National Academies New Study
Concludes Dioxin
is Toxic
CHEMICAL
WEAPONS WORKING GROUP
128 Main
St. Berea KY 40403
859-986-9868
859-986-2695 (F)
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for more
information contact:
Richard Clapp
617-638-4731
Craig Williams
859-986-7565
Rufus Kinney
256-435-4743
Karyn Jones
509-308-1295
for immediate release, Tuesday,
July 11,
2006
NATIONAL
ACADEMIES NEW STUDY CONCLUDES DIOXIN IS TOXIC
5th Review
of 15 Year-Long Delayed Study Finds Widely Disbursed Chemical
Causes
Cancer, Developmental Problems & Birth Defects
The National Academies (NA)
released a
controversial report today confirming what numerous scientific panels
have
concluded over the past 15 years: dioxin is a potent cancer-causing
chemical.
Chlorine-based industries have been effectively stalling the release of
the
EPA's controversial dioxin reassessment for 15 years.
Dioxin can cause developmental and immune effects at levels
close to those currently found in the general population. Every
American eats
dioxin when they consume fatty foods, and nearly every American has
measurable
levels of this chemical in their body.
"Although the NA review has
confirmed
that dioxin is a carcinogen, the EPA Dioxin Reassessment concluded this
several
years ago and recent studies have added additional weight to this
conclusion,"
stated Dr. Richard Clapp, Professor of Environmental Health at Boston
University School of Public Health.
"Furthermore, there does not appear be safe 'threshold' for
dioxin's carcinogenic effects.
Evidence has accumulated since EPA began its reassessment in
1991 that
dioxin also causes many other health problems even at low levels, such
as
developmental problems in children, immunologic problems in children
and
adults, reproductive problems in adults, and diabetes."
"The first health assessment of
dioxin was in 1985," said Craig Williams, Director of the Chemical
Weapons
Working Group, a national coalition opposed to incineration of chemical
weapons. "Each successive re-assessment and review and the latest
scientific data only strengthen the 1985 conclusions that dioxin is a
serious
public health threat. Meanwhile the Army continues to burn chemical
weapons in
Utah, Alabama, Oregon and Arkansas knowing full well that dioxin is
released
from the stacks of those facilities and knowing full well the harm
dioxin causes.
The Army doesn't have to burn these weapons. There are safer
technologies that
have been proven effective. They do it because they can get away with
it. It is
shameful."
Dioxin is a known human
carcinogen, active
in the body at very small levels. Scientists at the Environmental
Protection
Agency (EPA) have long concluded dioxin and dioxin-like compounds are
highly
toxic, but a strong coalition of industries responsible for generating
the
byproduct toxicant have successfully stalled progress on a 15-year
study of the
chemical. The EPA study-called the "Dioxin Reassessment"-still
remains a draft, which has stymied the agency's development of federal
regulations.
"While the EPA keeps studying
dioxin,
the Army can continue to burn chemical warfare agents in its Alabama
incinerator and release dioxin and dioxin-like compounds without
penalty into
our environment," said Rufus Kinney of the citizens' group Families
Concerned about Nerve Gas Incineration. "How many more reviews do we
need? It's time for the EPA to finalize
its
ongoing reassessment and end the delays that threaten our health and
the health
of our community."
The NA review was the result of
a last
minute amendment to the 2003 EPA appropriations bill, which required NA
to
review EPA's reassessment if a White House interagency task force did
not reach
consensus on its review of the draft report. This
NA review is the latest in a series of reviews largely
orchestrated by the powerful set of industries that generate dioxin
including
some chemical manufacturers, pulp and paper companies, smelting and
incinerator
companies.
Dioxin contamination is
particularly high
in areas with dioxin sources like incinerators, smelters, pulp and
paper mills,
chemical factories or other industries that use chlorine.
The disposal of polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) plastic is the largest source of dioxin-forming chlorine in solid
waste. PVC is the leading
contributor of chlorine to four combustion sources- municipal solid
waste
incinerators, backyard burn barrels, medical waste incinerators and
secondary
copper smelters-that account for an estimated 80% of dioxin air
emissions. Residents living near PVC
chemical
plants in Mossville, LA had three times more dioxin in their blood than
the
average U.S. citizen. Dioxin
has been found at hundreds of Superfund toxic waste sites. It was a
contaminant
in Love Canal, and Agent Orange, the herbicide sprayed in Vietnam that
resulted
in major health impacts for Vietnam Veterans. Dioxin has been found in
milk,
cheese, beef, pork, fish, chicken, birds, deer, turkey, squirrel, and
worms, as
well as soil and sewage sludge.
Karyn Jones of the citizens'
group GASP in
Oregon said, "We have fought for years to get the Army to stop burning
and
instead destroy our stockpile of chemical weapons in a safer manner.
Neutralization is a proven and viable technology that would not emit
dioxin
into our community. The Army knows that. They successfully destroyed
the
stockpile of mustard agent in Maryland using neutralization and are
presently neutralizing
VX nerve agent in Indiana. It is
critical for the EPA to finalize its study of dioxin so national
regulations
can be developed. Maybe then the
Army will be forced to do what they should have done for our community
to begin
with."
For more information, see:
- Read the National Academies' Report
- Chronological History of US EPA's Public Health Assessment of Dioxin
- Dioxin Primer
- Executive
Summary of CHEJ America's Choice
Report on Dioxin
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