disclaimer

["James Quigley" <QUIGLEY@sbii.sb2.pdx.edu>]

Dear Friends:

Ferdinand Engelbeen of "Chlorophiles," in a broadcast message to this 
listserver, has provided my name and email address for persons wanting to 
confirm his allegation that Greenpeace has "manipulated data" about PVC. 
Please allow me to respond. I have never communicated to Mr. Engelbeen that 
he should list me as a contact regarding a study he cites. I was one of 
eight authors participating in the CBNS (Center for the Biology of Natural 
Systems) report, "Quantitative estimation of the entry of dioxins, furans 
and hexachlorobenzene into the Great Lakes from airborne and waterborne 
sources," dated May 1995. For the record, I am unclear about the specific 
dispute that Mr. Engelbeen has with Charlie Cray of Greenpeace but I will 
observe that CBNS took pains to verify its data from a multitude of sources 
and to test its methodology by involving peers and professionals from an 
authoritative community of independent scientists, regulatory officials and 
industry representatives. 

Speaking strictly as an individual, and not as a representative of CBNS 
(although I am proud to have been with CBNS between 1987 and 1994), I 
believe the study in question was CONSERVATIVE in its estimates of dioxin 
loading of the Great Lakes (and therefore its application to estimating 
dioxin fallout in other regions would also be conservative).  Like the 
radioactive fallout that placed life on the planet in peril prior to the 
nuclear test BAN [emphasis mine] treaty, a new and more widespread form of 
fallout consisting of persistent toxic substances-- quite possibly even more 
dangerous-- places the ecosystem in peril. Many of these substances contain 
chlorine. Rather than engage in the endlessly circular arguments made by the 
apologists for the chlorine industry (and related industries), I would 
challenge them to acknowledge that there are profound problems with chlorine 
and to use their talents and scientific knowledge to explore the hard 
questions about viable alternatives.

With apologies to any persons on this list who may have read what follows 
below, please allow me to attach a copy of the original press release [from 
about a year ago] that accompanied the CBNS study. Information on how to 
obtain copies is provided therein.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 	 Address: Prof. James Quigley
     	      Environmental Studies Program
     	      Portland State University 
     	      1719 S.W. 10th Ave. Suite 262
     	      Portland, OR 97201 
 	  Office: (503) 725-8042 
  	    Fax: (503) 725-3888 
	Toll-free: (800) 547-8887, extension 8042 
 	   Email: quigley@science1.sbii.pdx.edu  
    	  WWW: http://www.esr.pdx.edu/~quigley/jim.html

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^      

NEW REPORT SHOWS DIOXIN FALLOUT
DUSTING ENTIRE UNITED STATES

Dioxin-- the dangerous and much studied environmental pollutant-- has 
created a new fallout problem. A report released May 18th shows for the 
first time that dioxin emitted from more than one-thousand Canadian and U.S. 
sources-- chiefly incinerators that burn municipal, medical, or hazardous 
waste-- spreads through the air over the entire country.  Long-range 
transport, often covering more than 1,000 miles, deposits 
dioxin-contaminated dust everywhere, concludes the study by a team led by 
Dr. Mark Cohen and Dr. Barry Commoner, director of the Center for the 
Biology of Natural Systems (CBNS) at Queens College, City University of New 
York.

The new findings explain why most human exposure is due to dairy foods and 
beef (as noted in the EPA's recent dioxin assessment) even though few of the 
farms that raise these foods are actually in the vicinity of dioxin-emitting 
incinerators. Dioxin moves through the air in either a vapor state or 
attracted to a dust particle, depending on atmospheric conditions.

Dioxin is found in body fat and mothers' milk. Dioxin levels in the U.S. 
population resulting from dioxin-contaminated food represent exposure high 
enough to cause serious defects during fetal development of the hormone, 
immune and nervous systems. This exposure also creates a lifetime cancer 
risk several hundred times greater than the risk-- one in a million-- that 
generally requires remedial regulatory action. 

The CBNS study analyzed how dioxin reaches the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan, 
Lake Superior, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Huron) from 1,329 sources 
throughout the U.S. and Canada. It found that as much as half the deposits 
in the Great Lakes came from sources as far away as Texas and Florida, 
dispelling the belief that dioxin emissions are only a problem in the 
immediate vicinity of a source. Indeed, because the prevailing winds and 
weather patterns blow flow West to East, Americans living in the Eastern 
United States have more of one of the most toxic dioxin components in their 
bodies than those living in the West, according to a 1987 EPA study.

CBNS researchers conducted the study by identifying numerous dioxin sources 
throughout the U.S. in 1993, estimating their emissions and by analyzing 
these data with an adapted, sophisticated computer program originally 
created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to 
trace accidental releases of radioactive materials. Dr. Mark Cohen of CBNS 
modified the NOAA computer program to follow the behavior of the 17 toxic 
molecular forms of dioxin* (and a similar pollutant, hexachlorobenzene) 
under varying atmospheric conditions using the actual weather measurements 
across the U.S. in 1993.

The computer program then ranked each of the 1,329 sources according to 
their percentage contribution to the total amount of dioxin deposited in the 
Great Lakes. The top contributors, about one-twentieth of the sources, 
account for 85% of the amount deposited from the atmosphere. About 70% of 
the airborne dioxin deposited in the Great Lakes comes from the incineration 
of municipal and medical waste. Another 20% comes from certain steel mill 
operations ("iron sintering") and the burning of hazardous waste.

Although half of the total amount of dioxin deposited in Lake Michigan comes 
from sources within 300 miles of the lake, the other half is transported 
from sources as far as 1,250 miles away. Top contributors to Great Lakes 
Deposits include, for example, municipal waste incinerators from as far away 
as Florida and Utah and hazardous waste incinerators in Texas and Louisiana.

The report points out that there are important uncertainties about 
characteristics of individual sources. For example, because direct emission 
measurements have been made on very few sources, and these vary widely, 
emissions per unit of operation must be estimated generically for an entire 
class of sources. While this uncertainty is unlikely to influence the 
ranking of the source classes, they may affect the ranking of individual 
sources. The report calls for further studies to remedy such gaps in source 
data.

The success of the dioxin-tracking computer program means that it can also 
be used to trace dioxin from its many sources to the crops that feed dairy 
cows and beef cattle-- information necessary to shape remedial actions to 
reduce the present unacceptable level of dioxin contamination in the 
nation's food supply. Action could include switching municipal waste from 
incineration to recycling programs; using autoclaves (a sterilization 
device) instead of incinerators to handle medical waste; and phasing out 
chemical production that generates chlorine-containing waste.

The study, supported by the Joyce Foundation, has created, for the first 
time, a detailed database listing 954 individual sources of dioxin by name, 
address, and their estimated annual emissions. Another 375 sources are 
grouped by state or province. The primary sources of dioxin are from burning 
chlorinated plastic (such as PVC) and other chlorine-containing 
petrochemical materials. Even burning wood in a home fireplace releases 
dioxin into the air, not because dioxin is a natural component of wood, but 
because dioxin produced by industrial sources has now become widespread in 
the environment, including trees.

The Great Lakes study could be re-run to determine the sources of dioxin 
deposition in any other place in the United States. The database and report 
are available to the public from CBNS. Call (718) 670-4180.

_____________________
* Dioxin is a common term for a group of 210 different forms of 
polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzo-furans, of 
which 17 are toxic.