2 stories of toxic exposure in the US and an opinion about toxics and health effects

[Guest guest]

1. Cancers in those exposed to toxic dusts at Ground Zero (Village

Voice, Nov 28, 2006)

http://villagevoice.com/news/0648,lombardi,75156,2.html

> 2. Leukemia ties Fallon with town in Arizona--possibly due to JP-8

> jet fuel

> X. Mullen Jr. RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL

>

> http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2002/08/25/22332.php

There are many toxic exposures faced by many Americans and others.

In general, industry and government have been loathe to identify

specific causes and establish potential liability.

Example: Agent Orange is known to be one of the most toxic materials

on earth, in experimental animals. But in humans it has supposedly

been hard to find evidence of severe toxicity; of course, we haven't

gone looking in Vietnam, in the most highly poisoned areas, to pin

down the evidence. Here is a CDC review of the " science " on dioxin:

Arch Environ Health. 1988 Mar-Apr;43(2):174-7. Links

An overview of the Missouri dioxin studies.

* Stehr-Green PA,

* s JS Jr,

* Hoffman RE,

* Webb KB,

* Schramm WF.

Centers for Disease Control, Public Health Service, Atlanta,

Georgia.

Among the problems inherent in evaluating public health impacts

around toxic waste sites are the difficulties in measuring exposure,

our incomplete understanding of low-dose effects, the low frequency

of disease incidence, the long latency period and silent course of

disease development, the nonspecificity of clinical findings, and the

probable multifactorial nature of diseases of interest. A multiphase

approach for implementing epidemiologic studies in such settings was

used in assessing the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD, or

dioxin) contaminations in Missouri, where waste oil mixtures

contaminated with dioxins were sprayed on various sites throughout

the state for dust control in 1971. Although the toxic effects of

dioxin have been studied extensively in animals and documented in

cases of accidental high-level exposure in humans, very little is

known of the human health effects, if any, produced by long-term

exposure to relatively low levels of dioxin. In addition to medical

epidemiologic studies, which were done to evaluate the types of

problems present in groups of individuals with high-risk of

environmental dioxin exposure, other studies to characterize dioxin

levels in adipose tissue and serum are under way in a sample of

potentially exposed (as well as in unexposed) Missouri residents.

Research in these areas will continue to be pursued to develop a more

complete understanding of the risks and appropriate public health

interventions in situations of community exposure to environmental

dioxins and other environmental contaminants.

Almost the only well-documented toxin-illness relationships were

established by scientists working for the victims. This includes

studies of asbestos done for a union representing injured workers.

Once industry starts paying for the science, the results turn to

mush. I have seen this happen with studies of cellphone microwave

exposures, for instance.

Monsanto paid for a lot of the dioxin science.

The Japanese firm that sold allegedly-contaminated tryptophan, which

allegedly led to eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, managed to cook the

science on this illness.

We are not simply dealing with a system that is trying to cover up

GULF WAR ILLNESSES. OUR SYSTEM REGARDS INDIVIDUALS AS UTTERLY

EXPENDABLE. Whether they be veterans or civilians, the machinery of

government is currently designed to maximize the profits of industry,

and ignore contamination of humans and the environment by failing to

measure it, failing to develop diagnoses for it, failing to stop it,

failing to treat it, and making it difficult to compensate affect

individuals.

Until our elected officials and public servants come to see the

citizens as their primary clients, and not the campaign contributors,

the industries that provide highly remunerative jobs for them, and

the bribers as their bosses, things will not change. The culture of

US government must change. Jail needs to be an option for crooked

public servants. The funding and science of toxic exposures cannot

be controlled by industry, as is currently the case.

The current head of the EPA, , is a good example. From

Wikipedia: During his Senate confirmation hearing, was

criticized for his support for using human subjects in pesticide

testing. In April, a hold was placed on his confirmation vote after

he refused to cancel the Children's Environmental Exposure Research

Study, which advocated recording the effects of pesticides on

children from infancy to age 3. On April 8, canceled the

study. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on April 29.

After he was confirmed, he brought the study back! He is giving

parents video cameras to video their pesticide-exposed children, in

order to help industry RAISE the allowed amount of pesticides in the

home! The Environmental Protection Agency has become the

Environmental Degradation Agency.

Meryl Nass, MD