[Dioxin-l] Bad halogens?

Mon, 3 Jan 2000 11:06:01 -0500

David,

    You don't seem to get it. Organochlorine pollution contaminates the
upper part of the food chain (dioxin and PCBs in all meat, milk, and fish in
fearsome amounts), and thousands of water supplies have been severely and
irretrievably contaminated with organochlorine solvents. The whole top end
of the food supply of Belgium had to be thrown away for several months due
to one stupid mistake involving dioxin. Japan is in a dioxin panic, and
rightly so, because of their focus on incineration as the "answer" to their
trash problem has led to massive dioxin contamination of the whole country.
Joy Towles' invitation to you to experience the pollution in Perry, Florida
is just one example of the massive pollution that this industry has caused.

    Perhaps you don't believe all of this because you have been blinded by
the media's attempt to convince everyone that the environment is OK and
improving. You have not been involved in the real-life experiences and
struggles that we have. To that extent, you are forgiven. But please don't
carry on the way you have been, because it is just plain disruptive to our
work here. Learn about the pollution of the earth and its people and come
back when you have something constructive to say or do.

Thanks
Jon Campbell

-----Original Message-----
From: david bell [mailto:burnt_paper@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2000 4:52 PM
To: Evertcc@aol.com; dioxin-l@lists.essential.org
Subject: Re: [Dioxin-l] Bad halogens?

>imply that maybe chlorine is not all that bad because two thirds of the 
>Earth
>is covered with a sodium chloride solution, which is a deliberate effort to
>confuse the issue. The concern on this list is with regard to
>ORGANO-chlorine, which salt very much is not.

ok; the original statement was very loose, hence my comment. But more 
seriously, you cannot have that amount of chloride solution without seeing a

small percentage of chlorine- organic reactions.

>
>imply that organo-halogens are found wide spread in nature when they are 
>not.
>They may exist but to say they are wide spread and a necessary part of life
>systems is extreme.

But this is the whole point; organohalogens are essential for life. All 
mammals require a hormone, thyroxine- which contains 3 or 4 iodines- which 
is essential for life. This is in every mammal and absolutely necessary for 
the majority of these forms. I am sure you can confirm this is any medical 
of physiology textbook.

Likewise, the metabolism of organic chlorine compounds is widespread 
throughout the environment. The majority of species on the planet are 
micro-organisms, so it really isn't that surprising that a large number of 
these metabolise organic halogens. Thus various organohalogens are 
thoroughly widespread throughout nature, albeit at low concentrations.

This is actually quite good news; the ability of many micro-organisms to 
metabolise organochlorines means that low levels of these compounds are 
removed from the environment. If you are interested in this, I append some 
references at the end.

>invoke the words "reality" and "fact" with such frequency that it forces me
>to wonder who the real fanatics are in this discussion. No credible
>(objective) activist I know uses such definitive language.

I think it is quite important to discriminate between fact and fiction.

>imply that rationality and activism are possibly incongruent or 
> >incompatible.

I never made that statement, and I believe the opposite should be true.

I think activism gains enormously by use of the facts. After all, if dioxin 
was not toxic, why ban it ? The whole point of the dioxin list is that 
dioxin is highly toxic - a fact. It follows to reduce the level till there 
is no toxicity. This has such strength and clarity that no politician can 
ignore the logic, and activism wins.

yours
david bell

Mobility of the organochlorine compound dicofol in soil promoted by 
Pseudomonas fluorescens
Brunninger_BM, Mano_DMS, Scheunert_I, Langenbach_T
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY, 1999, Vol.44, No.2, pp.154-159

Biodegradation of organochlorine pesticides by soil bacteria
Datta_J, Ghosh_S, Maiti_AK, Das_SK, Modak_DP, Bhattacharyya_P, Ghosh_A, 
Mandal_NC, Chakrabarty_PK, Ray_PK
JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH, 1998, Vol.57, No.10-11, 
pp.838-843
Genetic manipulations of microorganisms for the degradation of 
hexachlorocyclohexane
Johri_AK, Dua_M, Tuteja_D, Saxena_R, Saxena_DM, Lal_R
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS, 1996, Vol.19, No.2, pp.69-84
An environmental perspective on the biodegradation of organochlorine 
xenobiotics
Neilson_AH
INTERNATIONAL BIODETERIORATION & BIODEGRADATION, 1996, Vol.37, No.1-2, 
pp.3-21

A COMPARISON OF ORGANOCHLORINE REMOVAL FROM BLEACHED KRAFT PULP AND  
PAPER-MILL EFFLUENTS BY DEHALOGENATING PSEUDOMONAS, ANCYLOBACTER AND 
METHYLOBACTERIUM STRAINS
FULTHORPE_RR, ALLEN_DG
APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY, 1995, Vol.42, No.5, pp.782-789

MICROBIAL REDUCTIVE DEHALOGENATION
MOHN_WW, TIEDJE_JM
          MICROBIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, 1992, Vol.56, No.3, pp.482-507

DISTRIBUTION, FATE AND PERSISTENCE OF ORGANOCHLORINE COMPOUNDS FORMED DURING

PRODUCTION OF BLEACHED PULP
NEILSON_AH, ALLARD_AS, HYNNING_PA, REMBERGER_M
TOXICOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY, 1991, Vol.30, No.1-2, pp.3-41

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