for immediate release: July 31, 1996

PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT TESTIFIES TO UNACCEPTABLE HEALTH RISKS FROM CHEMICAL WEAPONS INCINERATOR;
Government witnesses contradict their own testimony from fired Chief Safety Officer"whistleblower" trial held just months ago

- Today, in a hearing before a Federal Judge in the Utah Chemical Weapon
incineration injunction hearing, Dr. Richard Clapp, Director of the John Snow Institute and
Professor of Environmental Health at Boston University's School of Public Health, strongly
challenged Federal and Utah state witnesses conclusions as to the dangers posed by incinerating
chemical weapons at the Army' Tooele facility.

Dr. Clapp, who is a member of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Review Panel on
Dioxin, testified that the health risks posed by dioxin emissions from the burning of such
materials presents an unacceptable risk to the public's health. He also stated that other toxic
chemicals that have been shown to be emitted, based on the Army's prototype facility in the
Pacific, pose significant risks as well.

erves as a consultant to the EPA's Science Advisory Board on Dioxin, testified
to the state of scientific knowledge of synergistic effects of Dioxin and other chemicals by
comparing smoking alone, to smoking while being exposed to asbestos. The two in combination
are much more harmful than taken individually, Clapp pointed out. The Tooele Health Risk
assessment identifies over 80 "Substances of Potential Concern" from the stacks.

Dr. Clapp also focused on the impacts posed by dioxin on the development of infants, referring to
current evidence that indicates a single dose of dioxin can have severe negative effects on the
developing fetus. He also pointed to mounting evidence, based on studies of Vietnam Veterans
exposed to Agent Orange, that dioxin exposure can lead to diabetes.

Attorneys for the Chemical Weapons Working Group, Sierra Club and the Vietnam Veterans of
America Foundation went over the testimony of Dr. Philip Guzelian, the government's witness
on dioxin exposure. While strongly disagreeing with Dr. Guzelian's conclusions, Dr. Clapp noted
that Guzelian is a long time "expert witness" used on behalf of corporations with a history of
dioxin and other toxic polluting emissions.

Meanwhile, two other government witnesses, brought to challenge former Chief Safety Officer,
Steve Jones', contradicted their own testimony given in the Department of Labor's "wrongful
termination" case brought by Jones just months ago. Both Patty Andrews and former Tooele
incinerator manager, Henry Silvestri, testified today as to never having seen a safety audit
report Jones says he filed with plant management. The report disappeared after Jones was fired
by the Army's contractor, EG&G Defense Materials, Inc. Andrews, Jones' former secretary,
testified previously that she remembered typing up the report, but today over objections by
defense attorneys to questions concerning the audit, stated she had never seen it.

Likewise, Mr. Silvestri, who fired Jones for being a "too 'by the book' Safety Manager," also
contradicted his earlier admission as to having received the audit report.

The hearing is expected to end Friday. The Army has chosen not to call several additional
witnesses that were scheduled to testify as part of their effort to defend against the citizens suit.

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