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Re: [Fwd: Reproductive Health Scientific Studies]
I don't know who they are, but we certainly need to find out.
They could do a lot of damage to reputable scientific
inquiry. By focusing on phthalates, they could veer people
away from the much more dangerous organochlorine
endocrine disruptors - PCBs, dioxins, and others...
We need to find out who they are and who funds them.
Weinberg sounds familiar. I wonder if it is Alvin Weinberg,
the pro-nuclear guy...
Jon
-----Original Message-----
From: Jackie Hunt Christensen <jchristensen@igc.apc.org>
To: Multiple recipients of list <dioxin-l@essential.org>
Date: Thursday, November 13, 1997 12:24 PM
Subject: 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
>
>