In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the neighborhood of Love Canal in the city of Niagara Falls, New York. During the 1940s, the canal was used as the site to dump 21,800 short tons of chemical products from dyes, perfumes, and solvents for rubber and synthetic resins. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which was built on top of a toxic waste landfill. The Superfund law was created in response to the situation. Carter said that several more "Love Canals" existed across the country, and that discovering such hazardous dumpsites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".