ADD, etc. and PCBs and Dioxin Research Faults 2/2

[GCJeffrey@aol.com]

Louise

Individuals and Congress make life or death decisions
every day based on less than perfect information.

In the last E-mail, I promised additional reseach on
diabetes: $1.3 trillion dollar cost & doubling/10 years.

Tell me which one of these papers and facts do not
meet you perfectionist criteria:



* Pennsylvania has more diabetes than any other U.S.
state (1 out of 11 people have it)

* Pennsylvania is downwind of the largest commercial
hazardous waste incinerator in the U.S. (WTI in East
Liverpool, Ohio)

* Pennsylvania is home to the largest dioxin emitting
garbage burner (Harrisburg), one of the worst
dioxin-emitting hazardous waste burning cement kilns
(Wampum), EPA's largest Superfund incinerator (Lock
Haven - recently dismantled), and several other
incineration facilities of various sorts:

* 90% of dioxin exposure is from consumption of meat
and dairy products

* Pennsylvania is the 4th highest dairy production state
(with correspondingly high dairy consumption)

* Pennsylvania has the highest rural population of any
U.S. state and the 2nd highest elderly population next
to Florida

* Pennsylvania has a high rate of obesity (sorry I don't
have the #s on this)

* Naturally-occuring hormones in milk are also linked
to diabetes in human consumers

* Obesity is linked to diabetes

* Obesity comes from eating diets high in fatty
(dioxin-laden) foods like meat/dairy products




Studies of workers found an increase in glucose
tolerance that suggests diabetes among workers that
increased with increasing exposure as measured by
blood dioxin levels (Sweeney, 1992).

Similarly, the highest exposed Vietnam Veterans, the
Ranch Hand soldiers, also showed an increasing risk of
diabetes with increasing blood dioxin levels (Roegner,
1991). 

Roegner, R.H., Grubbs, W.D., Lustik, M.B. et al. "Air
Force Health Study: An Epidemiological Investigation
of Health Effects in Air Force Personnel Following
Exposures to Herbicides."  Serum dioxin analysis of
1987 examination results. NTIS #AD A-237-516
through AD A- 237-524. 1991. 

 Sweeney, M.H., Horning, R.W. Wall, D.K. Fingerhut,
M.A., and Halperin, W.E. "Prevalence of diabetes and
increased fasting serum glucose in workers with
long-term exposure to
2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenz-p-dioxin."  Presented at
Twelfth International Symposium on Dioxins and
Related  Compounds, Tempere, Finland, August 24-28,
1992. 


"Fifteen year follow-up for non-malignant health
outcomes after dioxin exposure," Angela Pesatori, M.
Landi, I. Bernucci, P. Bertazzi, _Organohalogen
Compounds_, Vol 30 (1996) p 298-301. "...the clearest
suggestions of unusual mortality from man-malignant
causes were obtained in A-zone, the most heavily
contaminated. Males had an increased mortality from
cardiovascular disease, and particularly from chronic
ischemic heart disease.  Mortality from this cause was
increased in B and R zones, however with lower RR
values...Among A-zone males, respiratory tract disease
mortality was increased as well. The excess mainly
concerned chronic obstuctive bronchia-pulmonarydisease (COPD)...Diabetes 
mellitus exhibited an
increased mortality pattern in A- and B-zone
females..."


RACHEL #536: www.rachel.org

If the immune system is damaged in certain ways, it
can allow pathogens to overwhelm our defenses and
make us sick.  Under other circumstances (which are
poorly understood), the immune system goes haywire
and attacks its host, causing major damage of a
different kind, known as "autoimmune" diseases. 
These "autoimmune" diseases include
insulin-dependent diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus
erythematosus, schleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, and
about a dozen others.[2]  In these diseases, the immune
system attacks and breaks down the host organism,
causing prolonged misery and death.


[2] William R. Clark, AT WAR WITHIN; THE
DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF IMMUNITY (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1995).  Clark lists
autoimmune diseases on pg. 123.


1993 Interview with Linda Birnbaum:  "The answer is
yes to both. Because if you do a good scientific study,
you always raise more questions than you answer. But I
think we have learned a tremendous amount. I
personally feel that the identity between animals and
humans is much stronger than it was couple of years
ago. I mentioned the testosterone studies that have
come out  of the NIOSH cohort. There are also
indications that highly exposed populations, not only
the industrial workers but the small number of
ranch-handers from Vietnam who were highly exposed,
they also had the problems with testosterone and they
also had problems with the glucose tolerance test and
an increase in diabetes, and so did the NIOSH cohort.

We don't know yet, and they are busy looking at that,
whether it is Type I or Type II, Type I being
auto-immune and Type II being age-associated.

The ranch-handers also had increases in circulating
immunoglobulin A (IgA), which would change the
immune system, and increases in circulating lipids.
Now those ranch-handers come back every five years
for a follow up. They were back in '92. It will probably
take 2-3 years before we have the results of that
analysis. I think we are going to see a lot more
information out of the Seveso cohort in the next couple
of years. If we are going to do some more
epidemiology studies, we need to look at the right
population, and I don't think the right population is
adult males. I think we need to be looking at adult
females and we need to be looking at children born to
women who were exposed and we need to follow those
kids, especially for when they hit puberty."


This study of veterans exposed to dioxin from Agent
Orange exhibited increased incidence of glucose
abnormalities, greater diabetes prevalence and
increased use of oral medications to control diabetes,
as well as decreased time-to-diabetes-onset with dio n
exposure. 

Serum insulin abnormalities increased with dioxin
exposure in nondiabetics. These results indicate an
adverse relation between dioxin exposure and diabetes
mellitus, glucose metabolism, and insulin production.

Henriksen GL, Ketchum NS, Michalek JE,
Swaby JA. 1997.  Serum dioxin and diabetes mellitus
in veterans of Operation Ranch Hand. Epidemiology
1997 May;8(3):252-258



Birnbaum, Linda et al.  Developmental Effects of
Dioxins and Related Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals. 
Experimental Toxicology Division, US EPA. 
Toxicology Letters, p. 743-750, 1995.


DeVito, Michael et al.  Comparisons of Estimated
Human Body Burdens of Dioxin-like Chemicals and
TCDD Body Burdens in Experimentally Exposed
Animals, pp. 820-831, 1995. Economic Analysis of the

DIABETES: In two studies, an increased incidence of
diabetes has been reported in dioxin-exposed Vietnam
veterans; a third study that reaches similar conclusions
was reportedly released last week by the U.S. Air
Force.[8]  The body burdens that seem to produce an
increase in diabetes range from 99 to 140 ng/kg.  Thus
the average American, with a body burden of 13 ng/kg,
is a factor of 8 below the lowest level thought to create
a diabetes hazard.

Once again, there is not even a factor of 10 separating
the general public from the levels though to cause
health problems in dioxin-exposed people.


[8] Reuters reported October 6 on a new 20-year study
of Air Force veterans exposed to Agent Orange. 
Reuters said the new study shows that dioxin-exposed
vets have an increased incidence of diabetes and heart
disease.  We believe the new study is available from
Donna Tinsley at the Air Force; phone (202)767-4587. 
Thanks to Pat Costner of Greenpeace for this
intelligence.


Search for "diabetes dioxin" = PubMed 
===================
http://www.student.ibg.uu.se/cellen/genteknik/literature.html

Pesatori AC, et al. Dioxin exposure and non-malignant
health effects: a mortality study.  Occup Environ Med.
1998 Feb;55(2):126-31.  PMID: 9614398; UI:
98276537.

Kennedy S. The genetics of endometriosis.  J Reprod
Med. 1998 Mar;43(3 Suppl):263-8. Review.  PMID:
9564659; UI: 98225847.

Vena J, et al. Exposure to dioxin and nonneoplastic
mortality in the expanded IARC international cohort
study of phenoxy herbicide and chlorophenol
production workers and sprayers.  Environ Health
Perspect. 1998 Apr;106 Suppl 2:645-53.  PMID:
9599712; UI: 98262446.

Bertazzi PA, et al. The Seveso studies on early and
long-term effects of dioxin exposure: a review. 
Environ Health Perspect. 1998 Apr;106 Suppl
2:625-33. Review.  PMID: 9599710; UI: 98262444.

Slade BA. Dioxin and diabetes mellitus. 
Epidemiology. 1998 May;9(3):359-60. No abstract
available. PMID: 9583434; UI: 98242736.

Axelson O, et al. Dioxin and diabetes mellitus. 
Epidemiology. 1998 May;9(3):358-9; discussion
359-60. No abstract available. PMID: 9583433; UI:
98242735.

Henriksen GL, et al. Serum dioxin and diabetes
mellitus in veterans of Operation Ranch Hand. 
Epidemiology. 1997 May;8(3):252-8.  PMID: 9115019;
UI: 97270138.

Dines KC, et al. Effectiveness of natural oils as sources
of gamma-linolenic acid to correct peripheral nerve
conduction velocity abnormalities in diabetic rats:
modulation by thromboxane A2 inhibition. 
Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 1996
Sep;55(3):159-65.  PMID: 8931113; UI: 97084779.

O'Donnell JM, et al. Altered thermoregulatory
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8851514; UI: 97004203.

Moberg E, et al. Acute effects of the alpha
2-adrenoreceptor antagonist idazoxan on hormonal
responses and symptoms of hypoglycaemia in patients
with type 1 diabetes mellitus.  Diabetes Metab. 1996
Feb;22(1):31-6.  PMID: 8697293; UI: 96261465.

Steenland K, et al. Use of multiple-cause mortality data
in epidemiologic analyses: US rate and proportion files
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Am J Epidemiol. 1992 Oct 1;136(7):855-62.  PMID:
1442751; UI: 93071903.

Jacobson SH, et al. Effects of alpha 2-adrenergic
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92137030.

Langer SZ, et al. Pre- and postsynaptic alpha-2
adrenoceptors as target for drug discovery.  J Neural
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Ostenson CG, et al. Alpha-adrenoceptors and insulin
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PMID: 2571300; UI: 89390608.

Farjam A, et al. Effects of the alpha 2-adrenoceptor
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1989;44(5):255-9.  PMID: 2572085; UI: 90020717.

Ostenson CG, et al. Alpha 2-adrenoceptor blockade
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