Thomas Whiteside, 79, Dies; Writer Exposed Agent Orange.

[ttweed@wildrockies.org (Tony Tweedale)]

            "Thomas Whiteside, 79, Dies; Writer Exposed Agent Orange."  New
            York Times, 12 October 97, 41.
                 Thomas Whiteside, a writer for _The New Yorker_, died on
                 October 10 at his home in Connecticut. During his career he
                 exposed such issues as Agent Orange, which led directly to
                 Senate hearings on the subject and an eventual ban by the
                 Defense Dept. He also wrote on the dangers of dioxins.
                 Whiteside was known for his ability to research and write
                 about complex topics.
  
            "Charles B. Branch, 82, Chief of Dow Chemical in 1970's."  New
            York Times, 11 October 97, B19.
                 Charles Branch, the first person who was not a member of the
                 Dow family to lead the company, died at the age of 82.  He
                 built the company's international division before being
                 named president and CEO in 1971. He had a strong interest in
                 archeology and said he would have made it his profession if
                 there was any way to make a living at it.
  
            "Journey to the Center of the Egg."  New York Times Magazine, 12
            October 97, 42.
                 This piece looks at the work of Nobel-Prize winning
                 biologist Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, whose work has been
                 compared to Mendel, Darwin, and Crick. Some say
                 Nusslein-Volhard may be the most important developmental
                 biologist of all time. She is looking for the genetic script
                 that grows an egg into an organism, and for the specifics of
                 that script that lead to miscarriage, defects, and
                 disabilities. A recent study exposed fish to chemicals that
                 lead to mutations; she and her colleagues then studied the
                 fish for three generations and published a 481-page guide to
                 genes required to grow a fish. The study was compared to
                 Magellan's voyage around the globe.
  
  
            "Bernard Altshuler, 78, Expert on Effects of Pollutants on
            Lungs."  New York Times, 12 October 97, 41. "Bernard Altshuler,
            Researcher [Deaths]."  Washington Post, 13 October 97, B4.
                 Dr. Bernard Altshuler, one of the first mathematicians to
                 study environmental problems, died from problems related to
                 heart disease. Altshuler's work helped develop models used
                 to predict lung cancer and the effects of pollution and
                 radiation exposure. He was affiliated with NYU's Institute
                 for Environmental Medicine.
  
  
  since Cl is sill produced w/ Hg cells...
  
  Upcoming CDC Report Downplays Health Threat From Mercury Exposure.
          Inside E.P.A. Weekly Report, October 17, 1997, pp1,4.
  
       The Centers for Disease Control are planning to issue a
  draft report that claims that mercury poses a smaller health
  threat to the general population than EPA will declare in a
  controversial report that may be released later this year.
       EPA officials claim they only recently learned of the report
  and are concerned about its release. One EPA official believes
  there are some significant flaws in the CDC's report.
       EPA has been fighting for years to release a report that
  includes a comprehensive inventory of mercury emissions and
  information regarding the exposures and health effects that stem
  from mercury emissions.
       EPA had intended to finalize the report by the end of this
  year, but that date is threatened by the release of the CDC
  report.
       The CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
  (ATSDR) has set a reference dose for mercury that is less than
  five times the level set in the EPA report.
       Industry and EPA sources believe the report may have
  significant impacts on EPA's regulatory agency because any action
  the EPA takes to reduce mercury actions could be questioned.
  Utility industry sources view the development as positive because
  the EPA has consistently held out the possibility of creating a
  rule to crackdown on the industry's mercury emissions.
       EPA is asking that the ATSDR report be subjected to a
  rigorous inter-agency review before it is finalized.
  
  
                                       INTER ALIA
  
            "Headless Frog Made in Lab:  Technique Could Lead to Creation of
            Human Organs."  Washington Times, 20 October 97, A1, A10.
                 Scientists at Bath University in the United Kingdom have
                 created partial frog embryos without heads, a new technique
                 that could have use in cloning human organs.  If embryos
                 without central nervous systems or brains could be created,
                 it may be a way to circumvent legal and ethical concerns
                 over human cloning.