Bitter Harvest

I remember moving to Michigan in 1976 just three years after the event depicted in this movie began and the disaster was still very much a hot topic. Voices were being raised and fingers being pointed on both sides of the issue. There were people frightened of being poisoned by an insidious substance that was said to persist in the body and cause harm for the rest of one's life. On the other side were people from the government, industry, agribusiness and elsewhere claiming that there was no need to panic, that the contamination was under control, that the levels of PBB people had been exposed to were insignificant and there was no threat at all to public health. That last statement was rather hard to swallow since farmers and dairymen were losing their herds to quarantine and disposal and milk products had virtually disappeared from grocery store shelves in parts of the state. The loudest voices raised over the issue in my recollection were the farmers who were facing bankruptcy over the contamination and seen to be doing everything to hide themselves and their livelihoods from it. Mostly I remember fear, fear from the public who didn't know who to believe, fear from the agribusinesses facing career-ending losses, fear from government officials who by the time I came on the scene were scrambling in full-on cover-up mode, and, of course, the fear whipped up by the yellow media smelling blood and ratings in a juicy news story.

I thank the producers of the show for bringing it to our attention even if I only discovered this film just now 30 years after it was made and broadcast. I've wondered about the PBB contamination and what became of it but until watching this show I hadn't really ever followed up on it. After all, there was no Google in 1976, or 1981 for that matter when the film was made. I'd wondered if anyone was ever made to pay for the damage and if there was ever a tracking of people's health who were exposed. There was, on both counts, you can look it up with an internet search like I had to.

Excellently acted, excellently produced, easily watched, I'd recommend it to anyone who has ever felt as though there wasn't an adequate watchdog effort over what happens to people and the environment in the pursuit of profits.

This movie was about a dairy farmer who bought some new feed to increase the production of milk from the cows. Cows were getting sick and producing less milk. This mysterious disease started to effect the humans. The farmer got extremely worried because these cows were his life, so he did all he could to save them. At first no one would help him, but then he came upon a Doctor who agreed to help. Numerous tests were run and at first they thought it was "malnutrition." Later it ended up being the chemical PBB. This was causing the cows to have bald-spots of cows, pink-eye, defects in birth, and eventually death. Humans had some of the same symptoms including a rash. This disease was spreading everywhere. The only way in order to get rid of the chemical, all the infected cows had to be terminated.

I lived 20 miles from the town the mix up occurred. I was told the chemical that was mixed with feed would not harm me or my family and that it stayed in the body of humans in fat cells. I have 2 daughters that I believe suffer the effects of this chemical and can not get much help from government concerning what happened on those farms and the true effects it has on the body. Michigan did a great job of a cover-up and still does for that matter. My daughters have tried to get information concerning what happened to no avail. This movie is the only one made on the matter and I am going to try to get a copy to show to my daughters. I remember watching it and at the time did not know my daughters had reproductive problems that are extremely unusual and not something my ex husband and I ever had a family history of. Thank you Mr. Howard for making a movie that tells what really happened and not what the state of Michigan is covering up.

Ron Howard and cast present the best modern depiction of a United States farm and the demands of modern farming. Facing a unknown peril that has him losing his dairy herd a young farmer faces disparagement and questions about his farming ability while his children also become ill. The movie is based on the true story of PCB's entering the food chain in the mid 1970's. Great acting, drama and suspense plus a great mix of home, work and family in the grasp of technology. One of Ron Howard's most underappreciated works.

This was one of Ron Howard's last acting jobs before devoting himself full-time to directing. Based on a true story, he plays a farmer who discovers that his herd of cows had been contaminated somewhat and that his baby had been quite sickly. So he decides to find out why but he keeps running into obstacles until he meets someone (Richard Dysart) who tells him what's been going on. Mr. Howard brings passion in his role as a farmer who feels at his wits end of not being told of why his farm as well as those of his neighbors like his friend played by Art Carney are being affected. Had he continued acting, he probably could have broached quite a list of accomplishments in the profession he had started at since his toddler days from before his big break in "The Andy Griffith Show". But he had accomplished quite well at the job he really wanted to this very day...