Junk Science at the movies

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2000)

Nice entertainment, but junk science. Story of a crusading paralegal (Julia Roberts) who convinces the residents of Hinkley California that they should sue Pacific Gas and Electric Company for poisoning their water supply with hexavalent chromium. Tries to exploit the emotions of the audience. The whole story is not very credible. For example, the Erin Brockovich in the movie acts, dresses and speaks like a street hooker (look at the side bar picture of Julia Roberts on the IMDB web page). What kind law firm would hire such a person? Unfortunately this film has been put out as a true story, it uses the names of real people, and targets a real company. The real Brockovich writes letters to newspapers reasserting the truth of movie. When watching a movie one's critical faculties are generally suspended, otherwise you can't be entertained. But stop and think about a few things. Could hexavalent chromium really cause such plethora of different diseases? Usually a toxic agent causes a specific disease with an incident rate proportional to the dosage. What about the incidence rates of these diseases in Hinkley, how do they compare to communities with uncontaminated water? What dosage would specific organs get from waterborne contamination of hexavalent chromium at the concentrations asserted in the film. In real life the law firm got about 1/3 of the settlement with PG&E, around $130 million, how many hours did they work for that bounty? Erin got $2 million for a couple of years work. How much did the sick people get? Unfortunately people will take the film as more than a piece of (pretty good) entertainment and form opinions. Another disservice to the viewing public from Hollywood.