RE: agent orange's fingerprints

["Catalano, Dennis" <catalad@wdni.com>]

Fish are a bit tricky to "fingerprint" in that the rate of
bioaccumulation varies from congener to congener as well as isomer to
isomer.  One of the reasons why non 2,3,7,8-substituted isomers are less
toxic is that they don't bioaccumulate.  As far as other agent orange
data, you may want to check with the State of New Jersey.  I was
involved several years back on a study that may be published at this
time.  I am not at liberty to give any other information at this time
about the results, but they may be public record.

Dennis Catalano
 ----------
From: Lew Baker
To: Multiple recipients of list DIOXIN-L
Subject: agent orange's fingerprints
Date: Saturday, April 04, 1998 5:35PM

 I'm a member of Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC). I have
reviewed
reams of dioxin data for sediment, fish, and water from the Kanawha and
Ohio Rivers downstream of Monsanto's Nitro, WV plant.  US EPA has
finally begun doing a TMDL study of the Ohio's dioxin because we sued
them.  The state of WV has not yet begun the TMDL process for the
Kanawha, nor does it have the resources or political will to do so.

Monsanto stopped producing agent orange a quarter century ago.  However,
there is sufficient data to "fingerprint" it as still being the single
greatest source of dioxins in the Ohio River, from Nitro to the
Mississippi (over 700 miles).  The sediments are contaminated and act as
an on-going source.  Incredibly, Monsanto has kept its Nitro dumpsites
from getting on the Superfund list.  In the mid-80's a spokesman for the
company said there was not available evidence to prove Monsanto was the
source of high levels of dioxin in fish taken from streams and rivers
below its dumps.  EPA agreed then, even though they had congener
specific dioxin data for the sediments.

My review of the data from then and subsequent years shows abnormal
enrichment of 2,3,7,8 TCDD relative to all other dioxins/furans in
samples of sediment, fish and water from the Nitro area.  (This unusual
congener profile seems to be a common characteristic of the 2,4,5 T in
agent orange).  Fish in the Kanawha River have 90-100% of total teq from
tcdd, and fish in the Ohio 20 miles below the Kanawha still have 80-90%
total teq from tcdd, in contrast to 34% for the upper Ohio.  Thereafter,
all the way to the Mississippi, the fish in the Ohio bear some of
Monsanto's chemical "fingerprint", as tcdd's contribution to total teq
slowly declines from 80% to 50%.

I am greatly concerned that US EPA, Monsanto, et al, will do everything
imaginable to downplay the data from the fish, sediment and water.  I
know positively there have been attempts by EPA staff to cause the
deletion of the state's fish tissue criteria from its water quality
rules, and the use by an EPA contractor of the outdated FDA fish
consumption guidelines instead of much more stringent risk assessment
levels.  The state's current Chief of Water Resources declared there is
no sediment analysis of dioxin for the Kanawha, denying repeated testing
over the last 15 years; and EPA's newly released National Sediment
Inventory failed to acknowledge the Kanawha's dioxin data.  The state's
Governor (Cecil Underwood) was Vice President of Monsanto for Public and
Governmental Affairs during the Vietnam War.  He is not expected to
recommend Superfund status for the contaminated sediments now, never
mind admitting that any data exists.

Can anyone out there help me?  Does anyone have good dioxin congener
profiles for fish, water, and/or sediments from other agent orange
sites?  I am more than willing to share the data from here.