• The Last Secret (Servant Publication, 1998)
• Seven Days With Mary (Faith Publication, 1998)
• Sent To Earth (Queenship, 2000)
• The Best of Spirit Daily (Queenship, 2002)
• The God of Miracles (Queenship, 2005)
• Tower of Light (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2007)
• The Other Side (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2008)
• The Seven (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2009)
• The Spirits Around Us (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2010)
• A Life of Blessings (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2012)
• Fear of Fire (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2013)
• What You Take To Heaven (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2014)
• The God of Healing (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2015)
• Where the Cross Stands (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2017)
• Lying Wonders, Strangest Things(Spirit Daily Publishing, 2019)
• The New York Prophecy (Spirit Daily Publishing, 2023)

FOOTNOTES

1. The Best of People: The First Decade, Ballantine Books, 1984 2. He Turns Tables On Physics, Binghamton Sun-Bulletin, April 7, 1975 3. Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America By Toxic Chemicals (Pantheon, 1979) 4. "Red Tape Stalls Dump Solution," The Niagara Gazette, by Mike Brown, February 5, 1978 5. "Dump Neighbors Wondering," The Niagara Gazette, by Mike Brown, June 25, 1978 6. "State To Study Love Canal Health 'Ills,'" by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, May 21, 1978 7. "Toxic Exposure at Love Canal Called Chronic," by Mike Brown, May 25, 1978 8.  Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America By Toxic Chemicals (Pantheon, 1979) 9. Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America By Toxic Chemicals (Pantheon, 1979) 10. "State To Study Love Canal Health 'Ills,'" by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, May 21, 1978 11. "Love Canal research hints at birth defects," by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, July 15, 1978 12. "Love Canal residents' evacuation mulled," by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, May 20, 1978 13. "Upstate Waste Site May Endanger Lives," by Donald G. McNeil, The New York Times, August 2, 1978 14.  "Canal Chemicals Fan Out," by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, August 9, 1978 15.  "State, private studies at odds on canal drain illness pockets," by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, October 4, 1978 16. "Worry over toxins extends to Buffalo Avenue residents," by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, August 18, 1978 17. "Chemicals surround Falls water plant," by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, October 5, 1978 18.  "High PCB levels found in Gill Creek," by Mike Brown, the Niagara Gazette, September 8, 1978 19.  Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America By Toxic Chemicals (Pantheon, 1979) 20.  "Love Canal, USA," by Michael H. Brown, The New York Times Magazine, January 21, 1978 21.   "Love Canal and What It Says About the Poisoning of America," by Michael H. Brown, the Atlantic Monthly, December 1979 22. "New Jersey Cleans Up Its Pollution Act," by Michael H. Brown, The New York Times Magazine, November 23, 1980 23.  "Is Hemlock Being Slowly Poisoned?" by Michael H. Brown, The New York Times Magazine, July 15, 1979 24.  "Stop the Poisoning of America," by Michael H. Brown, Reader's Digest, May 1979 25. Toxic Waste: Organized Crime Moves In, by Michael H. Brown, July 1984 24.  "The Price of Life," by Michael H. Brown, New York Magazine, March 10, 1980 25.  "Those Killer Chemical Wastes Are Poisoning America," Family Weekly, January 11, 1981 26.  "Killer Towns: Special Report: What the government can't say about death in America," by Michael H. Brown, Rolling Stone, November 26, 1981 27. Marked To Die (Simon & Schuster, 1984) 28. The Toxic Cloud (HarperCollins, 1989) 29. "Getting Serious About the Occult," by Michael H. Brown, The Atlantic Monthly, October 1978 30.  "The National Swill: Poisoning the Mississippi," by Michael H. Brown, Science Digest, June 1986 31.  "Here's the Beef: Fast Foods Are Hazardous To Your Health," by Michael H. Brown, Science Digest, April, 1986 32.  "What's the Beef?" editorial, The New York Times, April 4, 1986 33.  The Search For Eve  (HarperCollins, 1990) 34. Prayer of the Warrior (Faith Publishing, 1993) 35. Witness, Josyp Terelya with Michael H. Brown (Faith Publishing, 1991) 36. The Final Hour (Faith Publishing, 1992)

[see also: Love Canal Revisited, Michael H. Brown, Amicus Journal, Summer 1988 He Told the Stories Behind the Fence, the Niagara Gazette, by Don Glynn, July 26, 1998 A Wasted National Resource: Millions of Barrels of Engine Oil, by Michael H. Brown, The New York Times, May 4, 1980 A Toxic Ghost Town, by Michael H. Brown, The Atlantic Monthly, July 1989 Contaminating the Countryside, by Kai Erikson, The New York Times Book Review, May 18, 1980 A Shocker, The New York Times, April 25, 1980, page C-24 State Health Formula Weighs Value of Life Against Project Costs, by Peter Kihss, The New York Times, March 3, 1989, B3 Toxic Wind: Coming Soon to the Air Near You, by Michael H. Brown, Discover Magazine, November 1987 Dumping the Responsibility for Toxic Sites, by Michael H. Brown, Newsday, May 28, 1980]

EXTERNAL LINKS:

WWW.SPIRITDAILY.COM

Michael Brown's books