[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

various



            "Colleagues Say Frog Deformity Researchers Leaped Too Soon
            [Science:  Biology]."  Washington Post, 3 November 97, A3.
                 Half-page article on the scientific controversy over the
                 validity of the recently announced study by the National
                 Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the
                 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) that found
                 abnormal frogs being produced when exposed to Minnesota
                 surface and ground water.  Among the critics are researchers
                 at EPA's Mid-Continent Ecology Lab in Duluth, who replicated
                 the experiments but came to different conclusions:
                 "According to the EPA's scientists, the abnormalities
                 produced in the NIEHS lab resulted from a benign ion
                 imbalance in the water samples." Scientists quoted:  Gil
                 Veith, associate director of the EPA National Effects
                 Laboratory; Andrew Blausten, a zoologist at Oregon State
                 University; Joe Tietge, a research biologist in the EPA's
                 Duluth lab; Jim Burkhart of NIEHS; MCPA research scientist
                 Judy Helgen; and George Lucier, director of NIEHS
                 environmental toxicology program.  Sidebar:  "What's Causing
                 the Deformed Frogs?" includes photographs of a deformed
                 northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) and a true toad (Bufo),
                 along with a map of the U.S. tracking amphibian
                 malformations by state.
  
  
            "Defense Department Battling Breast Cancer [Judy Mann]."
            Washington Post, 5 November 97, E13.
                 Column on the Department of Defense's breast cancer research
                 program, focusing on the four-day "Era of Hope" meeting that
                 started last Saturday and served as a showcase for the
                 studies being funded.  Dennis Salmon, a member of the
                 Technical Program Committee and director of Clinical and
                 Translational Research at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer
                 Center at the UCLA School of Medicine is quoted discussing
                 the possible role of environmental factors in the etiology
                 of breast cancer:  "`The jury is still out,' he said on the
                 effect of DDT and other pesticides.  It's known they can
                 mimic estrogen's effects on tissue. `The question is whether
                 they can alter or damage DNA.  That's being very actively
                 looked at.'"
  
  Chemical Safety Board Survives Veto; Clinton Cuts Water Projects
  >From Bill. Daily Environment Report, November 5, 1997, ppA-7-8.
  
       President Clinton will let EPA spend $4 million on the
  Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, but used his line
  item veto to drop three minor water projects from the agency's
  budget for 1998.
       The chemical safety board has had three of its five members
  confirmed by the Senate in the mid-1990s, the board has a quorum
  and a budget, and will be able to conduct accident investigations
  in the current fiscal year, according to Paul Hill, chairman of
  the chemical safety board.
       There is uncertainty as to how quickly the remaining board
  positions will be filled, given the administration's opposition
  during the budget process to eliminating the investigation
  function of EPA and handing it to the board.
       Hill hopes the administration will move quickly to fill the
  vacancies. "I will take every opportunity to encourage that the
  other positions be filled," he said.
       The board was created in 1990 by Congress. Its functions are
  modeled after the independent National Transportation Safety
  Board, which investigates transportation accidents and makes
  recommendations to federal agencies and industry on improving
  safety. The chemical safety board will be responsible for
  investigating the root causes of accidents at chemical and
  petroleum facilities and make recommendations to EPA and OSHA.
       The three items that Clinton vetoed from the EPA's budget
  were water projects that cost a total of $3.1 million. Among the
  cuts were a $600,000 solar aquatic waste water treatment
  demonstration project in Burlington, Vermont, a $1 million
  construction project for the Alabama Water and Wastewater
  Institute, and $500,000 for construction of a water and sewer
  line in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania.
  
            "Chemical Safety Panel Survives Veto Pen [Federal Page]."
            Washington Post, 4 November 97, A15.
                 Funding for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation
                 Board was not vetoed by President Clinton; $4 million in
                 funds will be diverted from EPA's budget to provide the
                 Boards' first appropriations since its creation by Congress
                 in 1990.  "Board supporters hailed the decision, including
                 Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg
                 (D-N.J.), who lives just three miles from a Lodi, N.J.
                 chemical plant that exploded in 1995, killing five.  Labor
                 leaders quickly demanded that the board's first order of
                 business should be to reopen the Lodi investigation, which
                 closed last month with an EPA/OSHA report that many had
                 criticized as incomplete."
  
  
            "Victor Mills Is Dead at 100; Father of Disposable Diapers
            [Obituaries]."  New York Times, 7 November 97, C25.
                 Victor Mills, who worked as a chemical engineer for Procter
                 & Gamble Company for 35 years, died on Nov. 1 in Tucson,
                 Ariz., at the age of 100.  Mr. Mills led the team that
                 invented the first mass-market disposable diaper, which was
                 introduced as Pampers in 1961.  Disposable diapers were
                 targeted by environmental groups as they sought to reduce
                 the flow of waste to landfills, but federal environmental
                 officials later concluded that there was no clear
                 environmental advantage to using either laundered cloth
                 diapers or paper disposable diapers.
  
  
            "Academy of Sciences, Fighting to Keep Its Panels Closed, Is
            Rebuffed by Supreme Court [National]."  New York Times, 4
            November 97, A18.
                 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) lost its appeal to
                 the Supreme Court, that decided to let stand, without
                 comment, a ruling by a lower court that the Academy's
                 scientific advisory committees are subject to the 1972
                 Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACE).  The Act requires
                 that the public be admitted to meetings, and that a federal
                 government employee be present at meetings.  The NAS argues
                 that complying with FACE would jeopardize their
                 independence, and plan on appealing to Congress to exempt
                 NAS from the law.  "Failing that, the scientists who sit on
                 the Academy's governing council say, they will simply not
                 appoint committees -- in effect threatening to bring the
                 Academy out on strike, since running committees is a
                 principal part of its business. `The ultimate outcome may be
                 that the country loses the capacity of getting independent
                 scientific advice from the Academy,' Dr. Colglazier [NAS
                 executive officer] said."
  
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  IATP Food Safety & Health - Vol. 2, Number 8    November 04, 1997
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
                              Table of Contents
  
             - DIOXIN LEVELS IN FRENCH DAIRY PRODUCTS CAUSE CONCERN
             - NEW REPORT WARNS ABOUT HEALTH HAZARDS OF GREAT LAKES FISH
             - NEW STUDY DISPUTES LINK BETWEEN DDT, PCBs & BREAST CANCER
             - FERTILIZER STANDARDS PROPOSED
             - BACTERIUM BECOMING MORE COMMON IN CHICKEN
             - E. COLI AFFECTING BEEF SALES
             - BSE, CJD APPEAR TO BE SAME DISEASE
             - CLINTON PROPOSES FOOD SAFETY REFORMS FOR IMPORTS
             - RESOURCES/EVENTS
  
  [snip]
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  FOOD SAFETY & HEALTH, part of IATPs "Beyond the Fatal Harvest" Campaign,
  is produced by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Mark
  Ritchie, President. Edited by Jackie Hunt Christensen, e-mail:
  jchristensen@iatp.org.  Electronic mail versions are available free of
  charge for subscribers. For information about fax subscriptions contact:
  IATP, 2105 1st Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55404.  For information on
  subscribing to this and other IATP news bulletins, send e-mail to: iatp-
  info@iatp.org.  IATP provides contract research services to a wide range
  of corporate and not-for-profit organizations. For more information,
  contact Dale Wiehoff at 612-870-0453 or send email to:
  dwiehoff@iatp.org.
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------