Dioxin hearing press

[slester@essential.org]

		T H E   S T A R S   A N D   S T R I P E S
			    December 19, 1995


ANTI-DIOXIN ACTIVISTS FIGHT EFFORT TO SLOW BAN ON USE
By Dick Maggrett, staff writer for "The Stars and Stripes"
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Groups fighting the spread of deadly dioxin, a major component in Agent 
Orange, last week warned the press not to be misled by "mouthpieces" for 
the industry who they said are trying to use congressional hearings to 
trash the spreading effort to ban the substance.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), chairman of the House Science Subcommittee 
on Energy & the Environment, held the third in a series of oversight 
hearings, 13 Dec., into the effects of dioxin and how the government's 
Environmental Protection Agency is handling the issue.

Dioxin refers to a family of chemicals that contain carbon, chlorine, 
hydrogen and oxygen.  Dioxin sources include waste incinerators, motor 
vehicles, wood burning, cement kilns, coppers smelters, and paper 
bleaching.

In a pre-hearing press conference, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, who commanded 
Navy forces in Vietnam and ordered the use of Agent Orange to reduce 
jungle canopy, attacked the "inherent conflicts of interest of 
pro-industry witnesses."

Zumwalt said scientists who were bought by the dioxin industry are 
practicing "voodoo science."

Lois Gibbs, author of a book called "Dying from Dioxin," along with Paul 
Connett of St. Lawrence University and Rick Hind of Greenpeace, charged 
that the Rohrabacher hearing was a "reckless attempt to undermine the 
policies to eliminate dioxin pollution and EPA funding at the expense of 
scientific integrity everywhere."

The activists also criticized Rohrabacher for not including scientists' 
testimony who they said were against the spread of dioxin.  

Arnold Schecter, who is professor of preventive medicine at the State 
University of New York at Syracuse, wrote Rohrabacher, "I regret that your 
committee did not wish my testimony on dioxin and health.  My colleagues 
and I have spent over a decade studying the environmental and health 
aspects of dioxin and related chemicals."

A group of 46 scientists wrote a similar joint letter.

"The subcommittee's current list of non-governmental witnesses is 
composed exclusively of individuals whose scientific integrity is 
compromised by the funding of their work; by dioxin-polluting industries 
such as incinerator, chemical, and pulp and paper corporations," the 
scientists said.

But Rohrabacher said at the hearing that "a number" of scientists who 
work for the EPA "turned down an invitation to testify today, telling 
this committee they did not want to participate in the 'political 
process' and that it could affect their work with EPA."

Rohrabacher also said that "there are no easy answers to the health 
questions raised by dioxin, and we are not here to imply there are."

He said he wanted to look at how the EPA distinguishes regulatory policy 
from scientific fact.

Those who gave testimony were William Farland, who directs the Office of 
Health and Environmental Assessment at the EPA; Michael Gough, a Ph.D. 
with 15 years of experience in dioxin research; George Lucier, who is 
director of the environmental toxicology program at the National Institute 
of Environmental Health Sciences, and Kay Jones, who is president of 
Zephyr Consulting.  

Zumwalt also testified.   
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