US URGED TO ELIMINATE DIOXIN

[Joseph R Parrish Jr <JoeParrish@compuserve.com>]

I am trying to get permission to post the complete note below.
Joe

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

From:	INTERNET:clarkjd@multipro.com, INTERNET:clarkjd@multipro.com
TO:	Donald Clark, INTERNET:clarkjd@multipro.com
DATE:	09/09/99 6:27 PM

RE:	US URGED TO ELIMINATE DIOXIN

 

/* Written  9:07 PM  Sep  2, 1999 by newsdesk in igc:ips.english */
/* ---------- "ENVIRONMENT-HEALTH: US Urged to Eli" ---------- */
       Copyright 1999 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
          Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.

                      *** 02-Sep-99 ***

Title: ENVIRONMENT-HEALTH: US Urged to Eliminate Dioxins

By Danielle Knight

WASHINGTON, Sep. 2 (IPS) - Eighteen years ago David Prince had no
thoughts of leaving his home in Louisiana to travel to the UN's
European headquarters to lend his voice to demands for the phasing-
out of toxic chemicals worldwide.

But that was before government officials discovered that the
blood levels of Prince and other residents of the mainly African
American area of Mossville, Louisiana, were contaminated with a
pollutant called dioxin - two to three times higher than the
national average.

<sniped to preserve copyright>

Low-income Black communities, like Mossville and other
populations along the Mississippi River in between Baton Rouge and
New Orleans, dubbed ''cancer alley'' by environmental activists -
have also  borne the brunt of dioxin pollution.

More than 50 paper and PVC plants and other factories are
located around Mossville, says Peter Orris, a US physician who
directs a project on POPs at the Washington-based World Federation
of Public Health Associations.

''There is no question that there is a problem of dioxin
contamination in Mossville,'' says Orris who worked with the US
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry on the health
study  conducted in the town.

As the study found high levels of dioxins and in the blood of
long-time residents of Mossville it advised public health
officials to take action to minimize further exposure.

The final word comes from David Prince: ''The US government
needs to stop its rhetoric and start listening to the people and
get these plants to stop producing dioxins.'' (END/IPS/dk/mk/99)


Origin: ROMAWAS/ENVIRONMENT-HEALTH/
                              ----

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