Fw: SAMUEL S. EPSTEIN, M.D. on Moyers Report

March 26, 2001

FYI!

Martha Murdock, Director

National Silicone Implant Foundation

Dallas, Texas Headquarters

----- Original Message -----

From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2001 1:42 AM

Subject: SAMUEL S. EPSTEIN, M.D. on Moyers Report

" TRADE SECRETS " : THE LATEST IN A LONG LINE OF CONSPIRACIES CHARGES SAMUEL

S. EPSTEIN, M.D.

Bill Moyers is to be warmly commended for his March 26 program " Trade

Secrets " . This PBS Special will document the chemical industry's

conspiracy in

denying information on the grave cancer risks to hundreds of thousands of

workers

manufacturing the potent carcinogen vinyl chloride (VC) and its polyvinyl

chloride

(PVC) product.

As newsworthy is the fact that there is a decades-long track record of

numerous

such conspiracies involving a wide range of industries and chemicals,

besides VC. These

conspiracies have resulted in an escalation in the incidence and mortality

of cancer, and

chronic disease, among workers and the general public unknowingly exposed

to toxics

and carcinogens in the workplace, air, water and consumer products--food,

household

products, and cosmetics and toiletries.

This misconduct involves negligence, manipulation, suppression, distortion

and

destruction of health and environmental data by mainstream industries,

their consultants

and trade associations, notably the Chemical Manufacturers Association

(CMA). These

practices are so frequent as to preclude dismissal as exceptional

aberrations and, in many

instances, arguably rise to the level of criminality as illustrated below:

.. Suppression of evidence from the early 1960's on the toxicity of VC by

Dow

Chemical, and on its carcinogenicity from 1970 by the VC/PVC industry and

the CMA.

Based on these findings, a blue ribbon committee of the American

Association for the

Advancement of Science charged in 1976 that: " Because of the suppression

of these

data (by the CMA), tens of thousands of workers were exposed without

warning--to toxic

concentrations of VC " .

.. Suppression of evidence since the 1930's on the hazards of asbestos,

asbestosis

and lung cancer, by s-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan, besides the

Metropolitan

Life Insurance Company. This information was detailed in industry

documents dubbed

the " Asbestos Pentagon Papers " , released at 1978 Congressional Hearings.

.. Suppression by Rohm and Haas of information, known since 1962 but not

released until 1971, on the potent carcinogenicity of the resin

bischloromethylether. This

resulted in deaths from lung cancer of some 50 men, many non-smokers and

under the

age of 50.

.. Suppression of carcinogenicity data on organochlorine pesticides:

Aldrin/Dieldrin, by Shell Chemical Company since 1962;

Chlordane/Heptachlor, by

Velsicol Chemical Company since 1959; and Kepone, by Allied Chemical Company

since the early 1960's.

.. Falsification in the early 1970's of test data on the drug Aldactone and

artificial

sweetener Aspartame by Hazleton Laboratories under contract to G.D. Searle

Company.

.. Falsification and manipulation by Monsanto since the 1960's of data on

dioxin,

and its contamination of products including the herbicide Agent Orange,

designed to

block occupational exposure claims and tightening of federal regulations.

This evidence

was detailed in 1990 by Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Criminal

Investigation which charged Monsanto with a " long pattern of fraud " and

with reporting

" false information " to the Agency.

.. Fraudulent claims by Monsanto since 1985 that genetically engineered

(rBGH)

milk is indistinguishable from natural milk. These claims persist despite

contrary

evidence.

.. Monsanto's reckless marketing in 1976 of plastic Coke bottles made from

acrylonitrile, a chemical closely related to VC, prior to its testing for

carcinogenicity and migration into the Coke. The bottles were subsequently

banned after acrylonitrile was found to be a potent carcinogen

contaminating the Coke.

.. Destruction of epidemiological data on ethyleneimine and other chemicals

by

Dow and DuPont. This was admitted at 1973 Department of Labor Advisory

Committee meetings in response to challenges to produce data on whose basis

industry

had falsely claimed that these chemicals were not carcinogens.

.. Destruction of test data on drugs, food additives, and pesticides as

admitted in

1977 by Industrial Biotest Laboratories, under contract to major chemical

industries.

.. Failure of the mainstream cosmetics and toiletry industries to warn of

the wide

range of avoidable carcinogenic ingredients, contaminants and precursors in

their products used by the great majority of the U.S. population over

virtually their lifetimes.

(For supporting documentation of the above charges, see the

author's:

Testimony on White Collar Crime, H.R. 4973, before the Subcommittee on

Crime of the

House Judiciary Committee, 12/13/79; The Politics of Cancer, 1979; and The

Politics of

Cancer, Revisited, 1998.)

Hopefully, the public and the media will be outraged by this

longstanding

evidence of recklessness and conspiracies, graphically reinforced by

Moyers' program.

The public and the media should finally hold industry accountable, and

demand urgent

investigation and radical reform of current industry practices besides

governmental

unresponsiveness. The Moyers' program has already galvanized formation of

a coalition

of grassroots citizen groups, " Coming Clean " , to demand more responsible

and open

industry practices, including phasing out the use and manufacture of toxic

chemicals.

Criticism should also be directed to the multibillion dollar cancer

establishment--the

National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society--for their failure to

warn

Congress, regulatory agencies and the general public of the scientific

evidence on the

permeation of the totality of the environment with often persistent

industrial carcinogens

thus precluding corrective legislation and regulation, besides denying

workers and the

public of their inalienable right-to-know.

NOTE: PRNewswire, the nation's largest newswire service, who has released

Cancer Prevention Coalition's numerous press releases for the last five

years, refused to issue this release on " legal grounds " .

DATE March 23, 2001

SOURCE Cancer Prevention Coalition

CONTACT: S. Epstein, M.D., Chairman of the Cancer Prevention

Coalition and Professor environmental and occupational medicine, University

of Illinois School of Public Health, Chicago, 312-996-2297;epstein@...;

http://www.preventcancer.com

March 27, 2001