Times Beach Incinerator/Blood Tests (fwd)

[cchw@essential.org]

        ACROSS THE USA, from USA Today, 8 November 96, p. 10A

          "Eureka, Missouri [Across the USA]."
               Officials report that blood tests on people living around
               the Times Beach incinerator show dioxin levels have
               decreased since an incineration process began in March.



Tony Tweedale asks "is this correct?"

I asked the very same question!!

Here's what I know after talking with knowledgable
people who are associated with the Times Beach 
Environmental Task Force (EPA TAG group) and the
St. Louis County Times Beach Incinerator Monitoring 
Committee:

1.  The "control group" is from Manchester, MO.
Manchester is about 10 miles downwind of the incinerator.
Any comparison with this control group is somewhat meaningless,
given their proximity to the incinerator.

2.  Although the blood was tested for about 20 chemicals
(dioxins, furans, PCB's) only the numbers for 2,3,7,8 TCDD
were released

3.  No individual numbers, even anonymously, were released;
only an average

4.  The half-life of dioxin in humans is 7 years.  The report
shows a 32% DECREASE in less than ONE YEAR!  This alone should
point to a problem with the validity of this study.  As one incinerator
opponent put it:  This must be a Vampire Incinerator- it sucks the
dioxin right out of you!

5.  Another strange factor, and pardon my lack of expertise here,
is that the blood parts (whole, plasma, white, red) were tested
to enhance the results.  Dioxin is accumulated by one of these parts,
and thus it should be separated before the testing is done.  It is 
my understanding that whole blood was used.



I will try to post an update if I get further information...

Brad Walpole
Eureka, MO

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What follows is the "official" story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
a newspaper which has, by the way, editorially supported the Times
Beach incinerator.
**********************************************************************



                 Thursday, November 7, 1996

                                        Section: NEWS



                 TESTS REVEAL LOWER DIOXIN LEVELS
                 SINCE INCINERATOR BEGAN OPERATING
                 By Tom Uhlenbrock
                 Of The Post-Dispatch Staff 



Blood tests on residents living around the Times Beach incinerator and on a comparison group in
Manchester found dioxin levels have dropped in both groups since the incinerator began burning in
March, state health officials said. 

"This gives us an indication that, so far, the incineration process has been relatively safe to the
community," Daryl Roberts of the Missouri Department of Health said Wednesday. 

In September 1995, the department took blood samples from 76 people living within a few miles of the
incinerator, and from 74 in a control group of Manchester residents. The participants were paid $100
per blood sample. 

In July 1996 - about four months after the incinerator began burning - another round of samples was
taken. 

The samples were sent for analysis to the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The state then
examined the results statistically. 

The average dioxin concentration in the group near the incinerator in the first round was 1.81 parts of
dioxin per trillion parts of blood. The second round found an average of 1.24 parts per trillion. 

For the Manchester group, the first round found average levels at 1.43 parts per trillion. That dropped
an average of .05 parts for the second round. 

The highest dioxin level found in the Times Beach group was 6.3 parts per trillion. The highest in the
Manchester group was 3.9 parts. 

"According to national reference ranges, Americans' average blood dioxin ranges from 3.2 (parts per
trillion) to 10.1 (parts per trillion)," Roberts said. 

He noted that the levels here were below the results of similar tests a decade ago, when the state
examined the fatty tissues of residents of eastern Missouri's 27 dioxin sites. 

"We were seeing a mean value of 6 parts per trillion," Roberts said. "Clearly, this is much lower than
what we saw 10 years ago." 

Roberts said health officials are reporting a drop in the national average of dioxin levels in Americans
over the past decade. The decrease is attributed to increased pollution controls on municipal and
medical waste incinerators and on industries that use chlorine. 

"We don't have a good reason why it dropped here," Roberts said. "But we hope it stays that way." 

However, Roberts also pointed to the Environmental Protection Agency's draft of a reassessment of the
dangers of dioxin. The draft said many humans already carry the amount of dioxin that is known to cause
destructive changes in animals. 

"It appears immune and reproductive system problems may be happening at lower and lower levels,"
Roberts said. "Nobody has come up with a `safe' level that we can hang our hat on." 

Most of the dioxin found in humans is believed to travel up through the food chain. A municipal
incinerator or other source deposits dioxin on the ground, and it shows up in the vegetables or meat
people eat. 

That was one source of criticism of the blood tests: Any dioxin emitted at Times Beach would take time
to move up the food chain. 

"This is basically an inhalation study - the immediate impact," said Steve Taylor of the Times Beach
Action Group, which opposes the incinerator. "Inhalation is the pathway least responsible for dioxin in
the blood."