“The way in which a problem is defined invariably implies some statement about its origins: the question of culpability is the most important of all aspects of problem definition” (Rochefort & Cobb, 1994). One of the best examples of problem definition comes from the unfortunate story of the Love Canal. Residents of the Niagara Falls region faced horrific living conditions as their properties, homes and towns were overrun with toxic waste. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The government's reaction time has been incredible, considering the circumstances, in providing solutions to the people of Niagara. The government's untimely response to the current difficult situation can be explained by the implementation of multiple problem definition components. To interpret the incident of this disaster we will examine the origin, uniqueness, problem population, and solutions presented in The Legacy of the Hooker Chemical Company. The first indication that there was proper concern was the state of the environment around the Love Canal. To properly treat a problem you need to find its source. Brown relays the response of an independent consultant to the city when asked what the planned corrective action will be: “We're not really sure what the final solution should be, you can't be until you know what you're dealing with” ( Brown. 1980). No decision was made about who would be held responsible for the damage and payment to repair it. No agreement could be made between the school board, the city, and the Hooker Chemical Company. Due to the lack of accountability, no one has been able to step forward in building a plan or solution. The reason Love Canal's situation was so unique was because the state and federal governments had no prior experience in these types of transactions. The dilemma was whether Hooker's actions were accidental or intentional. The Hooker Company argued that any form of corruption “before the environment became a problem and the potential dangers of soil pollution were almost unknown” (Brown. 1980. p.60). In Hooker's defense, the political rules on pollution did not go into effect sooner. The government was in a difficult situation because if no regulations were introduced, technically speaking, Hooker would not be in the wrong. Due to the absence of situations similar to this encountered by the government, the search for a workable solution would continue to be put on hold. . To think that if the government had problems in dealing with the issue, imagine what the residents were going through. Residents would have expected someone to take responsibility and repair what had been damaged. Aside from the defined problems there is the problem population. The problem population comes into play because of the suffering groups of people affected by the story. There was a problem population in the event because people outside the affected region were not informed about what was happening, so there was a lack of legislative will to help. Most people in the area worked for chemical plants and did not earn a significant amount of money. The people were helpless due to their financial demographic situation and its small size compared to major cities. Organizations such as the Love Canal Home Owners Association have been created in hopes of raising awareness of their problems. A huge obstacle was that they had difficulty projecting their problems.