Earlier press coverage
2002
2001

Women exposed in the womb to DDT have more difficulty becoming pregnant. Research published in the Lancet reports a strong association between levels of DDT in a mother's blood at the time she gave birth to a daughter, and 'time to pregnancy' in the daughter, 30 years later. The longer the 'time to pregnancy,' the more likely a women is to experience impaired fertility. The study took advantage of serum samples stored in freezers since drawn, 1960-1963, linking them to information about the daughters' reproductive health. This is the first scientific report of a link between DDT and reproductive outcome in women exposed to the contaminant in the womb. Curiously, higher DDE levels were associated with a modest reduction in the effect. Posted 27 June 2003. More on study...

Press coverage of DDT story
LA Times
BBC

Florence Daily Times: Scandal envelopes EPA over Monsanto, Anniston PCBs. A former EPA lawyer, Janet MacGillivray, has revealed she was discouraged by high level EPA officials from testifying about her concerns that the legal agreements to settle Monsanto's liability over PCBs were too lenient. She felt "intimidated" after calls from the lead Dept of Justice attorney working the case. According to MacGillivray, "a high-ranking EPA official told her Anniston didn't make a list of national cleanup priorities because Monsanto, one of the companies found liable, didn't want it listed." 27 June 2003.

BBC: Royal commission declares current chemical regulation "unacceptable." England's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution has released a new report condeming current regulatory approaches for synthetic chemicals in products. Sir Tom Blundell, chair of the commission and head of the department of biochemistry at the University of Cambridge observed to the BBC that "given our understanding of the way chemicals interact with the environment, you could say we are running a gigantic experiment with humans and all other living things as the subject." The report itself concludes that "continuing use of large numbers of synthetic chemicals will lead to serious effects..." 26 June 2003

NJ Star Ledger: EU chemical policies draw opposition from US, companies. Under current law, chemical manufacturers "get the benefit of the scientific doubt." If science is uncertain, government doesn't act to restrict exposures. Proposed changes in Europe that will require far more extensive testing on chemical safety are drawing the ire of the US government and chemical companies, because of the anticipated costs of the plan. Called "the most aggressive application yet of the Precautionary Principle," the changes will apply not only to manufacturing in Europe, but to products imported to Europe. Hence companies wanting to market in the EU will need to adhere. In response to criticism from the Bush administration, an EU spokesperson said: "If there is a scientific uncertainty as to the nature of a risk, we say to those in public office charged with protecting public health that they have a duty to respond and not wait until their fears are realized, until the worst is happening." 22 June 2003.

Wall Street Journal: Pentagon backs off from testing water for perchlorate. According to reporter Peter Waldman, the Department of Defense is retreating from plans to test groundwater for perchlorate contamination at all military bases in the country. It now intends to restrict its inquiries to bases where records indicate it has been used and where it is a known problem. This represents a reversal of the trend which appeared to have the EPA gaining the upper hand on perchlorate policy, with a draft plan that would have required far more ambitious testing. The military objected because of costs. DOD also has argued for a perchlorate standard far weaker than EPA's. In the meantime, local water districts (for example, in Fontana, CA) are struggling with millions of dollars in new costs because of the need to improve filtering techniques to remove perchlorate. 20 June 2003.

Los Angeles Times: Chemicals migrating to the Arctic threaten polar bears. Writing "Column One," Marla Cone explores the impact of persistent bioaccumulative toxins, carried by atmospheric currents to regions in the Arctic. In the Arctic food chain, these contaminants reach their highest levels in top predators, especially polar bears, undermining the health of cubs born to contaminated mothers. "Even before they leave the safety of their dens, the cubs carry more pollutants than most other creatures on Earth, having ingested industrial chemicals from their mother's milk." The contaminants include not only well-known compounds like PCBs and other organochlorines, but also newer substances like polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Cone describes new research indicating that the pollutants are weakening mothers and also disrupting cub development, perhaps enough to decrease the bear population. 19 June 2003.

Shortly after it was published, Hayes's work had been challenged by the "Eco-risk" consortium funded by atrazine's producer, Syngenta, with press releases reporting that Hayes's work could not be repeated. For example, one of the authors, Ronald Kendall (Texas Tech) stated to the press (21 June 2002, ENS): "As research on this issue continues, one thing is certain. No conclusions can be drawn at this time on atrazine and its purported effect on frogs." Coincidentally, this happened to be a time when EPA was amassing data on atrazine's effects, headed toward a decision in August 2002 about reauthorizing its use. Creating doubts about Hayes's work would provide EPA's decision-making process with a reason to ignore them. Not only did Hayes's study identify a new endpoint for atrazine effects, it also observed impacts at atrazine exposure levels thousands of times beneath previous studies.

Some [most?] might also be troubled by the fact that Kendall presented comments to the EPA Science Advisory Panel this week on behalf of Syngenta, only a year after he chaired the SAP. While chairing the SAP he was also involved with the Syngenta-funded "Eco-risk" panel, both when it commissioned Hayes's work, then after it started to challenge Hayes's findings.

When the Syngenta/Eco-risk paper that purportedly justified Kendall's statement was finally made public, however, it turned out that most of the tadpoles in the experiment had died, and many of the remaining animals were starved. The industry-funded scientists on the paper, however, continued to assert that its findings were valid. They submitted them for publication to the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (of which Kendall is an editor), where it appeared in print. Indeed one author, Glen van der Kraak, testified to that effect at the hearings described in the NY Times story. The Times report also cites a letter from another of the authors, USGS scientist Tim Gross, appearing to pressure Hayes not to release his results.

According to this NY Times article, EPA has concluded that the industry paper was too flawed to use in the atrazine assessment.

This whole story— pressure not to release results, using press releases to promote flawed results and thereby introduce uncertainty, against a backdrop of striking conflicts of interest linking industry to agency to publication— would appear to be a quintessential example of vested interests corrupting scientific results. It should raise questions about subsequent papers published by its authors, as well as about the industry-funded panel on which they served.

It would also be helpful to learn whether this process was coordinated behind the scenes with the "junk science" flack, Steve Milloy, who has been relentless and vituperative in his criticism of Hayes's work, including a column last week (13 June 2003) claiming that EPA had decided that Hayes was wrong.

Given these findings, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry should evaluate whether or not the paper should be withdrawn, and also assess its peer-review process, as the the flaws of the paper were widely known before the paper was finally published. Because of the prominence of industry-funded scientists in the society that publishes the journal, that self-assessment may be unlikely to occur. 19 June 2003.

Strong link established between pesticide exposure and reduced sperm quality in mid-West men. Research in the US mid-West has discovered that men with elevated exposures to alachlor, diazinon and atrazine are dramatically more likely to have reduced sperm quality. The study is the first to show such a link for common, current-use pesticides, and its findings are particularly troubling because the most likely route of exposure is through drinking water. The three pesticides implicated by the research are widespread contaminants in mid-West water systems. More... 18 June 2003.

Press coverage on pesticides and reduced sperm:
Los Angeles Times
USA Today

Washington Post: Pressure on arsenic-treated wood. Pressure-treated wood containing arsenic has come under increasing attack over the past two years, because of health risks. While the wood treatment industry has agreed to a voluntary phase out of domestic manufacturing, sales continue at stores like Lowes and Home Depot. Questions are being raised about the wisdom of leaving existing playground and deck structures in place. Two DC-based advocacy organizations conclude that routine exposure to pressure treated wood elevates lifetime risks of cancer significantly. 14 June 2003. [editor's note: These calculations which establish these risks are based upon old scientific information about arsenic; they do not yet incorporate new data showing arsenic suppression of genes important to tumor suppression at much lower levels of exposure. Hence the health risks are likely to be significantly greater.] 14 June 2003.

Reuters Health: American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) calls for more research on phthalate risks. After reviewing available evidence, the AAP's Committee on Environmental Health recommends that new research be launched to determine whether or not these common addititves to plastics are safe. Studies with animals show they can cause birth defects, and data from the Centers for Disease Control document widespread human exposure. The AAP's review, published in Pediatrics, finds that "no studies have been performed to evaluate human toxicity from exposure to these compounds." posted 7 June 2003.

an introduction to phthalates

St. Louis Business Journal: Solutia sues to recover PCB cleanup costs. Burdened with lawsuits and settlements resulting from the legacy of Monsanto's decades of PCB contamination in Alabama, chemical producer Solutia is suing 19 other companies to recover its cleanup costs. More than 3,500 residents of Anniston, AL, have sued Solutia and Monsanto, which spun the chemical specialty company off when it began to focus on biotech. 6 June 2003.

Los Angeles Times: Court orders EPA to consider data from human pesticide tests. "A federal appeals court Tuesday directed the government to resume considering the results of tests on human subjects as it determines acceptable exposure levels to toxic pesticides." EPA had halted use of human testing because of ethical questions and also because data from adults would not resolve questions about children's vulnerability. Hence the tests would not be useful in adjusting safety standards derived from animal studies so that they would better reflect human sensitivities. Industry argued that EPA had violated process in implementing the ban without proper consultation with interested parties. 5 June 2003

Wall Street Journal: Study links early puberty to higher breast cancer risk. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that women who reach puberty earlier are more likely to develop breast cancer. The study, conducted by scientists from UCLA, examined breast cancer rates in twins, comparing the risk in the first twin to reach sexual maturity against her sibling. "One thing stood out: For identical twins with cancer, the first twin to reach puberty was five times as likely to get the disease first. The link was even stronger when menstruation began early, before the age of 12." These data are consistent with previous studies showing that lifetime exposure to estrogen has an influence on breast cancer risk. And given that studies with laboratory animals show that environmental estrogens can speed sexual development in animals, they re-emphasize important questions about the role of contamination in breast cancer. 5 June 2003.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Birth control drugs in sewage may harm salmon reproduction. An article in the Seattle PI describes research results from the Batelle Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequiem, WA, revealing that a synthetic hormone widely used in birth control pills can impair fertility in adult male salmon. The compound, ethynil estradiol, is excreted in the urine of women taking birth control pills and reaches rivers after treated waste water is released from sewage treatment plants. The treatment process does not remove many pharmaceutical drugs or hormonally-active pesticides. Research by the lab was carried out with captive trout, close relatives of salmon. Batelle's scientists found that the lowest level they used, less than 1/80th the level found commonly in rivers, were sufficient to impair fertility.

Bangor Daily News. Legislature bans arsenic treated wood in Maine. Despite fierce opposition from industry, the Maine legislature passed the first bill in the US to ban sale of CCA pressure treated wood for residential use. The governor is expected to sign the bill, which will take effect on 1 April 2004. The bill closes a loophole in current US EPA regulation of arsenic treated wood, which bans production of the product but not its sale, and hence encourages stockpiling of supplies that can be sold later. 4 June 2004.

Guardian: Man-made chemicals causing serious problems for wildlife. Describing a new report from WWF-UK, Alok Jha writes in the Guardian: "It reads like the line-up for some grotesque travelling circus show: female, pseudo-hermaphrodite polar bears with penis-like stumps; panthers with atrophied testicles; male trout and roach with eggs growing in their testes. But all these abnormalities are cropping up in wild animal populations, and opinion as to why is converging: our awesome appetite for artificial chemicals is slowly poisoning the planet." 29 May 2003.

LA Times: California Assembly passes bill to ban brominated flame retardants. Acting on scientific data demonstrating exponential increases in Californian's exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) along with clear evidence from laboratory experiments showing that in laboratory animals PBDEs interfere with brain development, the California Assembly passed a bill that will ban certain PBDEs in 2 years. The bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Wilma Chan "chided conservative members of the Assembly for supporting protection of fetuses in the form of anti-abortion legislation but not backing protection from industrial contaminants." PBDE use is currently unregulated in the US, although two PBDE compounds have been banned in Europe. 28 May 2003.
More on PBDEs

NY Times: EPA system for tracking water pollution deeply flawed, facilitating abuses. New report by EPA Inspector General concludes the computer system is "obsolete, full of faulty data and does not take into account thousands of significant pollution sources." Water scientist Dr Peter Gleick, quoted by the Times, argues "The problem is more than just a failure to collect and manage information on polluters, or to enforce compliance with pollution permits that have been issued. It is a failure of the administration to stop the thousands of polluters without permits." 27 May 2003.

Reuters: Norwegian whale meat exports to Japan face public health hurdle. After Norwegian scientists questioned the safety of whale blubber, Japanese public health officials are raising issues about meat from the same whales. A Ministry of Fisheries official: ""The fact that they can't sell the blubber raises questions about the rest of the meat." The Japanese Consumers Union is opposing the meat imports because of PCB and mercury contamination fears.

An earlier report in the Japan Times, published in April, had revealed that Japanese whales also have high mercury levels. Each of the 83 slices of whale meat tested from Japanese waters between Hokkaido and Okinawa exceeded safety limits. One whale caught near Okinawa exceeded limits by over 50x. Methyl mercury limits were exceeded by a factor of 35 in one individual. Posted 26 May 2003.

Los Angeles Times: Fish to eat, fish to avoid, to minimize mercury risks. Because nutrition experts recommend fish be a regular part of the diet, many adults and children may be unwittingly overdosing on mercury. These risks can be avoided by selecting species unlikely to carry excessive amounts of the neurotoxicant. 26 May 2003.

Associated Press: Autism cases increase sharply in Virginia. "According to the Autism Program of Virginia, the number of autism cases in the United States jumped 173 percent over the past decade. In Virginia, the number of cases has climbed by about 78 percent over the past three years, and now 2,702 children have autism in the state."

Boston Globe: Chemical in rocket fuel spurs public health debate. At least 25 states have perchlorate in surface water and groundwater. Millions may also be exposed via irrigated produce. The debate is over how much is safe. The Department of Defense, citing its own studies, wants a threshold set at 200 parts per billion. EPA is targeting 1 parts per billion. 25 May 2003.

Toronto Star: Toronto bans cosmetic use of pesticides. Ban will phase in through 2005. Lawn care applicators expressed outrage. During the heated debate at city council, security guards removed several lawn operators amid cries of "fascist" and "it's a screw job." The bill passed by a wide margin, almost 26-16, despite aggressive lobbying by pesticide applicators. 23 May 2003.

Wall Street Journal: Chemical manufacturers elude efforts to reduce terrorism risks. After 9/11, analysis revealed that if attacked by terrorists any one of 111 different chemical plants around the US could release chemicals that would kill over 1 million people. Efforts commenced to force manufacturers to shift toward different chemical processes that would be inherently safer. In 2002 the Senate passed strong legislation. But manufacturers mounted fierce resistance. Joined by conservative Republicans who resist government regulations of industry, the chemical industry has stymied further movement toward safer processes and reduced terrorism risks. posted 22 May 2003.

The Guardian. Otters stage comeback in British rivers. In the opening chapter of Our Stolen Future, we described widespread declines in British otters, which were attributed in part (Chapter 9) to reproductive failures caused by PCB contamination. Now several decades later, wildlife biologists in Britain are heralding the comeback of the species, citing habitat improvements and declines in organochlorine contaminants as two drivers of the recovery. posted 21 May 2003.

Science: European Union ups investment in endocrine disruptor research. The European Commission has launched a "massive" new research effort on the health effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals, involving 64 labs from countries around Europe. Called the "Cluster of Research on Endocrine Disruption in Europe (CREDO), it commits $23M US for 4 years to complement work already underway. Key points of focus will be androgens (and anti-androgens), brominated flame retardants, and interactions of multiple chemicals. Andreas Kortenkamp (Univ. London School of Pharmacy) will coordinate the new program. posted 21 May 2003.
[European Commission Announcement]

USA Today: Overheated Teflon causes bird deaths. A petition to the Consumer Product Safety Council by the Environmental Working Group is seeking more effective warnings on Teflon products because of dangers to birds and people that result from modest overheating of the pans. Exposed birds die ("It's almost like a bomb blast."). People get "polymer fume fever, a short illness that mimics the flu with fever, chills, shivering, chest discomfort, cough and sore throat."

New York Times: Precaution is for Europeans. Reporter Sam Loewenberg interviews OMB head John Graham, arch foe of the Precautionary Principle, about Bush administration concerns over Europe's willingness to employ the Precautionary Principle in regulations. Loewenberg's essay, in Week in Review, ends by highlighting the fact that the logic Bush used to justify invasion of Iraq was quintessential precaution. 18 May 2003.

Living on Earth: The Secret Life of Lead. In an hour-long special, NPR's Living On Earth host Steve Curwood interviews Cincinnati-based scientists Dr. Kim Deitrich and Dr. Bruce Lanphear, exploring their research on the impacts of low level lead exposures on neurological development. Curwood also visits some of the participants in the study whose lives have been profoundly altered by lead poisoning. One, now 22 and in the study since infancy, has had frequent problems with the law, a recurring pattern among youth exposed during development to low level lead. 14 May 2003.

13 May 2003. A new report, covered by the Los Angeles Times, finds that the number of autism cases in California has almost doubled in the last 4 years. The report focused only on cases of severe autism, making it unlikely that the change is due to changes in detection procedures. No cause has been identified. According to the report, the rate of increase is accelerating.

12 May 2003. A panel of Norwegian scientists is warning pregnant and nursing women not to eat whale meat, according to a story published by Reuters Health. Their analysis concludes that the meat contains sufficient contaminants like mercury and PCBs to harm fetal development, especially brain development.

8 May 2003. Japanese researches have detected significant contamination by bisphenol A of some paper containers made for food, according to a story in the Asahi Shimbun. The estrogenic contaminant was found in products made from recycled as well as virgin pulp, which included cups, napkins, tea bags and coffee filters, sandwich holders and fried chicken packaging. Levels found in the products ranged up to 26,000 parts per billion. The researchers did not address what level of contamination that might produce within food contained by the products. According to the article, these paper food containers had been considered safe and therefore were unregulated.

8 May 2003. A judge has ruled that DuPont's Teflon chemical C-8 is toxic to humans and that DuPont destroyed toxicological data relevant to a class action suit against the company, according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch. The ruling also requires DuPont to pay for testing blood levels of C-8, also known as ammonium perfluorooctanoate, in people living in Ohio and West Virginia along the Ohio River near the plant. DuPont acknowledged that its chief toxicologist destroyed data, but indicates it will appeal the decision.

8 May 2003. Reporting in the NY Times, Elizabeth Becker and Jennifer 8 Lee explore the implications of the European Union's proposed new plan for chemical regulation, particularly how it wilil affect US companies wanting to export to Europe. The new plan, called REACH, will shift the burden of proof of chemical use from government to companies, and dramatically strengthen the standards that must be met to permit chemicals (and products containing them) into the European market. "European officials said today that their proposed testing was aimed at improving public health and the environment at a time when health problems like allergies and male infertility are rising. The costs of cleaning up damage from chemicals like asbestos is already in the billions of dollars." The Times quotes US Assistant Secretary of Commerce William Lash: "This is a big game; it will dwarf the G.M.O. dispute." The US is considering challenging the new policies before the World Trade Organization as an illegal constraint on trade. The EU's new approach contrasts starkly with the main legislative tool used in the US to regulate chemicals, the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, which critics cited by the Times characterize as weak and too deferential to industry.

Link to EU announcement

7 May 2003. An article in the Sacramento Bee covers charges from Californians for Pesticide Reform, a coalition of organizations working to reduce pesticide exposures, that pesticide drift in California is threatening the health of hundreds of thousands of the state's residents. The charges are summarized in a report from the coalition called "Secondhand Pesticides." The Bee comments that the "California Department of Pesticide Regulation issued a 3 1/2 page response Tuesday, occasionally agreeing with the report."

7 May 2003. According to Reuters, a planned shipment of whale blubber from Norway to Japan has been halted by public health authorities because of PCB contamination. Norwegian scientists prevented the export of roughly 500 tons of blubber because it was "too toxic for human consumption." Norway had resumed hunting for Minke whales in 1993, viewing the Japanese market for blubber as an important commercial target. Norwegians eat only the meat, which contains much lower contaminant levels because PCBs accumulate in fatty tissues. Blubber in Japan can sell for $20 per kilo.

7 May 2003. A report from Reuters covers tough new chemical screening procedures under consideration in the European Union. According to the EU: "The principal aims of the new system will be to provide sufficient information on the chemicals we use and to phase out those that pose unmanageable and unacceptable risks to our health or the environment."

The new law will require chemical firms to register and test for safety 30,000 chemicals at an estimated cost of almost $8 billion over the first 10 years. "The onus would be on any firm that makes, imports or uses chemicals to prove its products are safe or stop using them." Because the law will cover chemical products imported from abroad as well as those made in Europe, the EU laws will almost certainly affect chemical practices in the US.

6 May 2003. Research on a large sample of farmers in North Carolina has linked exposure to pesticides to a heightened risk of prostate cancer, according to an article in the Charlotte Observer. The study, conducted by the the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency, looked at the health records of more than 55,000 men in North Carolina and Iowa, and found 14% elevation in risk of prostate cancer associated with pesticide application. Out of 45 pesticides evaluated, the biggest risk was seen with methyl bromide. Methyl bromide has been scheduled to be phased out of use because it depletes stratospheric ozone. According to the Observer, "the United States -- prodded in part by N.C. strawberry, tobacco and pepper growers -- has asked the United Nations for exemptions that would allow continued use of the chemical on a smaller scale."

5 May 2003. The New York Times covers a story from Louisiana about vinyl chloride in the well water of a trailer park community that is forcing people from their homes. Criminal charges may be sought. State health officials knew about the contamination in 1997 but failed to tell residents. "Women who live here say that as many as 13 pregnancies ended in miscarriage in just the last few years, and say that their children burned and itched from bath water and wading pools." People living in Myrtle Grove Trailer Park, near Placquemine, believe the contamination comes from a nearby Dow Chemical facility nearby where vinyl chloride is manufactured. Dow disclaims responsibility.

5 May 2003. Writing in the Sacramento Bee, reporter Ed Fletcher describes a proposal by State Senator Deborah Ortiz to develop a biomonitoring program patterned after the CDC's national body burden survey. The program would give health and environmental officials in California information about contamination levels within residents of the state. Sponsors of the bill include Commonweal and The Breast Cancer Fund. The bill was approved by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee last week, and moves on now for consideration by other committees.

30 April 2003. University of Missouri researcher Dr. Fred vom Saal is calling for a ban on bisphenol A, according to a report in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The recommendation will be made at a Toxicology and Risk Assessment meeting in Dayton, Ohio, this week. The scientist's recommendation stems from a series of results that have been published over the last several years, culminating with a demonstration that bisphenol A induces aneuploidy in mice, even at low levels. According to vom Saal's colleague from Univ Missouri, Dr. Wade Welshons, "the danger is apparent to almost anyone." Not to the plastics industry, however: they continue to issue press releases stonewalling the implications of these new results.

29 April 2003. An editorial in the LA Times picks up on the perchlorate report described in the next item, below. It describes paltry efforts by the military to investigate the health risks of rocket fuels, and interference by the Office of Management and Budget. It then recommends at a minimum that the march to absolve the military from clean-up responsibilities and costs be slowed.

28 April 2003. A story in the LA Times reports on a survey of contamination in lettuce that finds almost one in five samples studied contain the rocket fuel perchlorate. The survey, by the Environmental Working Group (a health/environment advocacy organization), measured perchlorate levels in 22 different types of lettuce purchased in grocery stores in northern California. The rocket fuel was found in four, and in each of the contaminated batches perchlorate levels were far above levels considered safe by the state of California. "One, a packaged variety of organic mixed baby greens, had a level of perchlorate contamination at least 20 times as high as the amount California considers safe for drinking water." The group acknowledges that their sample of lettuce is very small, and argues that their results should increase pressure for more extensive surveys. EWG "estimates that by eating lettuce, 1.6 million American women of childbearing age are exposed daily during the winter months to more perchlorate than the EPA’s recommended safe dose."

Perchlorate is likely to be reaching lettuce through irrigation water, as the source of irrigation water for agriculture in many lettuce growing areas in California, the Colorado River, is known to be contaminated with perchlorate.

State and federal environmental agencies have set relatively low safety thresholds for perchlorate because of animal data showing perchlorate interferes with the action of thyroid hormone. The US Air Force, whose long-term rocket fuel manufacturing and testing operations have contributed substantially to widespread perchlorate contamination, disputes concerns about low-level contamination. Costs of clean-up if more stringent standards prevail will run in the tens to hundreds of milliions of dollars, possible over a billion. The Republican-controlled US Congress is currently considering a bill that would exempt the military from clean-up costs of contamination on and from military bases, including perchlorate.

25 April 2003. An article in the Wall Street Journal reports the Pentagon has concluded that Gulf War Syndrome may have been caused by pesticide exposures. "Tens of thousands of soldiers in the first Gulf War may have been overexposed to pesticides and that may have contributed to some veterans' unexplained illnesses." Sources of exposure included a mixture of pest strips, sprayed pesticides and fly baits.

23 April 2003. Writing in USA Today, reporter Elizabeth Weise describes new scientific findings that suggest we may be paying a health cost for the convenience of certain chemicals that are widely used in consumer products. In the article she covers the broiling controversies over the perfluorinated chemicals used in Teflon, Gore-Tex and related products, the health impacts of bisphenol A leaching from polycarbonate plastic, and the emerging data on health risks associated with brominated flame retardants. Collectively these data indicate that we allowed these chemicals to move into global production far too rapidly, and that people now are paying the price in a variety of disabilities and diseases. So what's the solution? Weise explores the controversy over using the Precautionary Principle to guide decisions about what products should be allowed into the marketplace, and when.

20 April 2003. Marla Cone examines scientific findings that are driving growing concerns about brominated flame retardants (PBDEs) in the environment, in a front page story in the Los Angeles Times. Experiments with animals show that PBDEs disrupt brain development, most likely because of their ability to interfere with thyroid hormone. Data from a diversity of sources show that PBDE levels are building very rapidly in North America, including in people. American body burdens of PBDEs are much higher than European, because Europe has banned two bioaccumulative types of PBDEs whereas the US has not. More on PBDEs...

20 April 2003. Articles in Science magazine and the New York Times (both by Madrid-based reporter Samuel Loewenberg) describe efforts underway in the European Union to strengthen policies on chemical health risks. The Science article focuses on changes in EU approaches to chemical regulation, based on the Precautionary Principle. New standards will require much more stringent testing of some 30,000 chemicals on the market today, and in addition will restrict use of 1,500 chemicals for which data now raise sufficient concerns about health effects. The New York Times article looks more broadly at EU business regulation, including chemical policies. In the Times, Loewenberg quotes U.C. Berkeley business professor David Vogel: "In this new generation of environmental issues the E.U. is moving quite aggressively, while U.S. policy is stalemated." The EU measures are designed to avoid harm before it occurs, whereas in the US, lobbying by corporations has created circumstances where policies only advance during crises.

While many (if not most) industry representatives are predicting economic catastrophes as a result of these new policies, some expect the new policies to encourage innovation by forcing companies to find new chemicals that are less hazardous than those currently in use.

13 April 2003. In a front page story in the Wilmington News Journal, reporter Fred Biddle explores challenges to DuPont over the safety of a key chemical component of Teflon. The EPA has announced that it will be undertaking aggressive steps to resolve safety issues that have been raised by scientific studies of the compound, known as ammonium perfluorooctanoate, or C-8. In 2000, 3M began phasing out the chemical because of environmental concerns. And as early as 1981, DuPont removed women from manufacturing positions at a plant in West Virginia because of concerns about exposure to C-8. Two of seven children born to mothers in a small study had birth defects. Concerns about environmental pollution of C-8 in the Ohio River, where DuPont manufactures the chemical, have led DuPont to ship waste water from West Virginia to New Jersey by rail, where the waste water is dumped into the Delaware River.

12 April 2003. In a news story published in Environmental Science and Technology, reporter Kellyn Betts summarizes several recent published and unpublished analyses of brominated flame retardant levels in people from Europe and North America. The data indicate that US PBDE body burdens are far higher than those in continental Europe, and that English appears intermediate. Two of these studies are accessible via pages in this website (Indiana and California). A third, looking at PBDE levels in Texas, was summarized at the March 2003 meeting of the Society for Toxicology. Led by Dr. Arnold Schecter, the Texas study concluded that US levels are "strikingly high" compared to Europe, ranging from 6 to over 400 parts per billion. According to Betts, one route of exposure to PBDEs that is known to differ between the US, UK and continental Europe is much greater use of brominated flame retardants in the polyurethane foam used in furniture. Another source, not considered by Betts, is use of PBDEs in carpet backing, a common practice in the US but not Europe. Both would lead to household dust laden with PBDEs.

More about PBDEs

6 April 2003. Reuters reports that a gigantic pulp and paper factory spill has dumped 1.2 billion liters of toxic waste into two rivers in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, depriving 600,000 people of drinking water and killing countless wildlife and livestock. A second spill appears poised to strike as rain threatens to overwhelm an inadequate containment system.

4 April 2003. A story in the Mobile Register by Ben Raines gives the first public indication that the US Food and Drug Administration is changing its approach to evaluating mercury hazards in fish. This change will dramatically lower the level of mercury contamination that warrants fish advisories, and make the FDA's warnings consistent with those of the EPA. Now, for example, the FDA recommends that women and children can eat as much as two cans of tuna each week without running a health risk. The new standard will acknowledge that as little as half a can per week will push a child over the acceptable limit. The limit for a 130-pound woman will be one can per week. Scientists familiar with past FDA policies describe the new approach as "a sea change."

3 April 2003. NY State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has announced he will sue Dow Agro- Sciences for falsely advertising that one of its products, Dursban, is safe, according to an article in the New York Times. Spitzer contends that Dow has violated a 1994 agreement that prohibited Dow from such a claim. The Times quotes Spitzer: "Consumers must not be lulled into a false sense of security by misleading safety claims," he said. "They should be urged to use pesticides only with the utmost caution."

2 April 2003. Los Angeles Times reporter Marla Cone writes in the April 2003 issue of Smithsonian Magazine about the impacts of persistent bioaccumulative toxins on polar bears in the Norwegian and Canadian arctic. The article describes Canadian scientist Andy Derocher's work to understand how contamination is affecting the bears. He had come to the remote Arctic seeking a pristine place to study polar bears. Then discovery of "strange, pseudo-hermaphroditic polar bears" made it abundantly apparent he wasn't working with an unperturbed population. Cone expects a version of this article will become a chapter in a book she is writing about her investigations into contamination in the arctic.

1 April 2003. Despite outward appearances, high altitude lakes in the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada are anything but pristine, according to a newsstory in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In the article, Reporter Robert McClure describes scientific data presented by Environment Canada scientist Pat Shaw at a scientific meeting on the environmental health of Puget Sound (US) and Georgia Strait (Canada). "When Shaw went looking for pollutants in the fish of British Columbia, one of the sites he chose was so far up in remote mountainous country that he had to fly in the measuring equipment. Yet glacier-fed Garibaldi Lake showed some of the highest contamination levels." The contaminants detected including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and toxaphene. Dr. Staci Simonich (Oregon State University) predicted that global warming will exacerbate pollution in these regions because it will re-liberate molecules currently bound in ice, snow and cold soils.

1 April 2003. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, reporter Marla Cone describes research carried out by scientists at Case Western Reserve that confirms, for the first time, an environmental contaminant causes a genetic error that in humans leads to spontaneous miscarriages and birth defects, including Down Syndrome. As Cone describes, the contaminant bisphenol A has its effect in mice at levels that occur today in people. "Toxicologists say the chemical leaches from plastic food and drink containers, including baby bottles and cookware, as they age, especially when they are microwaved or cleaned with harsh detergents. BPA also has been found at low levels in water supplies." The article quotes reproductive toxicologist Dr. Frederick vom Saal: "It looks like someone shot the chromosomes with a shotgun. They are totally disorganized. If you disorganize the chromosomes, it is a death sentence for an embryo. This is a stunning form of damage. It disrupts development of the cell that becomes your baby."

For a detailed description of the study...

Helen Pearson also writes about the study in Nature. According to Pearson: "Hunt, vom Saal and others would like to see BPA regulations tightened. Some regulatory bodies are already reviewing the allowable levels: a European Commission's food-safety committee, for example, last year slashed its upper limit for daily intake fivefold." George Pauli, a representative of the US Food and Drug Administration, however, said "We don't have any reason to believe there's any effect."

1 April 2003. Researchers from Greenland report unacceptable levels of persistent bioaccumulative toxins in people living there and eating native foods, according to the BBC. The BBC report cites data indicating that in some areas, 100% of Greenlanders have body burdens in excess of levels judged safe. Describing what he called "the Arctic dilemma," Doctor Jens C Hansen from the Centre for Arctic Environmental Medicine told BBC "While we need to give dietary advice to avoid the over-consumption of environmental toxins, we must also avoid people abandoning their traditional diet for a Western one."

29 March 2003. The Guardian (UK) reports on persistent effects of Agent Orange use in Vietnam by US armed forces during the war. The article reports there are some 650,000 victims suffering from an array of baffling chronic conditions. Another 500,000 have already died. The thread that weaves through all their case histories is defoliants deployed by the US military during the war. According to the Guardian, this episode represents the largest use of chemical weapons in the history of warfare. It quotes a letter from a military scientist: "When we initiated the herbicide programme in the 1960s, we were aware of the potential for damage due to dioxin contamination in the herbicide. We were even aware that the military formulation had a higher dioxin concentration than the civilian version, due to the lower cost and speed of manufacture. However, because the material was to be used on the enemy, none of us were overly concerned."

29 March 2003. A report in the NY Times by Jennifer 8 Lee draws attention to an EPA review of a chemical of a chemical, called ammonium perfluorooctanoate, which is used to make Teflon and which is released by Teflon during normal use. The chemical is highly persistent and according to the EPA review, poses surprisingly high risks for younger women and girls. A similar chemical, previously used to manufacturer Scotchgard, was pulled off the market by 3M under EPA pressure in 2000. Consistent with NY Times coverage of environmental health stories, Lee's coverage of the story actually soft-pedals the strength of EPA's draft conclusions about the compound, also known as PFOA or C8 (in Dupont's files, its manufacturer). Studies reviewed by the EPA link PFOA to deaths (in newborn rats), prostate cancer, birth defects and adverse effects on internal organ weights. The fact that PFOA literally does not break down in the environment adds significantly to health concerns. The Environmental Working Group has played a key role in drawing attention to health problems of PFOA and related compounds. Much more information is available on their website. Recent reporting in the Columbus Dispatch revealed that DuPont has covered up its own health concerns about this compound for decades.

25 March 2003. In the NY Times, Jane Brody explores the arguments about vaccines and autism. She argues that if the mercury-based additive to vaccines, thimerosal, has been causing autism, then its removal from common childhood vaccines should lead very quickly to a decrease in autism rates. Her own conclusion is that thimerosal represents an insubstantial threat to the developing brain, based on several recent studies.

25 March 2003. Carol Kaseuk Yoon reports in the New York Times about a study by scientists at the University of Washington showing that children lower their exposures to pesticides by eating organic instead of conventional produce. "The study's data showed that an organic diet could, under some circumstances, decrease a child's pesticide exposure — as measured from byproducts in the urine — from above the amounts considered to be of negligible risk by the Environmental Protection Agency to levels below." Yoon goes on to quote Yale Professor John Wargo: "This justifies the importance of an organic diet, that organic foods lower a child's exposure. Industry people are saying show me the dead bodies. I don't want people gambling with my kids that way."
More on the study...

25 March 2003. Did PCBs save the striped bass run in the Hudson River? Writing in the New York Times, James Gorman explores this fish(y) story. He concludes that current fish advisories limiting fish consumption probably lessen fishing pressure on the bass by both commercial and sports fishing, but that PCBs are likely to have had their own negative impact on striped bass populations. While no research has been done specifically on PCB impacts on striped bass, they clearly affect reproduction and health in other fish species. Given that PCBs have now been around for many striped bass generations, it is likely that the bass have developed evolutionary adaptations to the contaminant's presence in their environment.

24 March 2003. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, reporter Gail Bensinger examines the third generation of Agent Orange's victims Agent Orange. "At the residential treatment center where Phuong [one victim] shares a sunny, aqua- painted room with three other youngsters, Agent Orange is a daily reality. All of the 30 boarders and nearly half of the 100 day students are suffering from its effects: twisted or stunted limbs, bodies covered with tumors, some blind or deaf children, others with faces in perpetual pain." According to Chuck Searcy, the Hanoi representative of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, "the U.S. government is really in denial about Agent Orange. The official policy is not even to discuss it."

17 March 2003. According to Reuters Health, a coalition of consumer and health organizations has called for an immediate ban on playsets made of arsenic-treated wood. The request, made to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, also asks that thousands of playsets already in backyards and school grounds across America be recalled. The recommendation is based on evidence showing that children playing on the structures run an increased risk of cancer, because arsenic continues to leach out of the wood long after it is installed. Evidence cited in testimony before the CPSC by Jane Houlihan, Vice President for Research from the Environmental Working Group, indicates that typical exposures for children may exceed EPA safety standards by a factor of 2000.

15 March 2003. According to a story in the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio state health authorities are encouraging passage of a bill in the state legislature that would dramatically curtail public access to information about emerging health problems. The bill is being described as a measure that would strengthen efforts against terrorism, but the restrictions on public health strike a far broader swath, including information about cancer clusters and other disease investigations totally unrelated to terrorism. The article presents several examples of cases where the new law would have made it far more difficult for the public to learn about environmental health problems.

11 March 2003. According to the New York Times, the EPA has once again delayed the start of the cleanup of PCBs in the upper Hudson River. This means that removal of contaminated sediments won't begin before 2006 and the earliest completion date is in 2012. PCB contamination in the Hudson was the result of decades of waste disposal by GE, resulting in over 1 million pounds of PCBs being dumped in the Hudson River watershed. GE evaded responsibility for cleanup until the summer of 2001, when the EPA issued a decision requiring that GE pay to remove 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment along 40 miles of the Hudson at a cost to GE of over $500 million. According to the EPA, GE was not responsible for this new delay.

10 March 2003. According to a story in the Raleigh News and Observer, experts are gathering at Research Triangle Park to develop practical ways that industry can reduce and eliminate releases of dioxin and other persistent organic pollutants into the environment. The meeting, hosted by EPA, has been convened by the United Nations Environment Programme to develop industry and governmental standards for implementing the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
More on the Convention...

5 March 2003. A study of water supplies in New Jersey discovers many chemicals present in trace amounts, according to a story in the North Jersey News. The findings "startled researchers with the variety of drugs, consumer products, and industrial compounds detected." No wonder the CDC body burden study found so many chemicals in Americans.

None of the contaminants appeared present at levels sufficient to raise questions about traditional toxicological concerns. But no studies have ever--not once--examined the health impacts of mixtures as complicated as these, nor even the consequences of low level exposures of many of the detected compounds on fetal development in people.
More on mixtures...

5 March 2003. According to the Toronto Star, a study by researchers from Laval University have documented subtle neurodevelopmental effects of exposure in the womb to mercury and PCBs in Inuit children living in far northern Canada. The results parallel earlier findings in studies of children living in the Great Lakes region of the US and they create a dilemma for people and health officials in the region. Exposure comes from eating traditional foods, like fish and seal, which become contaminated by bioaccumulation of chemicals to the top of the food chain. For the most part, however, "the health status of aboriginals who follow a traditional diet is spectacularly better than of those who have taken up the southern lifestyle." While PCB levels appear to be declining, mercury levels are rising. At what point do the health benefits of traditional foods no longer outweigh the neurodevelopmental risks? The dilemma is worsened by the fact that almost all the pollution comes from sources far to the south, carried by atmospheric currents. Hence no local steps can be taken to prevent contaminating the food chain.

4 March 2003. David Kohn writes in Newsday about health safety questions raised by laboratory data on phthalates, ubiquitous additives to many different consumer products, from plastic baby toys to cosmetics to vinyl flooring. They are even "the new car smell in new cars." A growing body of experiments with laboratory animals demonstrate that phthalates can cause developmental errors, but industrial users of phthalates assert there is no evidence phthalates cause harm in people. The problem with then concluding that phthalates are safe, according to Mike Shelby, director of the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction at the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, is no one has done the needed studies: "Industry says there is no human evidence, and that's true," says Shelby. "But the absence of evidence doesn't mean there's no effect. In this case, it means that no one's studied it." More on phthalates...

24 February 2003. The Guardian (London) reports that scientific advisors to the British Department of Health are urging research into factors affecting human fertility. The scientists, members of the Committee on Toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment (Cot), are recommending an expert review of the evidence showing how chemicals, working environments, and lifestyles may be affecting the sexual development of boys and their fertility as men.

22 February 2003. In an op-ed in the New York Times, science writer/editor Rebecca Skloot asks the "big elephant in the room" question that has been ignored for literally decades of work on fertility treatments. Should these experiments be allowed without federal scrutiny and regulation? Growing scientific evidence indicates that increased risks of birth defects and disease accompany the use of common infertility treatments like in vitro fertilization. Writes Skloot: "If the far-off prospect of cloning can arouse such heated debate, surely the safety of current infertility treatments can do the same. It took scientists decades to figure out that diethylstilbestrol, or DES, a widely used fertility drug of the 50's and 60's, caused cancer and infertility in children exposed to it in their mothers' wombs. Let's not make that mistake again."

20 February 2003. Stories in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times report on a suppressed EPA report on children's health and the environment. According to the Journal: "A partial draft, titled "America's Children and the Environment," notes that states increasingly are issuing warnings about dangerous mercury levels in fish. It says there is mounting evidence that mercury is collecting in the blood of women of child-bearing age. The evidence is also increasing, warns the EPA report, that high doses of mercury can cause mental retardation and other neurological disorders in infants." The Journal story examines utility and coal industry pressure on the Administration to not implement stronger mercury standards.

Not covered by either story: While the WSJ story describes a battle within the Bush Administration about mercury, it fails to report that a key source of political pressure to stall on the report's release as been the Office of Management and Budget's John Graham. In principle, OMB has no role to play in this report because it is a scientific finding without regulatory impact. In fact, according to EPA sources, Graham's office insisted on reviewing the document.

And finally, a note abour press wars. When the Administration learned that the Journal had obtained a full copy of the report and was preparing to run a story, it leaked selective portions of it to the New York Times. Hence the Times coverage provides a far rosier interpretation.

16 February 2003. A front page story in the Columbus Dispatch reveals that DuPont has for decades had data suggesting perfluorooctanoate may cause health problems, including developmental difficulties, and has also known that drinking water around its manufacturing facility on the Ohio River near Little Hocking, Ohio, is contaminated by the compound. The article also indicates that the West Virginia health authorities misrepresented the way they calculated a safe exposure threshold to alleviate community concerns about the contamination.

12 February 2003. Francesca Lyman on MSNBC writes that "lovers may want to think twice about giving a bottle of cologne or perfume for Valentines Day." Her column on health and the environment this week focuses on the growing controversy about the safety of phthalates and other poorly-tested ingredients of cosmetics.

11 February 2003. The LA Times reports that the EPA is proposing to relax industrial toxic emission measures, responding to business complaints that standards are too costly. Affected industries include petrochemical plants, pulp mills, automobile manufacturers and steel mills. "The emissions at issue are not hazardous because of smog-forming potential, but because they can lead to cancer or damage the brain or a developing fetus."

10 February 2003. The New York Times reports that delegates attending a U.N. conference in Nairobi " endorsed a global crackdown on pollution caused by mercury, although the United States blocked efforts for binding restrictions on its use." The story cites CDC data from its recent body burden report, to the effect that one in twelve pregnant women in the US have unsafe mercury levels, threatening neurological development in more than 300,000 babies in the US. Exposures are likely to be much worse elsewhere, as national and state programs in the US to alert consumers to mercury exposures are far more aggressive than in other countries.

8 February 2003. Writing in the New York Times, Jennifer Lee reports that scientists at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have concluded that exposure to arsenic in playground structures made out of chromated copper arsenate-treated wood increases the risk of bladder and lung cancer in children. "This pesticide contains arsenic, a known carcinogen, which bleeds from the wood. Young children can ingest the arsenic when they put their hands to their mouths or when they touch food or toys which are then placed in their mouths. The study projects that between 2 to 100 children out of one million will get bladder and lung cancer from their exposure to the arsenic."

Link to the CPSC fact sheet

4 February 2003. Martin Mittelstaedt reports in the Toronto Globe and Mail that a new analysis by the United Nations Environment Programme concludes that the world's environment is increasingly contaminated by mercury, a developmental neurotoxin. "According to the report, millions of children may already be suffering ailments -- ranging from learning difficulties to impaired nervous systems-- due to dietary mercury. The report concludes that "The available data indicate that mercury is present all over the globe, especially in fish, in concentrations that adversely affect human beings and wildlife." Mercury contamination enters the environment via multiple pathways, with burning of coal for electricity production and waste incineration accounting for 70% of global emissions. Emissions are growing most rapidly in Asia. Atmospheric transport carries mercury pollution literally around the globe.

2 February 2003. A story in the Los Angeles Times written by Miguel Bustillo reports that the US Environmental Protection Agency and the California EPA are concerned about health implications of perchlorate contamination in the Colorado River, a source of drinking water for more than 15 million people in the US southwest. Even at low levels, perchlorate interferes with thyroid action and may thus disrupt developmental processes under thyroid control, including brain development. The principal source of contamination is an old rocket fuel production site in Nevada. Health authorities are also questioning whether the use of this water for irrigation of lettuce crops may extend the risks to a much wider array of Americans who purchase produce grown in southern California. The Department of Defense disputes the possibility that the low level exposures could be a health risk.

31 January 2003. Two studies released this week provide new insights into the levels of contaminants experienced by the American public. One, conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control, measured the levels of 116 compounds, including an array of heavy metals like arsenic and mercury, traces of second-hand smoke, organochlorines, and organophosphate pesticides. Almost 8,000 people age 1 and older were included in the survey, with specific sample sizes varying from compound to compound. The second study, by CHE partners the Environmental Working Group, Commonweal and the Mt Sinai School of Medicine,