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Re: [Fwd: Reproductive Health Scientific Studies]



  As the Sundance Kid said to Butch Cassidy, "Who ARE those guys???"
  
  
  At 11:41 AM 11/13/97 -0500, you wrote:
  >Chemicals and Plastics Do Not Impair Reproductive Health Scientific
  Studies Find
  >
  >LA Times
  >11-NOV-97
  >McLEAN, Va.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 11, 1997-- Misuses of Science in Public
  >Health Scares Explored at American College of Toxicology -- Drive On to
  >Improve Quality of Science in Legal and Media Communities The Weinberg Group
  >Cites Poor Science Used in Endocrine Disruptor Debate Low-level chemical
  >exposures to plastics in food, water and man-made consumer products have
  >been found not to cause reproductive harm in humans, according to new
  >scientific research by the Weinberg Group, a Washington, D.C. and Brussels
  >based international scientific consulting firm. The disclosure was made in a
  >symposium on "Toxicity, Risk Assessment, and the Law," at the Eighteenth
  >Annual Meeting of the American College of Toxicology (ACT), November 9-12 in
  >McLean, Virginia. To avoid unnecessary public health scares and
  >expenditures, the Weinberg Group underscored the increasing challenge of
  >using quality science in the endocrine disruptor and other health debates. 
  >
  >Dr. Paul Chrostowski, scientific head and worldwide director for Risk
  >Management at the Weinberg Group responded to the recent high level of
  >activity surrounding a particular category of xenobiotic chemicals endocrine
  >disruptors -- which are alleged to harm human endocrine systems and
  >reproductive health at very low levels of exposure. Dr. Chrostowski
  >highlighted the challenge to the legal community and the media in using
  >good, rigorous scientific analysis, rather than junk science to address this
  >important issue. Dr. Chrostowski said, "Many issues that exist at the
  >interface between science and the law have become so complex that they can
  >only be addressed by use of highly technical scientific evidence. As the
  >burden on science to supply legal answers has increased, the potential for
  >the misuse of science has also increased." 
  >
  >The annual meetings included thirteen separate symposiums on scientific risk
  >issues affecting human and animal health, and the environment, assembling
  >international scientists, lawyers and media representatives from government,
  >academic and industry from the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe. 
  >
  >Scientific Response 
  >
  >Many alarmists have alleged that declining sperm counts, increased
  >testicular, prostate, and breast cancer and reproductive health risks to
  >adults as well as children, are the result of plastics and similar chemicals
  >in the environment. New data that absolves certain plastics of being the
  >cause of these illnesses has been presented to the National Institutes of
  >Health and International Life Sciences Institute by scientists at the
  >Weinberg Group. The firm's scientific evaluation team reported that the
  >class of chemicals in question were 30,000 times less potent than natural
  >estrogens and are non-toxic to reproductive systems at environmentally
  >relevant levels of exposure. 
  >
  >The Weinberg Group's research report indicated that "experimental doses
  >necessary to cause reproductive toxicity in animals are generally a thousand
  >to more than one hundred thousand times higher than the typical daily
  >exposure level in humans." The Weinberg Group concluded that, "available
  >data do not support the notion that certain chemical components of plastics,
  >specifically phthalates, pose a significant reproductive or developmental
  >risk from ambient or other low-level exposures, such as is likely with
  >dietary or consumer product use." The report announced that "additional
  >study and regulation do not appear warranted, given the low magnitude of
  >threat posed by these compounds." 
  >
  >The Weinberg Group has undertaken a series of research efforts aimed at
  >addressing the threat posed by endocrine modulating chemicals. The Group
  >investigated the potential threat posed by phthalate esters and related
  >compounds, which are used extensively in the manufacture of plastics and are
  >present at low levels in many consumer products and medical devices. 
  >
  >It was in the review of the information gathered in this investigation,
  >along with a detailed review of other published literature and a classical
  >health risk assessment, that The Weinberg Group uncovered the non-threat
  >posed by these compounds. 
  >
  >Alarmists Push Endocrine Disruptors Issue 
  >
  >Chemical modulation of the endocrine system has been a topic of scientific
  >investigation for decades, but the publication of Our Stolen Future in the
  >Spring of 1996 elevated this issue from the ranks of academic speculation to
  >one of nationwide concern. Since that time, the popular and scientific press
  >has been peppered with scare stories about the illnesses caused by certain
  >chemicals and plastics. 
  >
  >This level of concern and the accumulated scientific evidence led Congress
  >to pass legislation in the Summer of 1996 requiring the U.S. Environmental
  >Protection Agency to develop and implement a testing program to identify
  >endocrine modulating chemicals that are present in any product to which a
  >"substantial segment of the population" could be exposed. 
  >
  >In the meantime, individual states, including New York, Massachusetts, and
  >Illinois, have begun to develop regulatory agendas to address this issue.
  >The European Union also is contemplating similar activities. Plasticizers,
  >resins, and surfactants used in detergents and other consumer products have
  >been widely targeted as chemicals requiring research and possible
  regulation. 
  >
  >The Weinberg Group is the leading international scientific consultancy in
  >the world, resolving issues that combine science, management, law, and
  >regulation. Founded in 1983, the Weinberg Group provides scientifically
  >based management consulting services from its U.S. and European headquarters
  >in Washington and Brussels. 
  >
  >
  >Copyright © 1997 Cable News Network, Inc. A Time Warner Company
  >ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  >
  >
  >Janet R. Michel
  >jrmichel@icx.net
  >423/966-5918 (voice)
  >423/966-6047 (fax: call first)
  >2106 Holderwood Lane
  >Knoxville, TN 37922
  >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  >Do no harm.
  >If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed
  >with a mosquito!
  >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  >
  >
  >
  
  ----------------------------------------------------------
  Jackie Hunt Christensen
  Food Safety Project Director
  Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
  2105 1st Avenue South
  Minneapolis,  MN 55404
  612-870-3424 (direct line)
  612-870-4846 (fax)
  e-mail: <jchristensen@igc.apc.org>
  IATP's Endocrine Disrupter Resource Center: http://www.sustain.org/edrc