A Beginners Guide to Dioxin Part One - Durham Environment Watch
A Beginners Guide to Dioxin Part One - Durham Environment Watch
A Beginners Guide to Dioxin Part One - Durham Environment Watch
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ToxCat SPECIAL<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>:DIOXIN<br />
PART 1<br />
“The worst thing caused<br />
by dioxin is chloracne, a<br />
nasty skin complaint.”<br />
Dame Barbara Clay<strong>to</strong>n<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
ISSN 1355-5707
2<br />
Communities Against Toxics (CATs) is a network of long suffering citizens and<br />
communities in Great Britain and Ireland living with incinera<strong>to</strong>rs, waste treatment<br />
plants, <strong>to</strong>xic waste landfills, chemical installations and other unsafe, polluting<br />
industrial facilities.<br />
Founded in 1990, CATs operates as a non-profit making, non-party political<br />
organisation dedicated <strong>to</strong> increasing public and political awareness on environmental<br />
issues and whenever possible strengthening democracy at a local level.<br />
To help communities protect the environment from industrial pollution and political<br />
apathy, CATs endeavours <strong>to</strong> provide information and expertise at reasonable cost<br />
and whenever possible free of charge <strong>to</strong> members of the poorer sections of society<br />
and groups in country’s with transitional economies.<br />
CATs survives on membership subscriptions and donations from sympathetic<br />
Foundations and receives no financial support from government sources or<br />
industry. CATs members newsletter ToxCat is published every two months.<br />
Other publications available <strong>to</strong> members and subscribers include:<br />
ToxCat ‘<strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong>’ <strong>to</strong> Incinera<strong>to</strong>r Emissions & their known impact on<br />
human health.<br />
ToxCat ‘<strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong>’ <strong>to</strong> Epidemiological Studies Around Incinera<strong>to</strong>rs<br />
ToxCat ‘<strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong>’ <strong>to</strong> Endocrine Disrupters<br />
ToxCat ‘Do You Want a Boy or a Girl?<br />
In the pipeline:<br />
ToxCat ‘Living with Incinera<strong>to</strong>rs’ - Community Case Studies<br />
If you are interested in sponsoring any publication or helping CATs get their web<br />
site back on line please contact:<br />
Ralph Ryder, CATs, PO Box 29, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, CH66 3TX<br />
Tel: +44 (0)151 339 5473. Mb: 01791 919 6363<br />
ralph.ryder@googlemail.com<br />
This publication has been made possible thanks <strong>to</strong> kind donations from CATs members<br />
Rosemary Frost, Iris Matthews, Teresa Brzoza and Barry Robinson<br />
Front cover car<strong>to</strong>on taken from Billee Shoecraft’s ‘Sue the Bastards’ artist unknown<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
Introduction<br />
<strong>One</strong> of the main areas of concern <strong>to</strong> communities<br />
living with existing incinera<strong>to</strong>r facilities or facing a<br />
proposal for an energy from waste incinera<strong>to</strong>r is the<br />
production and release of dioxin.<br />
There are other highly <strong>to</strong>xic pollutants released in far<br />
greater amounts, but for decades most community<br />
concern has centered around dioxin. Supporters of<br />
incineration (pyromaniacs), welcomed this attention<br />
because dioxin affected different animals species in<br />
different ways. By withholding data, losing records and<br />
not publishing studies of dioxin-related birth defects and<br />
its impact on the human reproductive system, they<br />
created a cloud of uncertainty that enabled industry,<br />
regula<strong>to</strong>ry bodies and pyromaniacs <strong>to</strong> claim dioxin didn’t<br />
affect humans with anything other than ‘a nasty skin<br />
complaint.’<br />
They backed up this claim with a number of now<br />
proven fraudulent [industry-sponsored] studies diluting<br />
the <strong>to</strong>xicity of dioxin and its impact on human health.<br />
The United States <strong>Environment</strong>al Agency (U.S.EPA),<br />
which spent billions of dollars trying unsuccessfully <strong>to</strong><br />
establish a ‘safe’ level for dioxin, used this data <strong>to</strong><br />
establish regulations on it.<br />
The industrial and political position was such they felt<br />
comfortable spinning lies like “<strong>Dioxin</strong> is breathed in and<br />
out straight away” - “Forest fires are a major source of<br />
dioxin” - “the worst thing caused by dioxin is chloracne,<br />
a nasty skin disease.”<br />
When it was hypothesized that dioxin acted like a<br />
hormone and was capable of disrupting the body’s<br />
natural balance, industry came up with the line “the body<br />
produces hormones naturally, so adjust itself.”<br />
Another claim, often quoted by inspec<strong>to</strong>rs conducting<br />
inquiries on energy from waste incinera<strong>to</strong>rs applications<br />
in the United Kingdom is “there is more dioxin emitted<br />
by the fireworks on 5th November than by incinera<strong>to</strong>rs in<br />
hundreds of years.”<br />
Alan Watson of Public Interest Consultants pointed<br />
out many times this was completely wrong, one reason<br />
being (basically) because the study in question had not<br />
taken in<strong>to</strong> account the emissions passing over Britian<br />
from other countries. Eventually the EA had <strong>to</strong> agree<br />
with this, but retaliated with; “bonfires (rather than<br />
fireworks) emit more dioxin than incinera<strong>to</strong>rs.”<br />
<strong>One</strong> disturbing theme running through any dioxin<br />
s<strong>to</strong>ry is the appalling manipulation of data <strong>to</strong> de<strong>to</strong>xify it<br />
by scientists, regula<strong>to</strong>ry/public health officials and<br />
academics. People and organisations citizens are <strong>to</strong>ld are<br />
there <strong>to</strong> protect public health. The reality is however,<br />
these people have s<strong>to</strong>pped at nothing in their attempts <strong>to</strong><br />
protect the guilty industries, and even <strong>to</strong>day with so much<br />
research revealing the intricate mechanisms by which<br />
dioxin disturbs and damages human health and<br />
development, pyromaniacs have as recently as three<br />
years ago proclaimed”‘the worst thing dioxin causes is<br />
chloracne, a nasty skin complaint.”<br />
‘Spin’ like this is not confined <strong>to</strong> the distant shores of<br />
the USA, Vietnam or in the far forgotten past . British<br />
citizens can look <strong>to</strong>:<br />
*The dioxin incident at the Coalite Chemicals plant in<br />
1990 when the UK government de<strong>to</strong>xified dioxin with<br />
the stroke of a pen lifting the [unproven] ‘safe level’ from<br />
1 pg/kg/bw a day <strong>to</strong> 10 pg/kg/bw a day;<br />
*the deliberate omission of children under 10 years of<br />
age in health impact assessements of incinera<strong>to</strong>r ash<br />
contaminated with heavy metals and dioxin levels as<br />
high as 9,500ng spread on food producing areas in and<br />
around Newcastle upon Tyne, England;<br />
*the failure by ‘experts’ <strong>to</strong> bring <strong>to</strong> the attention of a<br />
House of Lords inquiry several peer-reviewed published<br />
studies showing increased ill-health among communities<br />
impacted directly by dioxin.<br />
Despite these people, the bravery of victims like Billee<br />
Shoecraft, Bob McCray, Marilyn Leistner, Lois Gibbs,<br />
Carol von Strum, and the work of scientists like Pat<br />
Constner, Peter Montague, Paul Connett, Tom Webster,<br />
Barry Commoner, Richard Clapp and EPA’s Linda<br />
Birnbaum, citizens are far more knowledable on the<br />
dioxin issue than they were 20 years ago.<br />
Thanks must also go <strong>to</strong> the realms of indepth<br />
information published by community interest<br />
organisations like Peter Montague’s Rachel’s<br />
<strong>Environment</strong> Health News, the Centre for Health and<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al Justice, <strong>Environment</strong>al Health News,<br />
Synthesis /Regeneration, and of course ToxCat.<br />
Citizens are now aware that dioxin is a potent<br />
accumulative carcinogen, an endocrine disrupting<br />
compound that because of industry’s irresponsible<br />
attitude and slack regulations, can be found in breast milk<br />
and the tissues of new-born babies.<br />
We know the United Nations <strong>Environment</strong> Program<br />
has acknowledged incineration <strong>to</strong> be responsible for 69%<br />
of the worlds dioxin contamination; and we know that<br />
even the most modern incinera<strong>to</strong>r emits this and<br />
hundreds of other other health-damaging compounds<br />
daily.<br />
I hope this ‘Beginner’s <strong>Guide</strong>’ will give you a useful<br />
insight in<strong>to</strong> the deceit surrounding dioxin, whether it be<br />
in the herbicides sprayed in Kellner Canyon; in waste oil<br />
on the roads of Times Beach; in cooking oil in Yusho;<br />
emitted by incinera<strong>to</strong>rs, or found in animal feed in<br />
Belgium.<br />
I have lifted ‘Mylece’ by Carol von Strum straight<br />
from the pages of Don Fitz’s Synthesis/Regeneration,<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong>: The Orange Resource Book (1996). I included<br />
this because it is short, <strong>to</strong> the point, and had a powerful<br />
impact on me when I read it.<br />
Other s<strong>to</strong>ries bring examples of the appalling<br />
indifference exhibited by politicians and regula<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
officials <strong>to</strong>wards people’s suffering after being exposed<br />
<strong>to</strong> what epidemiologist Richard Clapp has described as<br />
the “Darth Vadar of chemicals.”<br />
Ralph Ryder, Coordina<strong>to</strong>r, CATs.<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN 3
Multinational companies, aided and abetted by governments and politicians with vested interests in<br />
them have poisoned the earth and its species for decades. Despite the work of Rachel Carson and her<br />
warnings in Silent Spring 46 years ago, these people have recklessly continued damaging the ecology<br />
of the world and the health of an un<strong>to</strong>ld number of animal species and their future generations.<br />
These companies have almost unlimited access <strong>to</strong> the media and massive resources enabling them<br />
<strong>to</strong> get their PR message across on (for example) incineration and Genetically Modified crops and food<br />
almost unrestricted.<br />
Independent scientists and citizens aware of the damage industry is doing <strong>to</strong> the planet and its<br />
inhabitants have little political support, no money, and poor access <strong>to</strong> the media. Governments are<br />
very happy with this situation for economic and in many cases, self-interest reasons.<br />
It is time for what honest politicians they are in government <strong>to</strong> wake up <strong>to</strong> the reality that scientific<br />
experts who receive funding and grants from industry cannot honestly be expected <strong>to</strong> be independent,<br />
reliable advisors on public health and safety issues. The amount of fraudulent studies and manipulation<br />
of data surrounding dioxin, cigarettes, nuclear accidents, GMOs etc., has shown that corruption<br />
within the scientific community is widespread on many issues and having devastating consequences.<br />
We have already witnessed the corporate run World Trade Organisation using its power <strong>to</strong> further<br />
industry interests before public health in Canada. While within the food biotechnology industry we<br />
have a poorly researched technology being forced upon us by profit-driven companies with appalling<br />
track records dictating what seeds we can grow and consume.<br />
When we consider the global ecological crisis and the present ability of science / industry <strong>to</strong><br />
develop technologies with potentially profound, global impacts (i.e., incineration / Persistent Organic<br />
Pollutants, GMOs) without thorough and impartial scrutiny is seriously threatening the health of<br />
homo sapiens and many other species <strong>to</strong> reproduce.<br />
The present system of governments using ‘selected’ scientific experts often not working in the field<br />
concerned because their views are in accord with the politicians wishes, must cease. The current lack<br />
of proper scientific rigor and transparency must be replaced by a system that ensures genuine,<br />
independent and impartial research.<br />
Carefully established facts and the implementation of the precautionary principle have <strong>to</strong> be the<br />
basis for decisions and not the personal wishes of industry, politicians and their selected scientists.<br />
“… dioxin emissions from an energy <strong>to</strong> waste plant operating <strong>to</strong> the new pollution<br />
control standards will not poise a risk <strong>to</strong> people living near the plant, irrespective of<br />
the location and size of the plant, the profile of the people concerned (such as nursing<br />
children) or other activities in the surrounding area…” British Government<br />
...<strong>Dioxin</strong> is unsafe at any dose. The public has been lied <strong>to</strong> by an industry propaganda<br />
campaign and a handful of unscrupulous industrial scientists who have carried the<br />
industry’s message <strong>to</strong> the highest levels of government. They have spread false<br />
information about new scientific evidence that dioxin is safe at low levels in an effort<br />
<strong>to</strong> allow industry <strong>to</strong> carry on with business as usual. The industry campaign is proof<br />
of an old maxim; if you repeat a lie enough, people will start believing it...”<br />
Ted Weiss, Chairman, Human Resources and Intergovernmental<br />
Subcommittee. Hearing on Health Risks of <strong>Dioxin</strong>, June 10 1992.<br />
4<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
CONTENTS<br />
Page 7. General Information (Vietnam, Monsan<strong>to</strong>, Belgium Food Scandal, Yusho, Yu-Cheng etc).<br />
Page 20. Kellner Canyon<br />
Page 25. Times Beach<br />
Page 31. Immunological Studies on 16 Times Beach Children<br />
This ToxCat 'Special' has been published in two parts <strong>to</strong> enable activists and interested citizens<br />
with slow connections <strong>to</strong> download them. Page numbers have continued as if it were one<br />
publication.<br />
“There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are<br />
scientists or dogmatists, open the door <strong>to</strong> tragedy. All information is<br />
imperfect. We have <strong>to</strong> treat it with humility”: J. Bronowski<br />
Pho<strong>to</strong> credit unknown<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
5
What Are <strong>Dioxin</strong>s?<br />
Carbon exists both as an element<br />
(graphite and diamonds) and as a<br />
compound (bound with other elements).<br />
The study of compounds<br />
which include carbon abbreviated<br />
“C”) is known as organic chemistry.<br />
Carbon binds with hydrogen<br />
(abbreviated “H”) in thousands of<br />
ways, sometimes in long strings<br />
which form plastics. The 2.5 million<br />
carbon compounds are more than all<br />
other compounds combined.<br />
Compounds with carbon and hydrogen<br />
can also form rings. The<br />
most infamous carbon ring is benzene,<br />
which is a ring of six carbon<br />
a<strong>to</strong>ms, each with a hydrogen a<strong>to</strong>m<br />
on the outside. Benzene is so important<br />
<strong>to</strong> organic chemistry that it has<br />
its own symbol of a ring inside of a<br />
hexagon. In this drawing, single<br />
lines indicate a “bond” of a<strong>to</strong>ms<br />
sharing an electron; double lines indicate<br />
the a<strong>to</strong>ms share two electrons:<br />
Benzene rings have two important<br />
properties:<br />
1. Two or more benzene rings<br />
can themselves bind <strong>to</strong>gether; and,<br />
2. Chlorine can replace hydrogen<br />
on the outside of the ring.<br />
These principles explain the<br />
formation of the very <strong>to</strong>xic families<br />
of PCBs, furans and dioxins. A pair<br />
of benzene rings joined <strong>to</strong>gether<br />
forms biphenyl:<br />
If chlorine is present when benzene<br />
is burned (and there is plenty of<br />
chlorine in plastics), hydrogen<br />
a<strong>to</strong>ms can be released and chlorine<br />
6<br />
a<strong>to</strong>ms can replace them. The result is<br />
poly-chlorinated biphenyls, knows as<br />
PCBs. Their production was banned<br />
in the 1970’s.<br />
If oxygen (abbreviated “O”) forms<br />
another link between the two benzene<br />
rings the result is furans.<br />
If chlorine replaces hydrogen a<strong>to</strong>ms,<br />
the furans are also very <strong>to</strong>xic:<br />
Sometimes benzene molecules bind<br />
<strong>to</strong>gether with two oxygen a<strong>to</strong>ms with<br />
the resulting name of dioxin. Unlike<br />
furans, dioxin are symmetrical (the<br />
same at the <strong>to</strong>p and bot<strong>to</strong>m).<br />
Since 2 oxygen a<strong>to</strong>ms bind 2 benzene<br />
molecules, the chemical name is<br />
dibenzo dioxin. The abbreviation<br />
PCDD means polychlorinated<br />
dibenzo dioxin, which occurs when<br />
chlorine a<strong>to</strong>ms replace hydrogen.<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong>s can have 1 <strong>to</strong> 8 chlorine<br />
a<strong>to</strong>ms. The 75 different types of<br />
chlorinated dioxins result from the<br />
positions where chlorine a<strong>to</strong>ms occur.<br />
This is so crucial in determining<br />
characteristics of the dioxin (such as<br />
how poisonous it is) that chemists<br />
use numbers <strong>to</strong> describe the positions<br />
of the chlorine a<strong>to</strong>ms.<br />
The most deadly form of dioxin<br />
has chlorine in the 2, 3, 7 and 8<br />
positions:<br />
Using the word tetra (for “four”),<br />
chemists named this molecule<br />
"2,3,7,8 tetra-chloro dibenzo dioxin,"<br />
or 2,3,7,8 TCDD. The molecule<br />
is perfectly symmetrical.<br />
The presence of chlorine makes<br />
dioxins extremely stable compounds.<br />
They do not break down as<br />
easily as enzymes do. The human<br />
body tends <strong>to</strong> s<strong>to</strong>re dioxin in adipose<br />
(fatty) tissue.<br />
When people take in dioxin<br />
through food or air, it enters their<br />
cells where it fits in<strong>to</strong> a protein<br />
called the Ah recep<strong>to</strong>r. recep<strong>to</strong>r<br />
Another protein (arnt protein)<br />
joins this combination and changes<br />
shape of the complex (dioxin + Ah<br />
recep<strong>to</strong>r + arnt protein). This complex<br />
enters the nucleus and attaches<br />
<strong>to</strong> the DNA. It doesn’t cause mutations,<br />
but it does switch on genes.<br />
resulting in the production of messenger<br />
RNAs, which then go <strong>to</strong> the<br />
ribosomes and produce new proteins<br />
in the cell.<br />
In other words it functions like a fat<br />
soluble hormone.<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong>s produce different proteins,<br />
including enzymes and growth<br />
fac<strong>to</strong>rsenzymes fac<strong>to</strong>rs and is<br />
known <strong>to</strong> disrupt at least six different<br />
hormonal systems: male and female<br />
sex hormones; thyroid<br />
hormones; insulin; gastringastrinand<br />
and gluocorticoidgluocorticoid<br />
. Other dioxins and furans have<br />
many of the same effects as 2,3,7,8<br />
TCDD, but are less deadly because<br />
they are less symmetrical and do not<br />
fit the Ah recep<strong>to</strong>r as well.<br />
The <strong>to</strong>xic equivalency (TE or<br />
TEQ) of an organochlorine is a<br />
measure of how <strong>to</strong>xic it is relative <strong>to</strong><br />
2,3,7,8 TCDD. An organochlo- rine<br />
with a TEQ of .05 is 5% as<br />
poisonous as 2,3,7,8 TCDD.<br />
Sources: <strong>Dioxin</strong> the Orange Resource<br />
Book. Synthesis/Regeneration 7/8<br />
summer 1995<br />
Dr Paul Connett, Professor Emeritus of<br />
Chemistry, presentation, Haifa University,<br />
March , 2007<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
In 1959 Friedrich Hoffman, a chemicals warfare specialist and chief of the U.S.<br />
Chemicals Corp’s Agent Research Branch at Edgewood Arsenal was sent <strong>to</strong> Europe<br />
<strong>to</strong> scout for potential warfare agents. In his report of the trip Dr. Hoffman noted that<br />
he had received “startling information about the <strong>to</strong>xicity of dioxin,” including the fact<br />
that it had been linked <strong>to</strong> “severe and sometimes fatal liver damage.”<br />
Dr. Hoffman reportedly <strong>to</strong>ld the army that “dioxin was <strong>to</strong>o deadly <strong>to</strong> be used for<br />
chemical warfare purposes.”<br />
Although the first recorded military use of herbicides<br />
<strong>to</strong>ok place in Malaysia in the 1950’s with the British<br />
using 2-4-5-T <strong>to</strong> clear communication routes. The herbicides<br />
2,4,D and 2,4,5-T were originally developed by E.<br />
J. Kraus of Chicago University, as part of the US military<br />
plan.<br />
AGENT ORANGE (contaminated with <strong>Dioxin</strong>) and<br />
Agent White was authorized for use in Vietnam in<br />
November 1961, <strong>to</strong> improve road and waterway visibility<br />
and clear camp perimeters.<br />
Later, Agent Blue was authorized <strong>to</strong> destroy crops and<br />
clear areas suspected of harboring enemy base camps or<br />
supply routes. The U.S. Air Force created the 309th Air<br />
Commando Squadron <strong>to</strong> conduct the spraying which<br />
was originally known as ‘Hades,’ but later became<br />
‘Operation Ranch Hand.’<br />
In the spring of 1962 the South Vietnamese military<br />
conducted large-scale tests of herbicides along 70 miles<br />
of Highway 15. In the summer, further tests were conducted<br />
using 2-4-D at 1.5 gallons/acre and 2-4-5-T at 3.3<br />
gallons/acre. The herbicides used were applied mostly<br />
by twin engine C-123 Provider Transports (Fairchild<br />
Hiller) equipped with an internal defoliant dispenser<br />
(Hayes International) with 36 high-pressure nozzles<br />
distributed on three booms.<br />
Normal spray time was two minutes, but a full load<br />
could be dumped in just 30 seconds. Spraying missions<br />
usually consisted of three <strong>to</strong> five aircraft flying in a<br />
staggered lateral formation. (Single plane runs were<br />
known as sorties.)<br />
Helicopters, UH-1 Huey (Bell Aerospace), trucks,<br />
boats and hand spraying equipment was also used <strong>to</strong><br />
dispense the herbicides.<br />
Targets were selected by U.S. or Vietnamese officers,<br />
approved by provincial chiefs, the Vietnamese Army<br />
general staff, the U.S. Military Assistance Command,<br />
and the American Ambassador.<br />
During this time, Air America also sprayed defoliants<br />
for the CIA in combat operations against Thai insurgents<br />
on the Isthmus of Kra.<br />
The drift of herbicides involved in these operations<br />
was estimated at an average of 20%.<br />
Agent Orange, the main herbicide dispensed in this<br />
period, was applied at up <strong>to</strong> 25 times the rate of use in<br />
the U.S. Entire tank loads were also jettisoned over one<br />
area.[1]<br />
Adverse effects of the chemical 2-4-5-T and its chemical<br />
precursors on the workers engaged in their production<br />
had been observed as early as 1949.<br />
At that time a Monsan<strong>to</strong>-owned plant manufacturing<br />
2-4-5-T in Nitro, West Virginia, had an explosion. Two<br />
hundred and twenty eight workers developed chloracne.<br />
Chloracne symp<strong>to</strong>ms include skin eruptions on the<br />
face, neck, and back, shortness of breath, in<strong>to</strong>lerance <strong>to</strong><br />
cold, palpable and tender liver, a loss of sensation in the<br />
extremities, damage <strong>to</strong> peripheral nerves, fatigue, nervousness,<br />
irritability, insomnia, loss of libido and verti-<br />
*The term “dioxin” is used <strong>to</strong> connote the group of 210 similar substances - polychlorinated dibenzo-pdioxins<br />
and polychlorinated dibenzo-furans.<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
7
Pho<strong>to</strong> credits unknown<br />
Chloracne is not a simple ‘skin disease’ or ‘rash’ as advocates of incineration and industrialists claim.<br />
It is a disfiguring, systemic disease that can last for decades and even recur more than twenty years<br />
after exposure. It is not necessarily caused by exposure <strong>to</strong> high amounts of dioxin as some sufferers<br />
simply handled or brushed against workers overalls contaminated with ‘trace’ quantities<br />
go. Chloracne was also found in 1953 among the male<br />
workers and many of their wives, children and pets at a<br />
BASF (Badischer Anilin & Soda Fabrik)-owned 2-4-5-T<br />
plant at Ludwigshaften am Rhein in Germany.<br />
The fac<strong>to</strong>ry experienced an explosion months after the<br />
appearance of chloracne among the workers. In medical<br />
examinations following the explosion, some workers<br />
were found <strong>to</strong> have severely damaged internal organs<br />
including the liver. Heightened blood pressure, myocardial<br />
degeneration, severe depression, memory and concentration<br />
disturbances were also observed. Fifteen years<br />
later some of these workers were still suffering from<br />
chloracne and its symp<strong>to</strong>ms despite treatment and no<br />
subsequent exposure.<strong>One</strong> death from intestinal sarcoma<br />
was attributed <strong>to</strong> the explosion.<br />
In 1963 an explosion occurred in a 2-4-5-T fac<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
owned by Philips Duphar in Amsterdam, Holland. Fifty<br />
workers developed chloracne and suffered internal damage<br />
and serious psychological disturbances as a result.<br />
The fac<strong>to</strong>ry was closed.<br />
In 1973 the plant was still so contaminated with dioxin<br />
that it had <strong>to</strong> be dismantled, embedded in concrete and<br />
buried at sea.<br />
Dow Chemical, the largest producer of Agent Orange<br />
in the U.S. experienced an outbreak of chloracne among<br />
its workers in 1964 in one of their 2-4-5-T manufacturing<br />
plants. Over 70 workers were affected, 12 of them severely.<br />
Dow’s direc<strong>to</strong>r of its Midland Division, Dr. Benjamin<br />
Holder, described the symp<strong>to</strong>ms as fatigue, lassitude,<br />
depression, blackheads (prevalent on the face, neck, and<br />
back), and weight loss.<br />
“Heavy exposure,” Dr. Holder said, “could lead <strong>to</strong><br />
internal organ damage and nervous system disorders.”<br />
In 1970, Julius F. Johnson, Direc<strong>to</strong>r of Research and<br />
Development, appearing before the Hart Sub-Committee<br />
of the U.S. Congress, described chloracne as “a skin<br />
disorder mostly prevalent of the face, neck, and back. It is<br />
8<br />
similar in experience <strong>to</strong> severe acne of the kind suffered<br />
by teenagers”.<br />
Dow ran its own study of the effects of Orange using<br />
220 workers and 4,600 controls. The range of exposure <strong>to</strong><br />
2-4-0 was 30-40/mg/do. Ten of the men were karyotyped,<br />
and no rearrangement of genetic material was reported.<br />
The 220 men were exposed <strong>to</strong> 2-8/mg/do of 2-4-5-T.<br />
Fifty two men were karyotyped negatively. No difference<br />
between the study group and the control group was reported.<br />
Dow’s testing indicated that a contaminant of 2-4-5-T<br />
(<strong>Dioxin</strong>) was responsible for the chloracne and illness<br />
experienced by its workers.<br />
They conducted tests utilizing animals on 2-4-5-T with<br />
varying amounts of 2-3-7-8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.<br />
The chemical was shown <strong>to</strong> be <strong>to</strong>xic and fatal <strong>to</strong> the<br />
animals. Cleft palates were observed in further tests. The<br />
results were not repeated with 2-4-5-T without the contaminant.<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong> was found <strong>to</strong> be one of the most <strong>to</strong>xic substances<br />
known, a fatal dose being 0.022-0.045 in rats and<br />
0.0006 in guinea pigs, LD-50 as milligrams per body<br />
weight.<br />
Between 1965 and 1969 a 2-4-5-T production plant<br />
near Prague, Czech Republic, developed leaks in its processing<br />
area. Workers developed chloracne and exhibited<br />
weight loss, libido diminution and insomnia.<br />
Maximum symp<strong>to</strong>ms were observed about one <strong>to</strong> two<br />
years after the initial exposure, but lasted over eight years<br />
in some of the exposed workers.<br />
Several workers died of severe liver damage, and<br />
workers’ families also became sick. Contaminated equipment<br />
was buried in a mine shaft.<br />
Other studies of workers exposed <strong>to</strong> 2-4-D and 2-4-5-T<br />
conducted showed exposed workers exhibiting symp<strong>to</strong>ms<br />
including fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite, s<strong>to</strong>mach<br />
and kidney pain, upper respira<strong>to</strong>ry distress, decreased<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
Pho<strong>to</strong> credits unknown<br />
hearing,<br />
smell and<br />
neurological<br />
responses,<br />
high serum<br />
albumin values,<br />
skin and<br />
eye irritations<br />
and<br />
concentrated<br />
TCDD<br />
(dioxin) levels<br />
in body<br />
fat and<br />
liver tissue.<br />
Festisov<br />
(1966)<br />
Long (1969)<br />
Poland<br />
(1971) Sundell<br />
(1972)<br />
Piper<br />
(1973). [1]<br />
Further tests showed TCDD <strong>to</strong> be an extremely <strong>to</strong>xic<br />
agent with a slow effect rate and diverse symp<strong>to</strong>ma<strong>to</strong>logy<br />
including edema, necrotic changes of the liver, gastric<br />
hyperplasia and ulceration, hemmoroglus of<br />
gastrointestinal tract and other organs, atrophy of the<br />
kidneys, thymus and other lymphoid organs and tissues.<br />
Later, symp<strong>to</strong>ms appear <strong>to</strong> lead <strong>to</strong> decreased immune<br />
responses.<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong> is thought <strong>to</strong> be at least partially responsible<br />
for a multitude of health problems. These include the<br />
current increase of male reproductive tract disorders<br />
such as testicular cancer, cryp<strong>to</strong>rchidism, and hypospadias.<br />
Researchers say dioxins can cause harm, even at low<br />
levels. But debate continues over exactly what concentration<br />
in the body causes problems.<br />
We know that dioxin is considered so <strong>to</strong>xic that when<br />
they were measured in the soil at Times Beach, Mo., in<br />
the early 1980’s, the federal government spent $30<br />
million relocating the <strong>to</strong>wns 2,000 plus residents.<br />
“They are so dangerous,” said Dr. Nachman Brautbar,<br />
a medical <strong>to</strong>xicologist at the University of Southern<br />
California’s School of Medicine.<br />
There is however an army of<br />
industrialists and incinera<strong>to</strong>r supporters<br />
(pyromaniacs) who have been claiming<br />
for decades that the worst thing caused<br />
by dioxin is “a nasty skin complaint...”<br />
and “this is only after high exposure.”<br />
In reality this claim is nothing<br />
more than an outrageous industry<br />
scripted line <strong>to</strong> protect its profit margins<br />
and allow ‘business as usual.’<br />
The liver is a target organ<br />
as it breaks down chemical<br />
contaminates in the blood.<br />
Anything you eat or inhale<br />
goes through the liver and<br />
if a chemical is going <strong>to</strong> be<br />
metabolised it will<br />
probably be in the liver.<br />
Sordid His<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
The extent the industry has gone <strong>to</strong> cover-up the <strong>to</strong>xicity<br />
of dioxin is a truly sordid affair involving industrialists,<br />
scientists, academics and high ranking health, regula<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
and government officials.<br />
As early as 1964, while the spraying was increasing<br />
in Vietnam, reports circulated of increased miscarriages,<br />
stillbirths, and birth defects among exposed Vietnamese<br />
women and animals. Because of the war conditions<br />
collecting data <strong>to</strong> corroborate this was difficult.<br />
Records from 1970 for Saigon’s leading maternity<br />
hospital showed a monthly average of 140 miscarriages<br />
and 150 premature births in 2,800 pregnancies, but the<br />
hospital would not disclose whether or not this was an<br />
increase.<br />
In 1966 the U.S. government started studies on the<br />
tera<strong>to</strong>genic effects of 2-4-5-T. These studies were conducted<br />
by Bionetics Research Labora<strong>to</strong>ries of Bethesda,<br />
Maryland, for the National Cancer Institute.<br />
The findings were released in 1969. Rats and mice<br />
used in the study were given 21.5 mg/kg doses of 2-4-5-<br />
T during early gestation. Almost all the offspring were<br />
born dead or with cleft palates, no eyes, cystic kidneys<br />
and enlarged livers. At 4.6 mg/kg, 39% of the offspring<br />
were born deformed. Based on these findings Dr. Lee<br />
Du Bridge, Presidential Advisor, said that the use of the<br />
chemical in populated areas and on food crops should be<br />
restricted.[1]<br />
Dow objected <strong>to</strong> the findings saying the sample of the<br />
2-4-5-T was used unrepresentatively because of an abnormally<br />
high amount of TCDD (<strong>Dioxin</strong>).<br />
Dr. Jackie Verett (FDA Toxicology Lab, Washing<strong>to</strong>n,<br />
D.C.,) Dr. Matthew Meselson (Harvard, the National<br />
Institute) used a .50 parts per million (ppm) dioxin<br />
solution obtained from chemicals used in Vietnam in<br />
chicks. She found resultant cysts, necrotic livers,<br />
slipped tendons, cleft palates and beak deformities.<br />
She then used a .25 parts per trillion solution and observed<br />
the same effects.<br />
Further tests of 2-4-D and 2-4-5-T without dioxin still<br />
produced dead and deformed offspring.<br />
English tests had demonstrated Agent Orange contained<br />
as many as 17 or more contaminates and au<strong>to</strong>psies<br />
of 600 reindeer in northern Sweden which had<br />
consumed foliage sprayed with Agent Orange showed a<br />
significant residue of the herbicide in the kidneys and<br />
liver of the deceased animals.<br />
The Piper Study in 1973 showed<br />
dioxin concentration in the liver and<br />
body fat of exposed workers up <strong>to</strong> ten<br />
times the normal concentration.<br />
In 1973 Matthew Meselson and Dr.<br />
Robert Boughman refined an analytical<br />
system for detecting the presence of<br />
dioxin in parts per trillion instead of pp<br />
billion. Using their system, they found<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
9
dioxin residues in Vietnamese crustaceans, indicating<br />
that dioxin had entered the food chain as a result of<br />
earlier 2-4-5-T use.<br />
Dow’s scientists continued <strong>to</strong> maintain that 2-4-5-T,<br />
when used as directed, presented inconsequential hazards<br />
<strong>to</strong> the environment, animals and man.<br />
While chloracne is widely accepted as the most obvious<br />
external symp<strong>to</strong>m of high dioxin exposure, many<br />
scientists believed this has been over-emphasised <strong>to</strong> the<br />
exclusion of other, more serious conditions. When pyromaniacs<br />
claim “no-one ever died from dioxin” and the<br />
worst thing it causes is “chloracne, a nasty skin complaint”<br />
they should be asked if this was really true why<br />
did the U.S. government buy out all the homes at Times<br />
Beach, and why did so many countries take drastic<br />
action when polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) and dioxins<br />
were found in food products in Belgium in 1999.<br />
The Belgium scandal occurred after 500 <strong>to</strong>nnes of<br />
animal feed was contaminated with approximately 50 kg<br />
of polychlorinated biphenyls and 1 gram of dioxins. The<br />
feed was then distributed <strong>to</strong> animal farms in Belgium and<br />
<strong>to</strong> a lesser extent the Netherlands, France and Ger- many.<br />
The discovery of the contamination resulted in a<br />
number of European countries, along with Russia, Hong<br />
Kong and Israel, imposing restrictions on the farm produce<br />
of Belgium.<br />
The USA went even further banning all farm produce<br />
from the whole of the European Union.<br />
The trouble began when a company that collects oil<br />
from fast-food chains (which it pays a fee for) and<br />
recycles it in<strong>to</strong> animal feed, decided <strong>to</strong> collect some oil<br />
it didn’t have <strong>to</strong> pay for.<br />
The problem was that about 8 liters of this oil had<br />
been taken from an electric transformer containing polychlorbiphenyls<br />
(PCBs, most likely Arochlor 1260) and<br />
dioxins. This was then put in<strong>to</strong> a 80,000 kg batch of<br />
animal fat which was mixed with 1.4 million kg of<br />
animal feed, a common ‘recovery’ practice in the United<br />
States and Europe.<br />
Pho<strong>to</strong> credits unknown<br />
A B<br />
C<br />
10<br />
The PCBs had been heated <strong>to</strong> a high temperature<br />
converting 50 <strong>to</strong> 80 mg <strong>to</strong> dioxins and furans. An estimated<br />
2 billion picograms of dioxin <strong>to</strong>xic equivalents<br />
(TEQ) entered the food chain through chicken, dairy and<br />
pig farms.[2]<br />
European Commission investiga<strong>to</strong>rs described the<br />
levels found at the first farm they visited as<br />
‘astronomical’, and that ‘the chickens were practically<br />
eating pure dioxin.’<br />
Test data revealed 958 parts per trillion (ppt) of dioxin<br />
(TEQ) in the fat of one chicken, and 775 ppt in the fat of<br />
another. The allowable limit for dioxin in chicken in<br />
Belgium is 5 ppt (TEQ)<br />
Over 17% of the Belgian beef farms were affected and<br />
nearly half of the country’s chicken farms. Products with<br />
excessive levels were destroyed, including some<br />
chickens.<br />
At the Dutch State Institute for Quality Control of<br />
Agricultural Products where tests were carried out,<br />
spokesman Wim Traag said the number of people<br />
affected depends on how many animals ate the poison<br />
and passed it on in meat or eggs.<br />
“Either a few people got a large dose or many people<br />
got a small dose” he said.<br />
It was estimated that between 10 and 15 kg of PCBs<br />
and from 200 <strong>to</strong> 300 mg dioxins were ingested <strong>to</strong><br />
maximally 10 million Belgians.[2]<br />
As has been the case on numerous occasions with<br />
dioxin, deceit and a cover-up by officials and politicians<br />
played a large part in the spread of the contamination<br />
throughout the European Union (EU) member states.<br />
It was discovered the Belgian chickens were showing<br />
signs of illness as early as January (1999) but it was<br />
April before the Belgian government admitted it was<br />
aware of the problem and put restrictions on some farms.<br />
Even then, it waited until the end of May before<br />
issuing a public statement, a delay that allowed large<br />
quantities of meat and other dairy produce <strong>to</strong> be exported<br />
<strong>to</strong> other member states. The duration of the exposure <strong>to</strong><br />
the population can be estimated as 4 months (February<br />
<strong>to</strong> May).<br />
Unfortunately, as most of<br />
the contaminated produce<br />
were perishable, it’s almost<br />
certain the bulk of it had<br />
already been consumed by<br />
the time the<br />
Belgian authorities<br />
condescended <strong>to</strong> tell the rest<br />
of the world of the problem.<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong> Chemistry<br />
It was during the 1930’s and<br />
40’s that chemists<br />
discovered that by attaching<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
Lackmann, G.-M., Schaller, K.-H., Angerer, J., 2004. Organochlorine compounds in breast-fed vs. bottle-fed<br />
infants: preliminary results at six weeks of age. Science Total Environ.<br />
Abstract - Background:<br />
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)<br />
ethane (DDT) are ubiqui<strong>to</strong>us compounds with carcinogenic and tera<strong>to</strong>genic properties. They are chemically very<br />
stable and lipophilic and, therefore, accumulate in our food-chain. They are prenatally transmitted from mother<br />
<strong>to</strong> foetus, and mother’s milk due <strong>to</strong> its high lipid content is an elimination pathway of special importance.<br />
Therefore, breast-feeding has been held responsible for elevated concentrations of these organochlorine compounds<br />
as well as for harmful effects in children later in life. Methods: Blood samples (2..5 ml) were taken from<br />
each 10 breast-fed and bottle-fed infants at 6 weeks of age. Blood specimens were immediately centrifuged, and<br />
serum was s<strong>to</strong>red in glass tubes at -20 oC until analysis. Three higher chlorinated PCB congeners (IUPAC<br />
nos.138, 153 and 180), HCB, and the organic metabolite of DDT, p,p
chlorine a<strong>to</strong>ms on<strong>to</strong> petroleum hydrocarbons they<br />
produced a vast array of ‘chlorinated hydrocarbons.’<br />
These gave rise <strong>to</strong> many of <strong>to</strong>day’s pesticides, solvents,<br />
plastics etc.<br />
Research has shown dioxin <strong>to</strong> be a very potent<br />
carcinogen that in just minuscule amounts poses a threat<br />
<strong>to</strong> the human immune, thyroid, and reproductive<br />
systems. Especially those of the developing foetus and<br />
breast fed child.<br />
Yusho<br />
There have been two previous dioxin contamination<br />
incidents similar <strong>to</strong> that which occurred in Belgium. <strong>One</strong><br />
in Yusho, Japan, (1968) saw a serious mass in<strong>to</strong>xication<br />
of 1,700 people after they had consumed rice<br />
contaminated with PCBs from a leaking oil coil. Heating<br />
(in this case by cooking) of the contaminated oil<br />
produced high levels of dioxin and 20 people died as a<br />
result. Symp<strong>to</strong>ms included chloracne, melanosis, edema<br />
of the eyes, swelling and stiffening of the limbs,<br />
headaches and hearing difficulties.[3]<br />
Children subsequently born <strong>to</strong> exposed parents had<br />
malformations of various kinds. Some were born with<br />
abnormal fingernails, were undersized with small heads<br />
and brown, hyperpigmented skin and mucous<br />
membranes (dubbed “cola babies”).<br />
They had abnormal shaped <strong>to</strong>oth roots and altered<br />
eruption of permanent teeth. They grew and developed<br />
slowly, had learning difficulties, speech problems and<br />
emotional and pulmonary (lung) problems.<br />
Long-term studies identified a high incident of<br />
malignant neoplasms (primary liver as well as lung,<br />
trachea and bronchus) and significantly increased liver<br />
and lung cancer. They also revealed a slight increase in<br />
diabetes, heart disease, chronic liver disease and<br />
cirrhosis.[4][5][6]<br />
Yu-Cheng<br />
The second incident occurred in<br />
1979 in Yu-Cheng, Taiwan. This<br />
was a repeat of the Yusho PCBrice<br />
oil disaster with more than<br />
2,000 identified victims.<br />
Children exposed in the womb<br />
developed slowly and are still<br />
retarded. When they were first<br />
born they were reported <strong>to</strong> have<br />
what was called ec<strong>to</strong>dermal<br />
dysplasia syndrome, which<br />
included all sort of pigmentation<br />
problems. They had brown skin,<br />
chloracne, teeth and pulmonary<br />
problems and extensive<br />
stimulation of P450s.[4][6][7]<br />
They also have elevated<br />
incidences of respira<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
12<br />
infections and otitis, ear infections, and a very decreased<br />
rate of ‘take’ of vaccinations. All of which would be at<br />
least compatible with the effects on the immune system.<br />
Asked in 1993 if there was any indication that dioxins<br />
were implicated in neurobehavioural effects in the Yu-<br />
Cheng study Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Direc<strong>to</strong>r of the<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al Toxicology Division of the United States<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al Protection Agency (U.S.EPA) replied:<br />
“Yes there is, we know for certain PCBs, like some of<br />
the non-dioxin-like PCBs, are developmentally<br />
neuro<strong>to</strong>xicity. Clearly, the sexual behaviour effects are<br />
neuro<strong>to</strong>xic effects, but they were induced<br />
developmentally.”<br />
Dr. Birnbaum also said: “...[the children] were small<br />
in stature. When they did development miles<strong>to</strong>nes, these<br />
kids were developmentally delayed. They have<br />
continued <strong>to</strong> follow these kids. Their IQ is shifted about<br />
five points down from the rest of the population, and this<br />
has been maintained as they have grown up. It is not<br />
something they have outgrown. The children continue <strong>to</strong><br />
be shorter in stature than matched controls and as the<br />
boys approach puberty, and some of them are now<br />
between the ages of 8-13, the ones who are 10, 11, 12<br />
and 13 are apparently having problems with their<br />
genitalia. This is very new data, ...but it is very<br />
compatible with the data that we are seeing in the<br />
experiments.”[8]<br />
An increase in foetal mortality was recorded among<br />
women who were pregnant at the time of eating the rice.[9]<br />
Despite the fact that:<br />
*children born <strong>to</strong> women who were pregnant at the<br />
time of the poisoning incident demonstrated Intrauterine<br />
Growth Retardation (IUGR);<br />
Pho<strong>to</strong> credit unknown<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
*moni<strong>to</strong>ring by various intelligence tests each year<br />
from 18 months <strong>to</strong> 7 years of age, showed their scores<br />
during these tests were consistently and significantly<br />
lower at each age level compared with an unexposed<br />
group of children (with their performances on<br />
standardised intelligence tests averaging an IQ of about<br />
70);<br />
*the contaminated mothers were still giving rise <strong>to</strong><br />
affected babies six years after ingestion of the affected<br />
oil.<br />
*pyromaniacs are still saying that a ‘nasty skin<br />
disease is the worst thing caused by dioxin.’ Disturbingly<br />
and despite the mountain of epidemiological evidence <strong>to</strong><br />
the contrary, some journalists and politicians are carrying<br />
this message forward as fact.<br />
Lies<br />
<strong>One</strong> would assume, given the publicity and headlines<br />
dioxin has been given since the Vietnam War<br />
politicians, academics and those pushing for the<br />
expansion of incineration must be fully aware that the<br />
‘chloracne, a nasty skin disease’ claim stems from<br />
fraudulent, industry conducted studies of incidents<br />
involving chemical workers?<br />
As is often the case when a regula<strong>to</strong>ry body liaisons<br />
with industry, the officials of the U.S.EPA <strong>to</strong>ok this data,<br />
(now proven <strong>to</strong> be fraudulent), and used it <strong>to</strong> assess the<br />
affects of dioxin on human health.<br />
Re-examination of the studies by independent<br />
scientists, sometimes working on behalf of workers<br />
compensation claims, found a number had been falsified<br />
with non-exposed personnel being included in exposed<br />
groups in order <strong>to</strong> reduce the number of increases in<br />
diseases like cancer among the exposed workers. [10][11][12]<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong> in breast milk<br />
Year: Country: WHO TEQ mean<br />
(pg/g fat)<br />
1992 Belgium 40.7<br />
2002 Egypt 26.4<br />
1993 United Kingdom 26.3<br />
1986 Poland 25.8<br />
1990 France 23.4<br />
1996 Kazakhstan 22.6<br />
1995 Japan 21.8<br />
1988 USSR 20.0<br />
2002 Netherlands 18.9<br />
1990 United States 18.8<br />
1991 Vietnam 18.1<br />
1990 Pakistan 17.7<br />
1990 South Africa 15.5<br />
1992 Denmark 15.2 *<br />
1993 Lithuania 15.1<br />
1992 Canada 14.6 *<br />
2002 Spain 13.5<br />
1987 Yugoslavia 13.3<br />
2002 Italy 12.4<br />
2002 Germany 12.1<br />
1992 Austria 12.0 *<br />
2002 Romania 9.7<br />
2002 Sweden 9.6<br />
2002 Ukraine 9.5<br />
2002 Finland 9.4<br />
2002 Russia 9.4<br />
2002 Slovak 8.9<br />
2002 Czech Republic 8.6<br />
2002 Norway 7.3<br />
2002 Ireland 7.2<br />
1987 India 7.2<br />
2002 Hungary 6.8<br />
2002 New Zealand 6.6<br />
2002 Croatia 6.4<br />
1987 Thailand 6.2<br />
2002 Bulgaria 6.1<br />
Dermatitis<br />
As I wrote earlier, the his<strong>to</strong>ry of dioxin and its impact on<br />
human health is really sordid. So let us go back <strong>to</strong> the<br />
year 1936 when several hundred lumber workers in<br />
Mississippi began developing severe `skin rashes.’<br />
Dr. Karl O. Stingily a physician, treated the first of<br />
three or four hundred cases of this new ‘industrial<br />
chemical dermatitis’ and wrote in the Southern Medical<br />
Journal in 1940 describing the ‘peculiar type of pustular<br />
and ulcerative lesions’ that affected the predominately<br />
Negro lumber workers.<br />
In the same journal there was also a report from an<br />
Alabama physician of a worker with acne and blackheads<br />
covering his face. The man had brought along <strong>to</strong> the<br />
surgery his two children, a girl of five and a three year<br />
old boy who also had blackheads [the chloracne<br />
trademark] “all over their faces.”<br />
The worker explained that when he came home from<br />
work his children would grab him around the legs<br />
hugging him and he’d take them up on<strong>to</strong> his lap. It was<br />
through this loving action they came in<strong>to</strong> contact with the<br />
traces of chemicals on his overalls. [13]<br />
The same year two Atlanta physicians published a<br />
case his<strong>to</strong>ry in the Archives of Derma<strong>to</strong>logy and<br />
Syphilogy, about a Monsan<strong>to</strong> worker described simply<br />
as: “O. D., a Negro aged 26.”<br />
They reported that the patient had a severe case of<br />
chloracne and observed that as early as December 1933,<br />
O. D.. had “complained of lassitude, loss of appetite and<br />
loss of libido.”<br />
Some sense of the authors’ ability <strong>to</strong> appreciate the<br />
significance of these symp<strong>to</strong>ms, (later <strong>to</strong> be characteristic<br />
of dioxin poisoning,) can be gained from their additional<br />
comment:<br />
2002 Australia 5.6<br />
1992 Albania 4.8 *<br />
2002 Brazil 4.1<br />
1994 China 3.1<br />
* TEQ: I-TEF <strong>Dioxin</strong><br />
Sources:<br />
All 2002 information comes from<br />
“Results of The Third Round of<br />
The WHO-Coordinated Exposure Study On<br />
The Levels Of PCBs, PCDDs And PCDFs In<br />
Human Milk” by FX Rolaf van Leeuwen<br />
and Rainer Malisch.<br />
Information for all other dates is taken from -<br />
Infant Exposure <strong>to</strong> Chemicals in Breast<br />
Milk in the United States: What We Need <strong>to</strong><br />
Learn From a Breast Milk Moni<strong>to</strong>ring Program<br />
by Judy S. LaKind, Ches<strong>to</strong>n M. Berlin, and<br />
Daniel Q. Naiman. Published in<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al Health Perspectives<br />
VOLUME 109 - NUMBER 1- January 2001.<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
13
“His complaint of lassitude was not borne out by<br />
anything more than the usual temperament of the Negro<br />
<strong>to</strong>ward work.”[14]<br />
Lesions<br />
In 1937 twenty one workers who had handled powdered<br />
chlorophenol products at Dow’s Midland plant developed<br />
“acne like eruptions.” Some of the blackheads<br />
were so severe they produced a black discoloration<br />
beginning behind the ears and spreading over the whole<br />
face and the back of the neck. Some men had lesions on<br />
the arms, but<strong>to</strong>cks, abdomen, thighs, penis and scrotum.<br />
Fifteen months later not one had completely recovered<br />
and many had severe scarring, weight loss, and complained<br />
of being easily fatigued.<br />
Starve the Enemy<br />
During the 2nd World War the American military began<br />
working on ideas <strong>to</strong> starve the enemy in<strong>to</strong> surrender.<br />
After testing nearly 1,100 substances they knew that a<br />
strong dose of the phenoxy compounds 2,4dichlorophenoxyacetic<br />
(2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetie<br />
(2,4,5-T) was effective in killing rice<br />
indoors. (A 50/50 mixture of these chemicals was later<br />
named Agent Orange.)<br />
They began testing chemicals in the field and calculated<br />
that 20,000 <strong>to</strong>ns of 2.4-D could destroy the entire<br />
Japanese rice crop. They were plan-<br />
ning an attack on the Japanese mainland<br />
when the war ended.<br />
In West Germany within five<br />
months of starting experiments with<br />
2,4,5-trichlorophenol 17 workers<br />
developed chloracne. Eleven developed<br />
bronchitis, five suffered damage<br />
<strong>to</strong> the muscular layer of the heart<br />
The Fifteen Herbicides Used in Vietnam<br />
PURPLE: A formulation of 2,4,-D and 2,4,5,-T used<br />
between 1962 and 1964.<br />
GREEN: Contained 2,4,5-T and was used 1962- 1964.<br />
PINK: Contained 2,4,5-T and was used 1962- 1964.<br />
ORANGE: A formulation of 2,4,-D and 2,4,5-T<br />
used between 1965 and 1970.<br />
WHITE: A formulation of Picloram and 2,4,-D.<br />
BLUE: Contained cacodylic acid.<br />
ORANGE II: A formualtion of 2,4,-D and 2,4,5-T<br />
used in 1968 and 1969 (also sometimes referred <strong>to</strong> as<br />
“Super Orange”)<br />
DINOXOL: A formulation of 2,4,-D and 2,4,,5-T.<br />
Small quantities were tested in Vietnam between<br />
1962 and 1964.<br />
TRINOXOL: Contained 2,4,5-T. Small quantities<br />
tested in Vietnam 1962-1964.<br />
14<br />
Agent Blue: Acute poisoning<br />
by cacodylic acid can cause<br />
headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea,<br />
dizziness, convulsions, general<br />
paralysis, and death. Symp<strong>to</strong>ms<br />
can be brought on by an ounce<br />
of cacodylic acid.<br />
wall, two had liver cirrhosis (one fatal) and nine had<br />
symp<strong>to</strong>ms of neuritis, most of them involving severe<br />
pains in the lower limbs. Seven suffered various complaints<br />
including constant fatigue, depression, lack of<br />
vitality, nervousness, slight headaches, disturbed sleep<br />
and decreased libido and potency.<br />
This provided even more evidence that chloracne is<br />
not simply a “nasty skin complaint”, but a serious<br />
disfiguring, systemic disease that can last for four decades<br />
and even recur more than 20 years after exposure.<br />
U.S.A.<br />
In the United States an accident at Monsan<strong>to</strong>’s Nitro<br />
plant in West Virginia in 1949 left 228 workers, labora<strong>to</strong>ry,<br />
medical staff and several of the workers wives who<br />
had never visited the plant, with chloracne.<br />
<strong>One</strong> worker, a white man, developed chloracne so<br />
severely he gave up all social and athletic functions<br />
remaining in his house for months on end.<br />
Several times he was mistaken for a Negro and was<br />
forced <strong>to</strong> conform <strong>to</strong> the racial segregation cus<strong>to</strong>ms of<br />
the area.[15]<br />
Manipulated Studies<br />
Zack and Gaffey, two Monsan<strong>to</strong> employees, published a<br />
mortality study purporting <strong>to</strong> compare the cancer death<br />
rate amongst the Nitro workers who were exposed <strong>to</strong><br />
dioxin in the 1949 explosion, with the<br />
cancer death rate of unexposed workers.<br />
The published study concluded that<br />
the death rate of the exposed worker<br />
was exactly the same as the death rate as<br />
the unexposed group.<br />
This was a result of Zack and Gaffey<br />
deliberately and knowingly omitting<br />
five deaths from the exposed group and<br />
BROMACIL<br />
DIQUAT:<br />
TANDEX:<br />
MONURON:<br />
DIURON:<br />
DALAPON:<br />
Small quantities of all of the above were tested in Vietnam,<br />
1962-1964.<br />
Agent Orange was a mixture of fifty fifty 2,4-D and<br />
2,4,5-T containing up <strong>to</strong> 30 mg/kg or more of<br />
2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) an<br />
inevitable by-product of the manufacturing<br />
process. This was sprayed undiluted using 3 gallons<br />
per acre in lines about 240 feet wide. Roughly 17.7<br />
million gal- lons of herbicides were used between<br />
1960 and 1971 with 12.8 million gallons being<br />
Agent Orange which Dow sold <strong>to</strong> the government at<br />
$7 a gallon.<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
taking four ‘exposed’ workers and putting these in the<br />
‘unexposed’ group.<br />
This decreased the death rate in the exposed group and<br />
increased that in the unexposed group. The exposed<br />
group had in fact 18 cancer deaths instead of the<br />
reported 9 (P 1. Ex. 1464), with the result that the death<br />
rate in the exposed group was 65% higher<br />
than expected.[16]<br />
BASF<br />
At the Badischer Anilin & SodaFabrik (BASF) West<br />
German plant, a chamber containing 2,4,5trichlorophenol<br />
was overheating for months. As a result<br />
60 workers developed chloracne, as did some of their<br />
wives, children and even their household pets.<br />
When the chamber eventually exploded it caused a<br />
wide range of illnesses including swelling of the skin,<br />
excessive hair growth, pulmonary emphysema, kidney<br />
damage, muscular disturbances and breaks in memory<br />
and concentration.<br />
The Germans would not provide exact figures, but reported:<br />
* Several workers died as a result of liver damage and<br />
one from intestinal cancer.<br />
* Two men had persistent chloracne 23 years after<br />
the accident.<br />
* <strong>One</strong> had paralysis of the left leg,<br />
* Another was permanently deaf.<br />
In 1982 Alistair Hay (Leeds University) published an<br />
account of the accident and recorded that 17 workers had<br />
died, six from cancer, “four of which involved the gastrointestinal<br />
tract.”<br />
In 1958 a worker was assigned work on or near the<br />
reac<strong>to</strong>r that was involved in the 1953 explosion. The<br />
reac<strong>to</strong>r had not been used since the explosion, and the<br />
worker used protective clothing which included a face<br />
mask. He removed the mask several times during the<br />
work. Four days later he was suffering from headaches<br />
and had developed hearing loss and chloracne. Within<br />
six months he developed pancreatitis and a painful upper<br />
abdominal tumor. He died three months later.<br />
A post-mortem revealed intestinal ulceration and degeneration<br />
of liver and fatty tissue.<br />
Another worker at the same plant spent two hours<br />
working on the reac<strong>to</strong>r wall in 1958. He developed a<br />
severe case of chloracne. <strong>One</strong> year later a large x-ray<br />
opaque area appeared on one of his lungs. Five years<br />
after the initial exposure, the worker suffered acute<br />
psychosis and committed suicide.<br />
Rabbit Testing<br />
Tests on rabbits by German scientists in 1953 revealed a<br />
single feeding of 0.1 milligram of dioxin per kilogram of<br />
the rabbit’s weight killed it.<br />
Chemists discovered that any animal put in<strong>to</strong> cages<br />
that had housed animals treated with dioxin (and conse-<br />
quently developed liver problems) also developed liver<br />
damage, as did any animal living in the cages next <strong>to</strong><br />
those housing the dioxin treated animals.<br />
Around this time workers in CH Boehringer Sohn<br />
trichlrophenol plants in Ingelheim and Hamburg developed<br />
chloracne.<br />
The scientist who had worked on the rabbits, Dr.<br />
Schulz, examined the workers who complained of headaches,<br />
giddiness, a loss of appetite, and having lost all<br />
interest in sex.<br />
Most of these workers had abdominal trouble. Biopsies<br />
revealed three had liver damage. All suffered distinctive<br />
mental and behavioural changes during the<br />
years after being exposed. Most experienced sleep disturbances,<br />
reduced memory and perception. Psychological<br />
tests showed a decrease in mental capacity.<br />
In 1963 an explosion occurred in a 2-4-5-T fac<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
owned by Philips Duphar in Amsterdam, Holland. Fifty<br />
workers developed chloracne and suffered internal damage<br />
and serious psychological disturbances as a result.<br />
When workers tried <strong>to</strong> decontaminate the plant six<br />
months later all but one wore deep-sea diving suits and<br />
industrial face masks. Nine men contracted chloracne,<br />
and three of them died within the next two years. The<br />
worker who was not as well protected was still being<br />
treated in thirteen years later for severe effects and was<br />
unable <strong>to</strong> work.<br />
In 1973 the plant was still so contaminated with<br />
dioxin that it had <strong>to</strong> be dismantled, embedded in concrete,<br />
and buried at sea.<br />
Between 1965 and 1969 a 2-4-5-T production plant<br />
near Prague, Czech Republic, developed leaks in its<br />
processing area. Workers developed Chloracne and<br />
exhibited weight loss, libido diminution and insomnia.<br />
Maximum symp<strong>to</strong>ms were observed about one <strong>to</strong> two<br />
years after the initial exposure, but lasted over eight<br />
years in some of the exposed workers. Several workers<br />
died of severe liver damage, and workers’ families also<br />
became sick.<br />
Contaminated equipment was buried in a mine shaft.<br />
Other studies of workers exposed <strong>to</strong> 2-4-D and 2-4-5-<br />
T were conducted by Festisov (1966), Long (1969),<br />
Poland (1971), Sundell (1972) and Piper (1973). These<br />
studies showed exposed workers exhibiting symp<strong>to</strong>ms<br />
including fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite, s<strong>to</strong>mach<br />
and kidney pain, upper respira<strong>to</strong>ry distress, decreased<br />
hearing, smell and neurological responses, high serum<br />
albumin values, skin and eye irritations and concentrated<br />
TCDD levels in body fat and liver tissue... Further tests<br />
showed dioxin <strong>to</strong> be an extremely <strong>to</strong>xic agent with a<br />
slow effect rate and diverse symp<strong>to</strong>ma<strong>to</strong>logy including<br />
edema, necrotic changes of the liver, gastric hyperplasia<br />
and ulceration, hemmoroglus of gastrointestinal tract<br />
and other organs, atrophy of the kidneys, thymus and<br />
other lymphoid organs and tissues. Symp<strong>to</strong>ms appeared<br />
<strong>to</strong> lead <strong>to</strong> decreased immune responses.[1]<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
15
Persistent<br />
The <strong>to</strong>xicity and persistence of dioxin can be better<br />
appreciated when you consider: *the children from Alabama<br />
who developed chloracne from the traces of<br />
chemicals on their father’s overalls;<br />
*The BASF mechanic wearing full protective gear,<br />
entering a chamber where trichlrophenol had been prepared<br />
five years earlier. Within days he developed chloracne,<br />
headaches, loss of hearing, was hospitalised a<br />
month later with angina, then acute pancreatitis and a<br />
tumour in the upper abdomen;<br />
*Three years after an explosion at the Coalite Chemicals<br />
fac<strong>to</strong>ry in Derbyshire, two outside contrac<strong>to</strong>rs<br />
working on a tank that had been repeatedly cleaned<br />
using high pressure steam jets and tested clean, developed<br />
chloracne. <strong>One</strong> contaminated his son (who developed<br />
chloracne), while the other contaminated his wife<br />
who developed the disease nine months later.<br />
As pointed out earlier, we are led <strong>to</strong> believe chloracne<br />
is a symp<strong>to</strong>m of high dioxin exposure. Yet the sixty<br />
BASF workers were only exposed <strong>to</strong> vapours from the<br />
overheating tank; the mechanic in Germany and the two<br />
workers in Derbyshire, were all only exposed <strong>to</strong> traces<br />
of dioxin; the families of the BASF workers, the two<br />
children in Alabama, the women and child in England,<br />
were all only exposed <strong>to</strong> traces on the workers clothes /<br />
overalls. [17]<br />
Prison Tests<br />
In 1965 Dow Chemicals began a series of experiments<br />
on prisoners at the Holmsberg Prison, PA. A $10.000<br />
study under the direction of Mr. V. K Rowe of Dow, was<br />
conducted by Dr. Albert Kligman.<br />
During his experiments Dr. Kligman put specific<br />
amounts of pure dioxin on<strong>to</strong> the backs of the human<br />
guinea pigs but, without Dow’s knowledge, he increased<br />
the dosage dramatically at one point.<br />
After being released several prisoners went <strong>to</strong> the<br />
U.S.EPA for assistance because they were very ill. The<br />
officials refused <strong>to</strong> have anything <strong>to</strong> do with them and<br />
informed them their files had somehow been ‘lost.’<br />
Information about these experiments came <strong>to</strong> light in<br />
1980 during U.S.EPA hearings when V. K. Rowe testified<br />
about them. He refused <strong>to</strong> follow up on the state of<br />
the prisoner’s health and the matter was dropped and<br />
quickly forgotten by both company and EPA officials.<br />
Refusing <strong>to</strong> follow up on the prisoner’s health enabled<br />
Dow <strong>to</strong> continue claiming: “Beyond a case of chloracne<br />
there is nothing wrong with anyone exposed <strong>to</strong> Agent<br />
Orange.”<br />
Vietnam<br />
It was through its use in Vietnam that Agent Orange and<br />
the contaminate ‘dioxin’ first hit the world’s headlines.<br />
Trials at Fort Drum, New York had shown that 2,4-<br />
D and 2,4,5-T were active in killing most the species<br />
16<br />
of plants encountered in Vietnam.<br />
January 1962 saw the beginning of herbicide spraying<br />
between Saigon and the coast in an effort <strong>to</strong> clear<br />
strips and reveal Vietcong movements. Despite knowing<br />
of the problems and the workers ill-health. The major<br />
herbicide companies assured the military that “none of<br />
the workers in their fac<strong>to</strong>ries had shown any ill effects<br />
as a result of working with these chemicals.”[17]<br />
Veterans<br />
After returning home U.S. Vietnam Veterans exposed <strong>to</strong><br />
the chemicals began <strong>to</strong> suffer a multitude of health<br />
complaints including: cancer, numbness and tingling in<br />
the extremes, skin rashes, liver dysfunction, loss of sex<br />
drive, infertility, miscarriages, radical mood changes,<br />
weakness and birth defects in their children [18] chloracne,<br />
soft tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and<br />
Hodgkin’s disease, Porphyria cutanea tarda, (PCT) a<br />
disease characterized by liver dysfunction and light<br />
sensitive lesions, with pigment changes in the skin.<br />
Consequent studies found ‘sufficient evidence of a<br />
statistical association with exposure <strong>to</strong> herbicides or<br />
dioxin.’[19]<br />
A team of scientists representing the American Association<br />
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) made<br />
a detailed examination of birth records in Tay Ninh, a<br />
province that had been heavily sprayed. They found that<br />
in 1968-69 over twice the national average of still-birth<br />
had occurred at the Tay Ninh Provincial Hospital, 64 per<br />
thousands compared <strong>to</strong> the national average of 31.2. The<br />
AAAS team also discovered that there had been a<br />
‘disproportionate rise’ in two birth defects, pure cleft<br />
palate and spina bifida, at the Saigon children’s Hospital<br />
during 1967 and 1968. They were neither able <strong>to</strong> confirm<br />
nor deny that these effects resulted from defoliation<br />
campaigns.[20]<br />
The Yale embryologist Clement L. Markert believed<br />
the use of 2,4,5-T and 2,4,-D posed an ‘unacceptable<br />
risk’ <strong>to</strong> the people of Vietnam and added that even if the<br />
compounds were not causing obvious malformations <strong>to</strong><br />
Vietnamese children, they could lead <strong>to</strong> hidden damage<br />
such as a lessening of the brain capacity.[21]<br />
Vietnam says that something like 3 million of its 80<br />
million population have birth defects or other health<br />
problems related <strong>to</strong> dioxin. The legacy of this chemical<br />
warfare can even be inflicted on the unborn, with Agent<br />
Orange birth deformities now being passed on <strong>to</strong> a third<br />
generation.<br />
Vernon Houk<br />
In 1983 a study <strong>to</strong> determine if veterans were suffering<br />
health problem from exposure <strong>to</strong> Agent Orange was<br />
placed under the direction of the U.S. Centers for Disease<br />
Control (CDC) and headed by Dr. Vernon Houk of<br />
the Center for <strong>Environment</strong>al Health and Injury Control.<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
In June 1986 the CDC cancelled the study saying it<br />
was impossible <strong>to</strong> identify who had been sprayed and<br />
who hadn’t. Prior <strong>to</strong> this they had asked the National<br />
Academy of Science (NAS) <strong>to</strong> provide an independent<br />
assessment of whether the study could in fact be completed.<br />
The NAS said there was more than sufficient<br />
evidence <strong>to</strong> enable them <strong>to</strong> do a creditable epidemiological<br />
study. CDC ignored them.<br />
During an inquiry in<strong>to</strong> how $63 million of government<br />
money could be spent on this and other studies with<br />
conflicting results, the Committee on Government<br />
Operations concluded the CDC studies were “flawed and<br />
perhaps designed <strong>to</strong> fail,” and that the government had<br />
“effectively used the CDC study <strong>to</strong> stifle any at- tempts<br />
<strong>to</strong> link Agent Orange <strong>to</strong> health effects.”[20]<br />
It was during these hearings that Dennis Smith, a<br />
CDC staff scientist said: “the administra<strong>to</strong>rs of CDC had<br />
changed the design and variables of the study so frequently<br />
the results were essentially meaningless.”<br />
He also said researchers had manufactured data <strong>to</strong> fill<br />
gaps in records. When asked whether he thought it was<br />
impossible <strong>to</strong> link soldiers <strong>to</strong> exposure as claimed by<br />
Vernon Houk Smith said: “that was completely false.”[22]<br />
Speaking of the CDC study at the First Citizens’<br />
Conference on <strong>Dioxin</strong> (Chapel Hill North Caroline, Sept<br />
21 1991) Marc Smolonsky, an investiga<strong>to</strong>r working for<br />
the House Committee on Human Resources and Inter<br />
Governmental Relations (Washing<strong>to</strong>n D. C.) said.<br />
“...It begins in Vietnam when eleven million gallons<br />
of the stuff was sprayed from helicopters, backpacks,<br />
aero planes. and accidental dumpings... dioxin was a big<br />
component of Agent Orange... Congress ordered this<br />
study in 1979. They ordered the Veterans Administration<br />
<strong>to</strong> do this study... three years later, the study had not<br />
begun ... and then one day appears a man named Dr.<br />
Vernon Houk. before a congressional committee. He<br />
said, give me that money. I’ll do the study. I’ll do it<br />
better and quicker than the Veterans Administration<br />
could do it. [Houk is] one of the most influential health<br />
The U.S. Government’s Veterans Administration officially<br />
recognizes 13 medical conditions linked <strong>to</strong> Agent Orange<br />
and provides free medical treatment <strong>to</strong> U.S. soldiers who<br />
can prove their exposure <strong>to</strong> the herbicide.<br />
Types of Cancer with no time requirements for manifestation<br />
Cancer of the bronchus<br />
Cancer of the larynx<br />
Lung Cancer<br />
Prostate cancer<br />
Cancer of the trachea<br />
Hodgkin’s disease<br />
Multiple myeloma<br />
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma<br />
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia<br />
officials in the federal government. He’s an assistant<br />
surgeon general; He’s the direc<strong>to</strong>r of one of the Centres<br />
of Disease Control. As the study proceeded we found<br />
that Dr. Houk decided <strong>to</strong>:*exclude the people who had<br />
the most terms of service in Vietnam. who would have<br />
received the most exposure:<br />
*exclude the people in the areas where Agent Orange<br />
was sprayed the most - and he did a lot of other things <strong>to</strong><br />
narrow it down <strong>to</strong> the people who, in my view - and in<br />
the view of our committee - were the people who probably<br />
would have been least likely <strong>to</strong> be exposed. And then<br />
Dr. Houk said we can’t do this study because we can’t<br />
identify who was sprayed with eleven million gallons of<br />
herbicide. He said the study was impossible <strong>to</strong> do, and<br />
with the approval of the White House and the Office of<br />
Management and Budget (OMB), the study was cancelled<br />
in 1987...we subpoenaed documents of the White<br />
House. They had an organisation called the ‘Agent Orange<br />
Working Group,’ and the lawyers that worked with<br />
this group and with the OMB, in writing, in memoranda<br />
that we have copies of, concluded that it would be<br />
dangerous <strong>to</strong> compensate Vietnam Veterans for Agent<br />
Orange because of the liability <strong>to</strong> the government, not<br />
only at the military end, but also the civilian end, and<br />
also the liability <strong>to</strong> chemical companies ...” [23]<br />
It was with the publication of the Bionetics report in<br />
1969 that news of health and ecological damage from the<br />
use of herbicides began filtering out of Vietnam. With<br />
the doubts about the safety of the herbicides being in the<br />
public domain, both scientific and public outrage saw the<br />
use of Agent Orange by the military banned in 1970.<br />
Ignoring the evidence from Vietnam and warnings<br />
from the U.S. Surgeon General that dioxin-laced herbicides<br />
may present an imminent hazard <strong>to</strong> women of child<br />
bearing age. The U.S. government allowed its domestic<br />
use <strong>to</strong> continue and even expand throughout the United<br />
States over the next decade.<br />
Copyright © Ralph Ryder, August 2008<br />
Types of Soft Tissue Sarcoma with no time<br />
requirements for manifestation<br />
Adult Fibrosarcoma<br />
Alveolar Soft <strong>Part</strong> Sarcoma<br />
Angiosarcoma<br />
Clear Cell Sarcoma of Aponeuroses<br />
Clear Cell Sarcoma of Tendons and<br />
Aponeuroses<br />
Congenital Fibrosarcoma<br />
Derma<strong>to</strong>fibrosarcoma Protuberans<br />
Ec<strong>to</strong>mesenchymoma<br />
Epithelioid Malignant Leiomyosarcoma<br />
Epithelioid and Glandular Malignant<br />
Schwannomas<br />
Epithelioid Sarcoma<br />
Extraskeletal Ewing’s Sarcoma<br />
Hemangiosarcoma<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
17
Infantile Fibrosarcoma<br />
Leiomyosarcoma<br />
Liposarcoma<br />
Lymphangiosarcoma<br />
Malignant Fibrous Histiocy<strong>to</strong>ma<br />
Malignant Giant Cell Tumor of the<br />
Tendon Sheath<br />
Malignant Glandular Schwannoma<br />
Malignant Glomus Tumor<br />
Malignant Hemangiopericy<strong>to</strong>ma<br />
Malignant Mesenchymoma<br />
Malignant Ganglioneuroma<br />
Malignant Granular Cell Tumor<br />
Malignant Leiomyoblas<strong>to</strong>ma<br />
Malignant Synovioma<br />
Malignant Schwannoma with Rhabdomyoblastic<br />
Differentiation<br />
Proliferating (systemic)<br />
Angiendothelioma<strong>to</strong>sis<br />
Rhabdomyosarcoma<br />
Synovial Sarcoma<br />
Diseases other than Cancer with various time requirements<br />
Type 2 Diabetes (Also known as Diabetes Mellitus)<br />
Periperal neuropathy (acute or subacute)<br />
Chloracne<br />
Porphyria Cutanea Tarda<br />
Disabilities in Children of Vietnam Veterans<br />
Spina Bifida<br />
Certain Birth Defects in Children of VN Veterans<br />
GLOSSARY<br />
Acute Peripheral Neuropathy. A temporary dysfunction<br />
involving the nervous system.<br />
Adult Fibrosarcoma. A tumor formed as an adult<br />
derived from connective tissue.<br />
Alveolar Soft <strong>Part</strong> Sarcoma. A sarcoma found in<br />
the alveolus, the sac-like ducts in the lung.<br />
Angiosarcoma. A tumor occurring in the breast and<br />
skin, and believed <strong>to</strong> originate from blood vessels.<br />
Birth Defects. An abnormal structure, function, or metabolism<br />
of the fetus, whether genetically determined or as the<br />
result of an environmental influence during embryonic or<br />
fetal life.<br />
Cancer of the Bronchus. A malignant tumor found in<br />
a bronchus, an extension of the trachea (windpipe)<br />
connecting <strong>to</strong> the lungs.<br />
Cancer of the Larynx. A malignant tumor found in<br />
the larynx (voice box).<br />
Cancer of the Lung. A malignant tumor found in the lung.<br />
Cancer of the Prostate. A malignant tumor found in<br />
the prostate gland.<br />
Cancer of the Trachea. A malignant tumor found in<br />
the trachea (windpipe).<br />
Chloracne. An acne-like eruption due <strong>to</strong> prolonged contact<br />
with certain chlorinated compounds.<br />
18<br />
Clear Cell Sarcoma of Aponeuroses. A sarcoma found at<br />
the end of a muscle where it becomes a tendon.<br />
Clear Cell Sarcoma of Tendons. A sarcoma found in the<br />
tendons.<br />
Congenital Fibrosarcoma. A malignant tumor formed before<br />
birth and derived from connective tissue.<br />
Derma<strong>to</strong>fibrosarcoma. A relatively slow growing benign<br />
skin tumor consisting of one or more firm nodules.<br />
Ec<strong>to</strong>mesenchymoma. A tumor found in a certain part of the<br />
skin.<br />
Epithelioid Malignant Leiomyosarcoma. A malignant tumor<br />
derived from smooth muscle found in the layer covering<br />
the muscle.<br />
Epithelioid Malignant Schwannoma. A moderately firm,<br />
benign, tumor found in the layers of membrane covering<br />
surfaces inside the body, caused by <strong>to</strong>o many Schwann<br />
cells growing in a disorderly manner.<br />
Epithelioid Sarcoma. A tumor found in the membrane<br />
covering surfaces inside the body.<br />
Extraskeletal Ewing’s Sarcoma. A tumor outside the<br />
bone consisting of small, rounded cells.<br />
Hemangiosarcoma. A tumor derived from blood vessels<br />
and lining blood filled spaces.<br />
Hodgkins Disease. A tumor in the lymph nodes characterized<br />
by the increasing enlargement of the lymph nodes,<br />
liver, and spleen, and by progressive anemia.<br />
Infantile Fibrosarcoma. A tumor formed as a child derived<br />
from fibrous connective tissue.<br />
Leiomyosarcoma. A tumor derived from smooth muscle.<br />
Liposarcoma. A tumor that may occur in any site in the<br />
body consisting of irregular fat cells.<br />
Lymphangiosarcoma. A tumor derived from blood vessels.<br />
Lymphoma. A malignant tumor of lymph nodes.<br />
Malignant Fibrous Histiocy<strong>to</strong>ma. A type of tumor<br />
present in connective tissue.<br />
Malignant Giant Cell Tumor of the Tendon Sheath. A<br />
tumor found in the membrane of the tendon.<br />
Malignant Glandular Schwannoma. A moderately firm,<br />
malignant tumor in the glands caused by <strong>to</strong>o many Schwann<br />
cells growing in a disorderly pattern.<br />
Malignant Glomus Tumor. A tumor found in the glomus,<br />
the tiny nodes found in the nailbed, pads of fingers and <strong>to</strong>es,<br />
ears, hands, feet and many other organs of the body.<br />
Malignant Hemangiopericy<strong>to</strong>ma. A tumor characterized by<br />
rapidly growing fat cells formed in blood vessels and lining<br />
blood filled spaces.<br />
Malignant Mesenchymoma. A malignant tumor in the embryonic<br />
tissue or fluid.<br />
Malignant Schwannoma with Rhabdomyoblastic. A moderately<br />
firm, malignant tumor found in skeletal muscle resulting<br />
from the rapid growth of Schwann cells in a disorderly<br />
pattern.<br />
Multiple Myeloma. Cancer of specific bone marrow cells<br />
characterized by bone marrow tumors in various bones of<br />
the body.<br />
Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Malignant tumors of the lymph<br />
nodes, distinguished from Hodgkins disease by the absence<br />
of the giant Reed-Sternberg cells.<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
Peripheral Neuropathy. A dysfunction involving either the<br />
somatic nerves or the au<strong>to</strong>nomic system. See also acute<br />
peripheral neuropathy and subacute peripheral neuropathy.<br />
Porphyria Cutanea Tarda. A disease characterized by liver<br />
dysfunction and light sensitive lesions, with pigment<br />
changes in the skin.<br />
Proliferating (systemic) Angiendothelioma<strong>to</strong>sis. A growing<br />
number of 20 benign tumors formed in blood vessels. Often<br />
causes skin discoloration.<br />
Rhabdomyosarcoma. A tumor derived from skeletal muscle.<br />
References:<br />
[1] Agent Orange Fact Sheet: An His<strong>to</strong>rical<br />
Perspective.<br />
http://www.vvnw.org and<br />
theveteranscoalition.org<br />
[2] The Belgian PCB and dioxin Incident<br />
of January-June 1999:<br />
Exposure Data and Potential Impact on<br />
Health. Nik van Larebeke, Luc Hens,.<br />
Paul Schepens. Adrian Covaci. Jan<br />
Baeyens. Kim Everaert. Jan L.<br />
Bernheim. Robert Vlietnck and Geert de<br />
Poorter. <strong>Environment</strong>al Health<br />
Perspectives Vol. 109 No. 3<br />
March 2001.<br />
[3] ‘Toxic Substances in the<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>,’ B. Magnus Francis, John<br />
Wiley & Sons, Inc, ISBN 0-471-50781-<br />
4 (1494) pg 108<br />
[4] Dr. David Rall “Human Health<br />
Consequences of <strong>Dioxin</strong>,” Salem Public<br />
Library, Salem, Oregon April 13, 1996.<br />
ToxCat Vol. 2 No 5 (Winter 96)'<br />
[5] Dr. Arnold Schecter “<strong>Dioxin</strong> and<br />
Health,” Salem Public Library, Salem,<br />
Oregon April 13, 1996. ToxCat Vol. 2<br />
No 5 (Winter 96)<br />
[6] Lois Gibbs, ‘Dying from <strong>Dioxin</strong>,’<br />
ISBN 0-89608-525-2. Studies quoted:<br />
Kuratsane, M. Yusho, with reference <strong>to</strong><br />
Yu-Cheng “In Halogenated biphenyls,<br />
terphenyls, napthalenes, dibenzodioxins<br />
and related products,” Kimbrough, R.D.<br />
and Jenson, AA., eds New York, NY:<br />
Elsevier Science Publishers, 2nd ed.,<br />
381-400 (1989) And: Chen, YC.J., Guo,<br />
Y.L.L., and Hsu, C.C. “Cognitive<br />
development of children prenatally<br />
exposed <strong>to</strong> polychlorinated biphenyl’s<br />
(Yu-Cheng children)<br />
and their siblings,” Journal of the<br />
Formosa Medical Association 9’ 704-7.<br />
[7] Rogan W.J. et.al., 1988 Congenital<br />
Poisoning by Polychlorinated<br />
Biphenyl’s and their Contaminants in<br />
Taiwan Science Vol. 241, pgs. 334-336<br />
[8] Dr. Linda Birnbaum ‘Re-evaluation<br />
of <strong>Dioxin</strong>' Presentation <strong>to</strong> the 102nd<br />
Meeting of the Great Lakes Water<br />
Quality Board, Chicago, Illinois, July<br />
15th 1993. ToxCat Vol. 2 No. 8<br />
[9] Chen et.al., 1992 Lai et.al., Guo<br />
et.al., 1994. Chen et.al., 1992,<br />
Guo et.al., 1994.<br />
[10] Cate Jenkins U.S. EPA, “Memo <strong>to</strong><br />
Raymond Loehr: Newly Revealed Fraud<br />
by Monsan<strong>to</strong> in an Epidemiological<br />
Study Used by EPA <strong>to</strong> Assess Human<br />
Health Effects from <strong>Dioxin</strong>s,” dated<br />
February 23, 1990. The study in question<br />
was: Zack. J. A. and W.R Gaffey, “A<br />
Mortality Study o f Workers Employed<br />
At The Monsan<strong>to</strong> Company Plant In<br />
Nitro, West Virginia”. <strong>Environment</strong>al<br />
Science Research, Vol.26 (1983) pages<br />
575-59I<br />
[11] R.R.Suskind studied the same incident<br />
at Nitro and published: R.R. Suskind<br />
and VS. Hertzberg, “Human Health<br />
Effects of 2,4,5,T And Its Toxic Contaminants,”<br />
Journal of the American<br />
Medical Association, Vol. 251, No 18<br />
(1984) pages 2373-238<br />
[12] J Stephanie Wanchinski (“New<br />
Analysis links dioxin <strong>to</strong> cancer,”) New<br />
Scientist, Oc<strong>to</strong>ber 28, 1989, page 24.<br />
[13] Cathy Trost, Elements of Risk THE<br />
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AND ITS<br />
THREAT TO AMERICA. Times Books<br />
1984 ISBN 0-8129-1114-8<br />
[14] Barry Commoner “A Turning Point<br />
in the Political His<strong>to</strong>ry of <strong>Dioxin</strong>.”<br />
Keynote address; The 2nd Citizens'<br />
Conference on <strong>Dioxin</strong> St. Louis<br />
University, Missouri (July 29-31 1994)<br />
[15] Raymond R Suskind, Progress<br />
Report - Patients From Monsan<strong>to</strong><br />
chemical company, Nitro, West<br />
Virginia, Ap February 2008ril, 1950<br />
(Cincinnati, Ohio. Kettering Labora<strong>to</strong>ry,<br />
April, 1950), pg. 9.<br />
[16] Brief of Plaintiffs-appellees in<br />
Kemner et.al v. Monsan<strong>to</strong> Company,<br />
Sarcoma. A tumor arising in connective tissue, bone, cartilage,<br />
or muscle.<br />
Soft Tissue Sarcoma. A diverse group of sarcomas arising<br />
in the soft tissues that are found in and around organs.<br />
Spina Bifida. A disability characterized by the defective<br />
closure of the spinal cord, through which the cord is exposed<br />
and may protrude.<br />
Subacute Peripheral Neuropathy. A dysfunction involving<br />
either nervous system with a course between acute<br />
(temporary) and chronic (long duration)<br />
Synovial Sarcoma. A tumor found in the lubricating fluid<br />
surrounding joints and tendons.<br />
No. 5--88--0420 (5th Dist., Illinois<br />
Appellate Court) (Oct 3, 1989) (as the<br />
facts were proven at trial, the appeal<br />
only considered appeal-able matters of<br />
law), Plaintiff's brief refers <strong>to</strong> Zack and<br />
Gaffey, “A Mortality Study of Workers<br />
Employed at the Monsan<strong>to</strong> Company<br />
Plant in Nitro, WV,.”<br />
[17] Cathy Trost, Elements of Risk THE<br />
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AND ITS<br />
THREAT TO AMERICA. Times<br />
Books (1984) ISBN 0-8129-1114-8<br />
[18] Holden C “Agent Orange furor<br />
continues <strong>to</strong> build.” Science 205:770-72<br />
August 24 1979<br />
[19] Report Prepared by the Committee <strong>to</strong><br />
Review the Health Effects in Vietnam<br />
Veterans of Exposure <strong>to</strong> Herbicides,<br />
Division of Health Promotion and<br />
Disease Prevention, National Academy of<br />
Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. Released<br />
on July 27, 1991 Published by the<br />
National Academy Press, 2 101<br />
Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washing<strong>to</strong>n,<br />
D. C;. 20418.<br />
[20] P.M. Boffey, Science,<br />
Vol 171, 1971, pp.43-7<br />
[21] Weiss T., Oversight review of<br />
CDC’s Agent Orange study,<br />
opening statement before the U.S. House<br />
of Representatives, Human Resources and<br />
Intergovernmental Relations<br />
Subcommittee of the Committee on<br />
Government Operations, Washing<strong>to</strong>n, D.<br />
C. July 11 1989.<br />
[22] Yost. P., “Agent Orange study<br />
called blotched or rigged” Washing<strong>to</strong>n<br />
Post, July 12 1989, page A-6<br />
[23] Waste Not #228. 12/02 /1993<br />
© R.A. Ryder<br />
March 2008<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
19
<strong>One</strong> area in the United States<br />
sprayed with herbicide <strong>to</strong> destroy<br />
unwanted bushes during this period<br />
was Kellner Canyon near<br />
Globe, Arizona.<br />
It was here that Bob McCray,<br />
standing 6ft 4” and every<br />
Englishman’s idea of what an American<br />
‘cowboy’ should be was<br />
sprayed with herbicides contaminated<br />
with dioxin.<br />
I met Bob during the ‘2nd Citizens<br />
‘Conference on <strong>Dioxin</strong>’ in St. Louis,<br />
Missouri in July 1994. We establish<br />
a good friendship and roomed <strong>to</strong>gether<br />
during the ‘3rd Citizens’ Conference<br />
on <strong>Dioxin</strong> and other<br />
Synthetic Hormone Disrupters’ in<br />
Ba<strong>to</strong>n Rouge, Louisiana, in March<br />
1996. It was there Bob <strong>to</strong>ld me the<br />
full s<strong>to</strong>ry of the chemical spraying of<br />
Kellner Canyon.<br />
In June 1969, Bob, a fit young<br />
man, was just one of a number of<br />
20<br />
Kellner Canyon<br />
men building a home for their families<br />
in the Globe area. Bob’s wife,<br />
Rosalie, and their five month old son<br />
Paul, made up a small, but happy<br />
McCray family. The plot they had<br />
chosen for their home was inside the<br />
Bob McCray<br />
Car<strong>to</strong>on taken<br />
from Billee<br />
Shoecraft’s<br />
‘Sue the Bastards’<br />
timberlands of Kellner Canyon, one<br />
of 4 canyons, Russell, Kellner, Icehouse<br />
and Six-shooter, that lie about<br />
three miles south of Globe, Arizona.<br />
The house at that time was just a<br />
skele<strong>to</strong>n with a tarpaulin sheet<br />
stretched across the rafters as a<br />
makeshift roof <strong>to</strong> shield them from<br />
the hot June sun. Settling down <strong>to</strong> a<br />
family picnic, Bob heard the throbbing<br />
rhythm of helicopter blades.<br />
Peering in<strong>to</strong> the clear blue sky he saw<br />
a snub-nosed - two seater U.S. Forest<br />
Service helicopter passing overhead<br />
just above the tree <strong>to</strong>ps. Seconds later<br />
a ghostly, foul smelling spray cloud<br />
enveloped them as it drifted like a<br />
thick chiffon curtain along the floor<br />
of the canyon, over the partly built<br />
house and in<strong>to</strong> the McCray’s lungs,<br />
and their lives.<br />
Suddenly, from a happy family<br />
enjoying the sunshine and its<br />
warmth, the McCray’s found them-<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit<br />
©R Ryder
selves sopping wet with some strange<br />
witches brew burning their eyes and<br />
skin. Absolutely furious, Bob<br />
McCray bundled his frightened<br />
family in<strong>to</strong> their pickup and drove <strong>to</strong><br />
the U.S. Forest Services helicopter<br />
pad near-by <strong>to</strong> find out who was<br />
responsible and get some answers as<br />
<strong>to</strong> what was going on.<br />
When they arrived at the heli-pad<br />
the McCray’s encountered a line of<br />
interested specta<strong>to</strong>rs watching the<br />
helicopter filling up with more chemical<br />
spray. Bursting through the line<br />
of onlookers and shouting defiance at<br />
the pilot Bob McCray made for the<br />
helicopter. Seeing him approach, the<br />
pilot simply revved up, lifted off, and<br />
flew over dowsing him with the foul<br />
smelling vapour again.<br />
Also enjoying the sun on that<br />
fateful day in Kellner Canyon was<br />
Bob McKusick and his family. They<br />
were looking at the clay deposits<br />
McKusick, in his trade as a potter,<br />
had secured through negotiations<br />
with the Forest Service. Then came<br />
the throbbing blades and the pungent<br />
curtain of mist...<br />
Pat Medlin, a young woman living<br />
in Kellner Canyon was also keen <strong>to</strong><br />
take advantage of the beautiful sunshine.<br />
She was stretched out soaking<br />
up the sun in her garden when, seeing<br />
the good looking young woman in a<br />
How Toxic is <strong>Dioxin</strong>?<br />
closer for a better look, not bothering<br />
<strong>to</strong> s<strong>to</strong>p the chemical spray as he<br />
swooped in low over her home...<br />
Another resident, Billie Shoecraft,<br />
had been woken up earlier in the day<br />
by the same throb of helicopter<br />
blades. Stepping on<strong>to</strong> her front porch<br />
she was met by a curtain of mist that<br />
lingered in the early morning air...<br />
The canyon residents later discovered<br />
that the pungent, curtain of mist<br />
was in fact a cloud of Silvex, the<br />
brand name of Dow Chemical’s mixture<br />
of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. American<br />
servicemen in Vietnam knew it better<br />
as 'Agent Orange.'<br />
Virtually everyone who was<br />
caught directly by the spray developed<br />
health problems of one kind or<br />
another. Pat Medlin lost mobility<br />
within a few days and never walked<br />
again without the aid of a walking<br />
frame. She died of cancer.<br />
Paul McCray, Bob’s son, went<br />
in<strong>to</strong> convulsions on the afternoon of<br />
the spraying and was later diagnosed<br />
as grand mal epilepsy. These convulsions<br />
continued daily - with as many<br />
as 36 terrifying attacks per day until<br />
he was five years old.<br />
Symp<strong>to</strong>ms reported by the victims<br />
of the spraying were chloracne, pancreatitis,<br />
fibrosarcoma cancer, muscular<br />
and skeletal problems,<br />
elevations of liver enzymes and high<br />
cholesterol. Research on dioxin ex-<br />
posure had indicated that it can cause<br />
these symp<strong>to</strong>ms.<br />
Dr. Susan Daum, an environmental<br />
medicine specialist who examined<br />
the Globe plaintiffs concluded “the<br />
symp<strong>to</strong>ms and clinical abnormalities<br />
observed in this population were,<br />
“with a reasonable medical probability,<br />
as a result of <strong>to</strong>xicity from exposure<br />
<strong>to</strong> the chemical dioxin.”<br />
Billee Shoecraft developed cancer<br />
and until her death in 1976 led a<br />
fierce battle <strong>to</strong> get the process of<br />
chemical spraying s<strong>to</strong>pped. The government<br />
and industry experts tried <strong>to</strong><br />
play-down the whole thing and pacify<br />
the residents of Globe.<br />
Shoecraft’s feelings and outrage at<br />
what had been done is reflected in the<br />
title of the book she wrote about the<br />
shameful affair: “Sue the Bastards.”<br />
(Phoneix: Franklin Press 1971).<br />
In February 1970 McCray met<br />
with investiga<strong>to</strong>rs from the United<br />
States Department of Agriculture and<br />
United States Forest Service whose<br />
eventual report concluded the<br />
“herbicide caused little damage in the<br />
Arizona area.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> McCray, “it was<br />
more important <strong>to</strong> those doc<strong>to</strong>rs<br />
whether their scotch had soda or water<br />
than how we were affected.”<br />
He concluded the whole investigation<br />
was a farce; “How can you<br />
When giving evidence <strong>to</strong> a House of Lords Inquiry in<strong>to</strong> ‘Waste Incineration’<br />
(March 1999) Dame Barbara Clay<strong>to</strong>n made the statement: “the<br />
public look on dioxins as the very severe chemical...” and “...there is no<br />
reason <strong>to</strong> have that view but it is very much the public perception....”<br />
It is worth emphasizing that the effective dose of dioxin is very small:<br />
10 nanograms of dioxin per kilogram of bodyweight (10ng/kg) harms<br />
the mouse immune system enough <strong>to</strong> increase the death rate from<br />
influenza virus. To get 10 ng/kg in<strong>to</strong> perspective, consider that a single<br />
5-grain aspirin tablet taken by a 150-pound adult is a dose of 4.7<br />
MILLION nanograms of aspirin per kilogram of bodyweight (4,761,936<br />
ng/kg). For an adult human <strong>to</strong> get a dose of aspirin equivalent <strong>to</strong> the dose<br />
of dioxin that harms the mouse immune system, you would have <strong>to</strong><br />
Pho<strong>to</strong> credits unknown<br />
This amount of dioxin was calculated <strong>to</strong><br />
divide a single aspirin tablet in<strong>to</strong> 470,000 pieces and eat only one<br />
represent the allowable lifetime dose (70 piece.*<br />
years) for 25,000 people.* That was before<br />
the announcement that dioxin was 10 times Surely reason enough <strong>to</strong> think dioxin is a very severe chemical?<br />
more <strong>to</strong>xic than originally thought.<br />
*US EPA figures<br />
*Ref: Rachel’s <strong>Environment</strong> Health Weekly #414<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
21
have a bank robber investigate his<br />
own crime?”<br />
McCray kept samples in the<br />
freezer of deformed chickens and<br />
rabbits born after the spraying. <strong>One</strong><br />
day in the spring of 1970 when the<br />
family was out of <strong>to</strong>wn, the plug was<br />
mysteriously pulled from the freezer<br />
and the evidence was destroyed.[1]<br />
The members of several other<br />
families in the area caught directly in<br />
the spray developed cancer as the<br />
years passed, including Bob who<br />
developed fibrosarcoma, a soft-tissue<br />
cancer.<br />
“Every morning you look in the<br />
mirror <strong>to</strong> see if there is any new<br />
lumps. I’ve found 14 at different<br />
times” he <strong>to</strong>ld me. [2]<br />
Dow settled out of court with five<br />
families for an undisclosed amount<br />
and had the court documents sealed.<br />
“I wanted <strong>to</strong> get it all out in public<br />
in a court suit” said Bob. “But emotionally<br />
we’d gone as far as we<br />
could.”<br />
Surprisingly, in the land of the<br />
big pay-outs, the compensation of<br />
$1.1 million between all the plaintiffs<br />
barely covered their medical bills.<br />
During the years after the spraying,<br />
as well as suffering continual,<br />
declining health, Bob McCray kept a<br />
For My Son’s Guinea Pigs<br />
I’ll close your eyes now that they are swollen ...<br />
I’ll close your eyes now that your dead...<br />
I’ll wrap you gently - hold you softly...<br />
And wipe the sweat that’s on your head...<br />
The blackened skin spots will not matter...<br />
No one will see them any more...<br />
Whatever pain you knew is over,<br />
Just like the ones that died before...<br />
‘Cyclops’ with his little ‘one-eye’...<br />
‘Rusty’ that we loved so much...<br />
‘Spilt’ and ‘Sam; and furry ‘Lady’...<br />
All so soft - and fun <strong>to</strong> <strong>to</strong>uch!<br />
I don’t know why, I give no reason...<br />
I don’t know what the experts said<br />
Who wouldn’t see - or hear - or listen...<br />
I only know now they’re dead.<br />
Billee Shoecraft<br />
22<br />
watchful eye on the situation in the<br />
Kellner Canyon/Globe area with regards<br />
<strong>to</strong> people’s health which he<br />
noted seemed <strong>to</strong> be following a<br />
downward curve.<br />
In September 1993, after hearing<br />
a lot of rumours about increasing<br />
ill-health around Globe, McCray<br />
advertised on the local radio and in<br />
the local newspapers <strong>to</strong> see if they<br />
were any elevated levels of cancers.<br />
“I expected <strong>to</strong> get a few replies, but<br />
not an avalanche,” he <strong>to</strong>ld me. “I got<br />
six hundred letters in the first<br />
month.<br />
They were coming in<br />
so fast there was no<br />
way I could keep up<br />
with them.”<br />
Compiling the volumes<br />
of information<br />
he received, he began<br />
<strong>to</strong> note a definite connection<br />
between specific<br />
types of cancers:<br />
30 cases of Soft Tissue<br />
Sarcoma - a cancer affecting<br />
tendons and<br />
ligaments (suffered<br />
predominately by forestry<br />
workers using<br />
pesticides): 40 cases<br />
of Hodgkin’s Disease<br />
and 40 cases of Non-<br />
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma<br />
- a cancer of the lymph<br />
nodes. “All these odd-<br />
Pho<strong>to</strong> credits unknown<br />
<strong>One</strong> of McKusicks goats born with reproductive organs backwards<br />
found in people living around the<br />
canyons that were sprayed,” Bob<br />
said.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> the National Institute<br />
of Health, the Globe-Miami area<br />
should experience one case of Soft<br />
Tissue Sarcoma every two years; one<br />
case of Hodgkin’s disease and 3 cases<br />
of Non-Hodgkin’s disease every<br />
year.<br />
The only other group in the United<br />
States afflicted with high rates of<br />
these cancers are the Vietnam veterans<br />
who were exposed <strong>to</strong> Agent Orange.<br />
Bob McCray unearthed so many<br />
cases of cancer that even the U.S.<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al Protection Agency<br />
and the Arizona State Health Department<br />
were interested. Dr. Linda<br />
Birnbaum, (<strong>Environment</strong>al Toxicology<br />
Division U.S.EPA) said: “I talked<br />
<strong>to</strong> McCray and I think his<br />
numbers are very interesting...<br />
In 1986 the EPA tested Kellner<br />
Canyon as part of the National <strong>Dioxin</strong><br />
Study. They found the highest<br />
dioxin concentration anywhere in<br />
America on the helipad site above<br />
Globe. Warning signs placed on the<br />
helipad were removed shortly after<br />
McCray and McKusick visited the<br />
sight and <strong>to</strong>ok pho<strong>to</strong>graphs.<br />
Although the residents of Kellner<br />
Canyon and others received very little<br />
in terms of compensation from<br />
Dow. Their battle served as a prece-<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
dent for a Vietnam veterans’ classaction<br />
suit worth $180 million<br />
against chemical companies like<br />
Dow and Hercules. Again, the Corporations<br />
settled out of court without<br />
admitting liability.<br />
Bob McCray is dead. A victim of<br />
a callous chemical industry and officialdom.<br />
I have no idea of what happened<br />
<strong>to</strong> his files. At the time of<br />
spraying little was known by the general<br />
public about the dangers from<br />
the chemicals used. It was assumed<br />
that the only danger <strong>to</strong> health came<br />
from “between the nozzle and the<br />
ground.” Through the efforts of a<br />
few responsible scientists<br />
publications like Rachel's<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al Health Weekly and<br />
community based groups<br />
organisation’s like the Centre for<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al Health and Justice,<br />
and outspoken victims Billee<br />
Shoecraft, Bob McCray and activist /<br />
author Carol Van Strum, the public is<br />
thankfully a lot better informed about<br />
the compounds used in herbicides<br />
and pesticides. Many are now known<br />
<strong>to</strong> be persistent and health damaging<br />
years after being released in<strong>to</strong><br />
the environment.<br />
Pho<strong>to</strong> credits unknown<br />
Alsea Study<br />
A number of horrific<br />
domestic spraying<br />
incidents had already<br />
taken place in<br />
the U.S. prior <strong>to</strong> the<br />
banning of spraying<br />
in Vietnam of which<br />
Kellner Canyon was<br />
just one.<br />
In 1977, after aerial<br />
defoliation had<br />
taken place in a<br />
1,600-square mile<br />
area of Oregon. A<br />
group of residents<br />
disturbed by birth<br />
defects, miscarriages<br />
and illness in<br />
their families, lives<strong>to</strong>ck<br />
and local wild<br />
life, filed a lawsuit that forced the<br />
EPA’s suppressed studies in<strong>to</strong> the<br />
open.<br />
This resulted in ‘The Alsea<br />
Study,’ an attempt <strong>to</strong> correlate human<br />
miscarriages with the time, amount<br />
and location of aerial spraying.<br />
A preliminary report published in<br />
1979 showed an overwhelming surge<br />
of miscarriages in the two months<br />
The idea was <strong>to</strong> kill desert scrub impeding water run-off so rainfall<br />
would roll cleanly over the sand in<strong>to</strong> the creeks, empty in<strong>to</strong> the Salt<br />
river, thus swelling the river and making Salt River Project turbines<br />
spin faster.<br />
following herbicide applications. On<br />
the base’s of this report the EPA<br />
issued an emergency suspension of<br />
forestry and right-of-way uses of<br />
2,4,5-T and Silvex, a slower acting<br />
herbicide that <strong>to</strong>xicology studies had<br />
shown <strong>to</strong> be relatively non-<strong>to</strong>xic <strong>to</strong><br />
animals in acute or brief exposure.<br />
There was no data on its use in the<br />
field or from prolonged exposure.<br />
No-Safe Level<br />
Based on the preliminary Alsea Study<br />
and a Dow study showing the effects<br />
of dioxin on three generations of rats,<br />
U.S.EPA concluded that ‘no safe level<br />
or no-effect level’ of dioxin exposure<br />
could be demonstrated’ and that<br />
its reproductive <strong>to</strong>xicity presented an<br />
imminent hazard <strong>to</strong> exposed populations<br />
at any level.<br />
The problem was that at that time<br />
the EPA were promoting waste-<strong>to</strong>-<br />
-energy incinera<strong>to</strong>rs (WtE) and these<br />
were pumping out dioxin at far greater<br />
amounts than was <strong>to</strong> be found in<br />
2,4,5-T.<br />
Also, other significant sources of<br />
dioxin included the manufacture of<br />
plastics, pulp, paper, and wood preservative<br />
etc. A ‘no-safe’ level would<br />
cause serious problems for industry<br />
and create liability for the government<br />
against the claims of the Vietnam<br />
Veterans exposed <strong>to</strong> Agent<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
23
Orange. Consequently, the EPA concealed<br />
the data and the Alsea Study<br />
was never completed or the data<br />
made public.<br />
However, a leak of its analyst in<br />
1983 saw the EPA and Dow finally<br />
cancel the registrations of 2,4,5-T<br />
and along with its registration went<br />
the ‘no-safe level’ and ‘reproductive<br />
harm at any dose.’<br />
“The demise of 2,4,5-T allowed<br />
EPA quietly and without public notice<br />
or comment, <strong>to</strong> replace its ‘nosafe<br />
level’ of dioxin policy with an<br />
exciting new technique in the field of<br />
numerology, ‘risk assessment.’”[3]<br />
Manual<br />
The EPA did have information on the<br />
effects of herbicides at that time that<br />
they didn’t want <strong>to</strong> share with the<br />
public. They had provided a manual<br />
in 1978 <strong>to</strong> personnel aboard the Vulcanus,<br />
an incinera<strong>to</strong>r ship destroying<br />
‘Herbicide Orange’ at 1,000 ° C. That<br />
stated:<br />
The principal Herbicide Orange<br />
constituent of concern, TCDD, has<br />
been found <strong>to</strong> be highly embryo<strong>to</strong>xic,<br />
tera<strong>to</strong>genic (tending <strong>to</strong> cause<br />
developmental malfunctions and<br />
monstrosities,) and acnegenic and is<br />
lethal in the microgram-per-kilogram<br />
of body weight range.<br />
It also gave a list of observed effects<br />
as follows:<br />
Chloracne (moderate <strong>to</strong> severe)<br />
Skin irritation, with swelling, hardening,<br />
blackheads, pustules and pimples;<br />
hyperpigmentation (Skin<br />
discoloration); muscular pain; decreased<br />
libido, fatigue, nervous irritability,<br />
in<strong>to</strong>lerance <strong>to</strong> cold,<br />
destruction of nerve fibres and nerve<br />
sheaths.<br />
In addition, effects on exposed<br />
test animals “may be considered<br />
Copyright © Greenpeace<br />
“Why are so many scientists as apathetic as the general public in their reaction <strong>to</strong><br />
many of the alarming facts regarding what is really happening <strong>to</strong> man. The majority<br />
of them leave the burden of informing those who should be doing something about it<br />
<strong>to</strong> a handful of their more courageous members. Why must the few always fight the<br />
battles for the many?” Billee Shoecraft<br />
24<br />
possible effects on the human system,<br />
especially, when the metabolism of<br />
the animal is similar <strong>to</strong> that of man.<br />
These effects included <strong>to</strong>xicity <strong>to</strong><br />
embryos, birth defects, possible<br />
carcinogenity and even death. It<br />
should also be noted that the greatest<br />
hazard is <strong>to</strong> pregnant females and<br />
their foetuses, especially in the first<br />
third of the pregnancy.”<br />
The manual also <strong>to</strong>ld of: “entry of<br />
TCDD in<strong>to</strong> the body: through the<br />
mouth - ingestion; through the skin -<br />
percutaneous; the lungs and eyes.”<br />
The list had been compiled by the<br />
EPA with the assistance of a certain<br />
Mr. V. K. Rowe of Dow Chemical.<br />
The same V, K. Rowe had been the<br />
company’s main spokesman telling<br />
cus<strong>to</strong>mers there were no problems<br />
with Dow’s herbicides, while at the<br />
same time secretly writing <strong>to</strong> all Dow<br />
managers that “TCDD is the most<br />
<strong>to</strong>xic material we’ve ever studied.”[4]<br />
While Bob was compiling his data he<br />
was threatened many times by citizens<br />
who thought his campaign for<br />
the truth was damaging the <strong>to</strong>urist<br />
trade around Globe.<br />
Bob McCray passed away in December<br />
2000. He was a good, honest<br />
man with a fighting sprit all <strong>to</strong>o rare<br />
these days. It was a privilege and an<br />
honour <strong>to</strong> have known him and call<br />
him my friend.<br />
Ralph Ryder<br />
References<br />
[1] Multinational Moni<strong>to</strong>r, May 1981 and<br />
interview with Ralph Ryder 1994 -1996)<br />
[2] Interviews with Ralph Ryder (1994-<br />
1996)<br />
[3] Carol Van Strum. ‘Back <strong>to</strong> the Future:’<br />
EPA Reinvents the Wheel on Reproductive<br />
Effects of <strong>Dioxin</strong>. <strong>Dioxin</strong>. The Orange Resource<br />
Book No 7/8 summer 1995, WD<br />
Press/Synthesis/Regeneration.<br />
[4] Cathy Trost, Elements of Risk THE<br />
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AND ITS<br />
THREAT TO AMERICA. Times Books<br />
1984 ISBN 0-8129-1114-8<br />
Additional sources: Personal interviews,<br />
letters and telephone conversations with<br />
Bob McCray.<br />
The Tucson Weekly March 2-8 1994.<br />
Poisoned Lives, By Blake Morlock,.<br />
Tucson Weekly, Vol. 10, Number 52,<br />
March 2-March 8, 1994.<br />
Multinational Moni<strong>to</strong>r May 1981.<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
The scene of another spraying<br />
with dioxin, but of a different<br />
nature from that in Vietnam<br />
and Kellner Canyon, was the<br />
spraying of the Missouri <strong>to</strong>wn of<br />
Times Beach.<br />
Times Beach was a small<br />
suburban <strong>to</strong>wn of slightly over<br />
2,000 residents situated about 17<br />
miles from St. Louis, Missouri.<br />
The <strong>to</strong>wn covered 480 acres and<br />
was built alongside the I-44 highway<br />
and along the banks of the<br />
Meramec River.<br />
In 1925 the old St. Louis Star-<br />
Times newspaper initiated a sales<br />
promotion program <strong>to</strong> increase<br />
the circulation of the paper. The<br />
purchase of a 20 x 100 lot in<br />
Times Beach at a cost of $67.50<br />
entitled one <strong>to</strong> a newspaper<br />
subscription for a period of six<br />
months. In order <strong>to</strong> utilise the<br />
property and build a house,<br />
another lot had <strong>to</strong> be bought.<br />
The site was originally a flood<br />
plain used for farming and<br />
consequently many of the houses<br />
had been built on stilts. As these<br />
were primarily for summer use<br />
they were not of the highest<br />
standard construction wise, but<br />
were very similar <strong>to</strong> summer beach<br />
houses.<br />
Upgraded<br />
During the depression of the<br />
1930’s people moved in<strong>to</strong> these<br />
summer homes and the post-war<br />
shortage of housing saw many<br />
becoming permanent homes.<br />
The 1950’s saw an upward<br />
trend in the development of the<br />
<strong>to</strong>wn and as a result the summer<br />
houses were improved and Times<br />
Beach became a <strong>to</strong>wn in the true<br />
sense of the word.<br />
As the flooding seemed <strong>to</strong> have<br />
abated the use of stilts was<br />
considered unnecessary and ‘The<br />
Beach,’ as it was called by the<br />
locals, had blossomed from a low<br />
income community <strong>to</strong> a middle<br />
class community.<br />
Dusty Roads<br />
The local authorities were unable<br />
<strong>to</strong> afford road surfacing of the<br />
<strong>to</strong>wn's 16.3 miles of dusty roads<br />
and they were simply covered<br />
with gravel. It was thought<br />
spraying with oil was the best<br />
method <strong>to</strong> control the dust.<br />
During the long hot summers of<br />
1972-73 these were sprayed with<br />
waste oil by haulage contrac<strong>to</strong>r<br />
Russell Bliss of ‘Bliss Waste Oil.’<br />
Costing only 6 cents a gallon, the<br />
oil was considered a bargain and<br />
came from a plant belonging <strong>to</strong><br />
the Northeastern Pharmaceutical<br />
and Chemical Company<br />
(NEPACCO) in Springfield,<br />
Missouri.<br />
NEPACCO had been<br />
manufacturing hexachlorophene<br />
at the plant for two years and<br />
2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-<br />
dioxin, TCDD (dioxin) was<br />
derived by distilling TCP, needed<br />
in its pure form for the production<br />
of hexachlorophene.<br />
This process spawned<br />
concentrated batches of dioxin<br />
called ‘still bot<strong>to</strong>ms,' and this was<br />
what Bliss was contracted by the<br />
Independent Petrochemical<br />
Company (IPC) of St. Louis, <strong>to</strong><br />
collect and dispose of.<br />
Gregory Browne, a district<br />
manager of IPC, said Bliss was<br />
notified that the loads comprised<br />
of hazardous waste.<br />
Bliss made six trips <strong>to</strong> the<br />
NEPACCO’s hexachlorophene<br />
plant in early 1971 collecting a<br />
<strong>to</strong>tal of 18,500 gallons on the<br />
first five trips: February 16, 3,500<br />
gallons; May 20, 3,000 gallons:<br />
May 25, 3,000; July 30, 6,000<br />
gallons; Oc<strong>to</strong>ber 4, 3,000 gallons.<br />
On the fifth trip Bliss learned<br />
that that IPC was earning $.25 per<br />
gallon for removing the waste<br />
from NEPACO while he was only<br />
getting about five cents a gallon.<br />
He spoke with a plant foreman at<br />
NEPACCO and walked away with<br />
a deal <strong>to</strong> haul directly by- passing<br />
IPC for $500 per trip. He only<br />
made one trip.<br />
Shenandoah Stables<br />
The first place <strong>to</strong> experience trouble<br />
after the spraying was the<br />
Shenandoah stables horse arena.<br />
This was treated with 2,000 gal-<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
25
lons of oil on May 26 1971. Three<br />
days later the area was littered<br />
with dead wild birds. “There were<br />
literally bushel baskets full of<br />
those dead wild birds” said Dr.<br />
Patrick E. Phillips a veterinarian<br />
with the Missouri Division of<br />
Health.<br />
These were followed by eleven<br />
cats, four dogs, farm animals and<br />
sixty two horses. A six year old<br />
daughter of one of the owners was<br />
admitted <strong>to</strong> St Louis children’s<br />
Hospital with a severe kidney disorder<br />
and inflammation <strong>to</strong> the<br />
bladder. According <strong>to</strong> Robert<br />
Koehler of the Centre Disease<br />
Control (CDC), the levels of dioxin<br />
in the arena were between<br />
31,800 part per billion (ppb) and<br />
33,000ppb.<br />
In preparation for a lawsuit the<br />
arena’s owners Judy Piatt, mother<br />
of the girl hospitalised, and Frank<br />
Hampel started tracking the drivers<br />
of Bliss Waste Oil <strong>to</strong> determine<br />
the source of the waste and<br />
observe and make notes of their<br />
dumping procedures.<br />
They saw Bliss Waste Oil drivers<br />
opening their spigots <strong>to</strong> spew<br />
the waste in<strong>to</strong> ditches, creeks,<br />
rivers, roadsides and fields.<br />
They followed one truck and<br />
witnessed the driver dumping oil<br />
in<strong>to</strong> a run-off ditch near the Mississippi<br />
River. They followed another<br />
truck <strong>to</strong> Times Beach where<br />
the driver dumped the waste on<strong>to</strong><br />
a field.<br />
26<br />
They called the<br />
CDC and they<br />
did tests on the<br />
dirt in their arena<br />
and found dioxin.<br />
They then<br />
checked the<br />
records of Russell<br />
Bliss and found his<br />
record of the<br />
spraying of<br />
Times Beach.<br />
This started a fullscale<br />
operation <strong>to</strong><br />
determine if the<br />
<strong>to</strong>wn was contaminated.<br />
Although in the aftermath that<br />
followed Bliss always maintained<br />
he did not know the waste oil was<br />
hazardous (despite Gregory<br />
Browne’s accusations <strong>to</strong> the contrary)<br />
and one can reasonably assume<br />
he must have been aware of<br />
the problems at the arena after the<br />
spraying - he continued spraying<br />
the oil in other areas of the State.<br />
<strong>One</strong> of these was the Pacific<br />
Intermountain Express truck terminal<br />
in St.Louis where Alvin<br />
Overmann* worked.<br />
More than 20 dioxin contaminated<br />
sites have been found in<br />
Missouri.<br />
Testing was Delayed<br />
In November 1982 a local reporter<br />
<strong>to</strong>ld the St. Louis City clerk that<br />
is was possible that Times Beach<br />
had been sprayed along with other<br />
sites in the area with waste oil<br />
contaminated<br />
with<br />
dioxin.<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al<br />
Protection<br />
Agency<br />
officials<br />
confirmed<br />
the<br />
information<br />
given by the<br />
reporter was<br />
indeed correct<br />
and that Times<br />
Beach was<br />
Warning signs on the road<br />
<strong>to</strong> Times Beach<br />
Pho<strong>to</strong> credit unknown<br />
high on the list of sites they suspected<br />
was contaminated.<br />
Some residents recalled a terrible<br />
stench from the oil and the<br />
roads turning purple after the<br />
spraying. They also remembered<br />
that birds and dogs had died, as<br />
had newborn animals shortly after<br />
birth.<br />
<strong>One</strong> man remembered a dog<br />
found in one of the contaminated<br />
ditches. They thought it had rabies<br />
and called the police <strong>to</strong> shoot<br />
it.<br />
Another man recalled finding a<br />
great many dead birds and calling<br />
the St. Louis Health Department<br />
Alvin Overmann worked for more<br />
than twenty years at the Pacific<br />
Intermountain Express truck terminal<br />
in St Louis, Missouri.<br />
Russell Bliss’ practice of spraying<br />
waste oil <strong>to</strong> control the dust had<br />
become commonplace in the three<br />
trucking terminals which employed<br />
about 600 personnel.<br />
Overmann died on July 10, 1991<br />
and his family were awarded $1.5<br />
million after a 3 month jury trial in<br />
St. Louis Circuit court in Missouri.<br />
The court ruled that Overmann’s<br />
death was due <strong>to</strong> dioxin exposure.<br />
He was diagnosed with soft-tissue<br />
sarcoma, chloracne and porphyria<br />
tarda.<br />
The court ruled further that Syntex<br />
Agribusiness, Independent Petroleum<br />
Chemical and Northeastern<br />
Pharmaceutical were liable.<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
who recommended he kept the<br />
birds in a freezer saying they<br />
would collect them later. They<br />
never did.<br />
Bliss dumped the remainder of<br />
the oil in an underdeveloped area<br />
of the city that was <strong>to</strong> be used as a<br />
playing field by the local children.<br />
Tests revealed the soil contained<br />
ten priority pollutants.<br />
When the community of Times<br />
Beach were <strong>to</strong>ld it could be as<br />
long as nine months before any<br />
soil testing could be done all hell<br />
broke loose.<br />
Private Testing<br />
The Beach community had no<br />
knowledge of the chemicals used or<br />
their effects on human health. As<br />
information on these came in from all<br />
over the U.S. the EPA announced<br />
they would commence testing immediately<br />
given the amount of people<br />
exposed in the area.<br />
Residents believe this sudden<br />
change of heart came about as a result<br />
of their taking things in<strong>to</strong> their<br />
own hands, having a collection, and<br />
raising the necessary cash <strong>to</strong> employ<br />
a local labora<strong>to</strong>ry <strong>to</strong> do private test-<br />
ing. Hearing about this the EPA then<br />
speeded up their own operations.<br />
Floods<br />
While the residents were waiting for<br />
the results of the tests on December<br />
5 1982, the floods came back with a<br />
vengeance. Times Beach suffered the<br />
worst flood in its his<strong>to</strong>ry with water<br />
reaching 42.88 feet carrying the<br />
dioxin contaminated oil in<strong>to</strong> the<br />
homes, fittings, furniture and deeper<br />
in<strong>to</strong> the lives of the residents.<br />
As the <strong>to</strong>wnsfolk were cleaning up<br />
their water damaged homes the results<br />
of both the private and EPA<br />
testing were made public. They confirmed<br />
their worst fears, dioxin was<br />
present in the soil. No-one was sure<br />
of the quantities of chemicals, but<br />
residents were <strong>to</strong>ld, “If you are in<br />
<strong>to</strong>wn it is advisable for you <strong>to</strong> leave<br />
and if you are out of <strong>to</strong>wn do not go<br />
back.”<br />
A great many did just that, they<br />
never went back. Those who did stay<br />
were left in limbo as <strong>to</strong> what the<br />
future had in s<strong>to</strong>re for them. Should<br />
they continue the clean-up of their<br />
homes, given that <strong>to</strong> disturb the contamination<br />
might expose them <strong>to</strong><br />
even greater amounts of dioxin?<br />
There was talk of a buy-out by the<br />
government, but residents had heard<br />
of no definite plan of action and<br />
stress had reached a high point with<br />
people beginning <strong>to</strong> become ill. Personal<br />
relationships suffered and<br />
many people became deeply depressed.<br />
Frightened children learnt<br />
from television that the dirt they had<br />
played in for years killed labora<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
animals when it was fed <strong>to</strong> them.<br />
Headlines like EPA Spokesman Says<br />
"<strong>Dioxin</strong> The Most Toxic Chemical<br />
Known To Man” did nothing <strong>to</strong> alleviate<br />
anyone’s concern.<br />
In the midst of all this unrest and<br />
upheaval, it came <strong>to</strong> light that some<br />
of the government were aware of the<br />
possible contamination of Times<br />
Beach as long ago as 1972.<br />
At this time the EPA was being<br />
closely scrutinised by five congressional<br />
committees over allegations<br />
of having <strong>to</strong>o ‘cozy’ a<br />
relationship with the chemical<br />
companies it was supposed <strong>to</strong> be<br />
moni<strong>to</strong>ring. <strong>One</strong> memo went so<br />
far as <strong>to</strong> identify the business<br />
community as “the principal constituents<br />
of this administration”<br />
EPA's Administra<strong>to</strong>r Anne Gorsuch-Burford,<br />
was accused of<br />
Spina bifida is the most common of the three types of neural tube defects (NTD). Every child with this serious<br />
defect (e.g acranius monstre) has been stillborn. Potential mechanisms could underline a paternal relationship <strong>to</strong><br />
spina bifida in the offspring as follows: from paternal exposure (mutagen), maternal health and chance or<br />
unproven association [1].<br />
The environmental pollution is a serious problem and has been examined by many scientists. The results from<br />
many studies have shown that defects of the neural tube may be caused by many fac<strong>to</strong>rs following: heavy metals<br />
(Sever, 1995)[2], social stress, folic acid (Czeizel & Dudas, 1992; Berry et al., 1999)[3] multivitamin use<br />
(Wasserman et al.1998)[4] and specifically-Polycholorinated Aromatic Compounds POPs (Erickon,1984; CDC<br />
Vietnam Experience Study, 1988)[5]. These, fac<strong>to</strong>rs caused neural tube defects of acranius monster at the rate of<br />
1/1000 in USA. Another study (Australia, IOM) on Spina bifida showed that this kind of defects may be related<br />
<strong>to</strong> <strong>Dioxin</strong> (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) which was used by U.S forces during the Vietnam war (Ranch<br />
Hand 1961-1971). In 1998 Spina bifida was considered a suggestive evidence of an association between exposure<br />
<strong>to</strong> herbicides and the health outcomes (IOM, Veterans and Agent Orange)[6].<br />
[1] Report of the Expert Committee in<strong>to</strong> the possible connections between exposure <strong>to</strong> Herbicides in Vietnam and Spina Bifida in<br />
children of Vietnam Veterans 1996.<br />
[2] Sever LE (1995) ‘Looking for causes of neural tube defects: Where does the environment fit in?’ <strong>Environment</strong>al Health<br />
Perspectives, 103 (Suppl 6): 165-171.<br />
[3] Czeizel AE & Dudas I (1992) ‘Prevention of the first occurrence of neural tube defects by periconceptional vitamin supplementation’.<br />
The New England Journal of Medicine, 327: 1832-1835.<br />
[4] Wasserman CR, Shaw GM, Selvin S, Gould JB & Syme SL (1998) ‘Socio-economic status, neighbourhood social conditions,<br />
and neural tube defects’. American Journal of Public Health, 88:1674-1680.<br />
[5] Erickson JD, Mulinare J, McClain PW, Fitch TG, James LM, McClearn AB & Adams Jr MJ (1984) ‘Vietnam Veterans’ risks for<br />
fathering babies with birth defects’. Journal of the American Medical Association, 252(7): 903- 912.<br />
[6] Veterans and Agent Orange, update 2000, 6-7<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
27
putting industry’s interest before<br />
the environment.<br />
Illness<br />
Over the years since the spraying<br />
the residents of Times Beach developed<br />
illnesses similar <strong>to</strong> those<br />
suffered by the Vietnam Veterans<br />
i.e. soft tissue sarcoma, chloracne,<br />
peripheral neuropathy, at least<br />
three cases of PCT (both illnesses<br />
now shown <strong>to</strong> be serviceconnected<br />
<strong>to</strong> Agent Orange<br />
exposure); hearing loss affected<br />
all ages, allergies, liver, kidney,<br />
bladder problems, thyroid disorders<br />
and bone tumours were rife.<br />
Many women had miscarriages<br />
and a high proportion in their 20’s<br />
and 30’s had <strong>to</strong> have hysterec<strong>to</strong>mies,<br />
including Marilyn Leistner<br />
the last Mayor of Times Beach<br />
and a fierce campaigner for justice<br />
for the community.<br />
Hyperactive children with an<br />
array of developmental problems<br />
were common and some babies<br />
were diagnosed with hydrocephalus,<br />
others with Spina Bifida. Two<br />
children in one home were born<br />
with cleft palates, one dying before<br />
it was a year old. A number<br />
of people suffered gastroesophageal<br />
reflux and there was a theory<br />
that dioxin harms the sphincter<br />
muscle between the s<strong>to</strong>mach and<br />
the esophagus.<br />
Marilyn Leistner’s family suffered<br />
a variety of disturbing illnesses.<br />
Her first husband was one<br />
of the <strong>to</strong>wn’s three cases of porphyria<br />
cutane tarda. A daughter<br />
has giant hives all over her body<br />
and rashes and severe acne. Another<br />
is sterile and has a hyper<br />
thyroid condition. The third suf-<br />
fers a rare seizure disorder while<br />
Marilyn herself has no feeling in<br />
her left hand and has been diagnosed<br />
as having severe peripheral<br />
neuropathy.<br />
Phoniest Study<br />
As with numerous other studies<br />
on dioxin, the true facts of its<br />
health effects were ‘diluted’ by<br />
the authorities. A study using only<br />
66 people, (out of a population<br />
of over 2,000) was conducted<br />
with many elderly residents<br />
whose health problems could be<br />
attributed <strong>to</strong> dioxin being deliberately<br />
left out. People with serious<br />
health problems did not participate<br />
because they were represented<br />
by their at<strong>to</strong>rneys who were<br />
wary of what the government was<br />
going <strong>to</strong> do. People who did not<br />
live long-term at the Beach were<br />
included as were delivery men,<br />
telephone engineers and even incidental<br />
visi<strong>to</strong>rs <strong>to</strong> the <strong>to</strong>wn<br />
which served <strong>to</strong> dilute the figures<br />
even more.<br />
Dr. Vernon Houk, the scientist<br />
responsible for the cancelled CDC<br />
study on the Vietnam Veterans,<br />
announced the results at the hospital<br />
that conducted the Times<br />
Beach study.Marilyn Leistner<br />
called it the “Phoniest study in the<br />
whole world and the people of<br />
Times Beach were very angry with<br />
Vernon Houk.”<br />
Buy Out<br />
Tests done in 1982 showed dioxin<br />
levels of more than 100 ppb in the<br />
soil of Times Beach. On February<br />
23, 1983, the EPA announced its<br />
plans <strong>to</strong> buy out the entire <strong>to</strong>wn of<br />
800 houses and thirty business.<br />
Spina bifida occult among the adult’s children of the people living in herbicides contaminated areas during<br />
wartime was revealed by lumbar vertebra X-rays.<br />
Tran Hung1, Dang Duc Nhu1 110-80 Division Of Ministry Of Health<br />
The rate of spina bifida (SB) occult in the exposed group of children whose parents lived in areas sprayed by<br />
herbicides during wartime was approximately two-fold higher than the rates of SB in the unexposed group. This<br />
research revealed the possible relationship between herbicides exposed and the occurrence of Spina bifida on<br />
adult’s children of families living in sprayed areas. We do not deny that other reasons many exist for spina bifida,<br />
but this research suggested that AO/<strong>Dioxin</strong> can be the main cause for the increase in the rate of spina bifida of<br />
children...<br />
28<br />
Pho<strong>to</strong>graph scanned from: <strong>Dioxin</strong>: The Orange Resource Book. A Synthesis/Regeneration publication<br />
Marilyn Leistner, the <strong>to</strong>wn’s last Mayor pho<strong>to</strong>graphed on the dusty<br />
roads of Times Beach. Beach residents developed illnesses similar<br />
<strong>to</strong> those suffered by Vietnam Veterans i.e. soft tissue sarcoma,<br />
chloracne, peripheral neuropathy, hearing loss, allergies, liver,<br />
kidney, bladder problems, thyroid disorders and bone tumours.<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
Once again things were not<br />
made easy for the Beach residents.<br />
The first offers from the<br />
government for their homes were<br />
ridiculously low and the residents<br />
were so disgusted by this exploitation<br />
of their position they<br />
sprayed the prices offered <strong>to</strong> them<br />
on the outside of their homes in<br />
front of the television cameras <strong>to</strong><br />
let the nation see what they had<br />
been offered. This had the desired<br />
effect and the government in<br />
creased the money offered <strong>to</strong> a<br />
<strong>to</strong>tal $36.7 million. They demolished<br />
every building.<br />
The announcement of the buyout<br />
was one of the last official acts<br />
of Mrs Burford who resigned in<br />
March as EPA’s Administra<strong>to</strong>r.<br />
Contamination Levels<br />
At the time of the health study it<br />
was known that dioxin concentrations<br />
were under 400 parts per<br />
billion. Months after its completion<br />
levels of 1,200 ppb were<br />
found. Dr. Ayres who preformed<br />
the study for the state and federal<br />
government said that the higher<br />
dioxin levels would impact the<br />
study because they only looked at<br />
“problems that could be caused by<br />
lower levels.”<br />
People Turned<br />
Whereas initially people throughout<br />
the United States had been<br />
sympathetic and responsive <strong>to</strong> the<br />
plight of The Beach community.<br />
As information came through on<br />
the <strong>to</strong>xicity of dioxin, children<br />
from uncontaminated areas were<br />
<strong>to</strong>ld by their parents not <strong>to</strong> associate<br />
with the children of The<br />
Beach. Almost daily more people<br />
were turning against the victims<br />
of the dioxin contamination.<br />
Hearing of the buy-out, some<br />
people resented the community<br />
receiving the money saying:<br />
“there’s nothing wrong with dioxin.<br />
It’s the flood that’s causing the<br />
buy-out.”<br />
Marilyn Leistner explained <strong>to</strong><br />
these patiently, “You don’t buy<br />
Dr. Barry Commoner<br />
homes in a flood plain with<br />
‘Superfund’ dollars.”<br />
The problems of being a resident<br />
of Times Beach will live<br />
with the community for the rest of<br />
their lives, both mentally and<br />
physically. The children seem <strong>to</strong><br />
have been affected in different<br />
ways from the adults and suicides<br />
among the generation born during<br />
the 1970’s is well above the national<br />
average.<br />
A study examined 402 births <strong>to</strong><br />
mother affected by the dioxin. It<br />
found that compared <strong>to</strong> unexposed<br />
mothers, increased foetal<br />
deaths, infant deaths low birth<br />
weight babies and birth defects.[1]<br />
Other research in<strong>to</strong> the effects on<br />
children revealed a number of<br />
other disturbing facts.<br />
Dr. David Can<strong>to</strong>r (Direc<strong>to</strong>r of<br />
Neuropsychology, Scottish Rite<br />
Children's Medical Centre, Atlanta)<br />
<strong>to</strong>ld delegates at the ‘2nd Citizens’<br />
Conference on <strong>Dioxin</strong>’ held<br />
in St Louis, Missouri, home of the<br />
chemical giant Monsan<strong>to</strong>, of his<br />
research on seventeen of the children<br />
of Times Beach who had<br />
been exposed prenatally <strong>to</strong> dioxin.<br />
Dr. Can<strong>to</strong>r studied the frequency<br />
of the firing of cells in different<br />
parts of the brain and noted a<br />
significant decrease in firings in<br />
the frontal lobe area compared <strong>to</strong><br />
a control group.<br />
The pre-frontal cortex is the<br />
part of the human brain where<br />
consciousness resides. That is<br />
where the ‘true' person that is<br />
‘you’ resides. The frontal lobes<br />
contain the cores of human self-<br />
knowledge, damage it, and what is<br />
left may be able <strong>to</strong> live, function,<br />
see and breathe, and outwardly<br />
look quite normal <strong>to</strong><br />
others - but it will no longer be<br />
the conscious, thinking, freewilled<br />
person that was before.<br />
“At first these children showed<br />
only slight signs of difficulties<br />
when dealing with elementary<br />
learning,” said Dr. Can<strong>to</strong>r. “But as<br />
they got older they experienced<br />
extreme difficulty in getting <strong>to</strong><br />
grips with more complicated<br />
problems, problems the average<br />
child solves quite easily” he continued.<br />
It was obvious the children<br />
studied would never reach their<br />
true potential, either in intelligence<br />
or as a person. Certainly<br />
something much worse than the<br />
“nasty skin condition” pyromaniacs<br />
talk about..<br />
Other eminent speakers at this<br />
conference included:<br />
Dr. Barry Commoner (Direc<strong>to</strong>r of<br />
the Center for the Biology of Natural<br />
System, Queens College, USA) <strong>to</strong>ld<br />
delegates: “<strong>Dioxin</strong> is now known <strong>to</strong><br />
interfere with the most delicate balanced<br />
biological process in our bodies,<br />
they are man-made chemicals<br />
that present in only minuscule<br />
amounts can alter the natural biochemical<br />
process that determine how<br />
people develop, grow, and behave.”<br />
Dr. Peter McConnachie, Direc<strong>to</strong>r<br />
Immunotransplant Labora<strong>to</strong>ry, Memorial<br />
Medical Center, Springfield,<br />
Illinois). His field of expertise is the<br />
immune system and its reaction <strong>to</strong><br />
drugs as used on patients undergoing<br />
transplant surgery. He spoke of his<br />
research in<strong>to</strong> the immunological<br />
problems experienced by some of the<br />
children exposed <strong>to</strong> dioxin prenatally<br />
at Times Beach.<br />
He performed immunological<br />
tests on a group of sixteen children<br />
from Times Beach exposed in utero<br />
or prenatally <strong>to</strong> dioxin. Analysis revealed<br />
multiple immunological<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
©R Ryder<br />
29
anomalies nine <strong>to</strong> fourteen years after<br />
exposure.<br />
Dr. McConnachie’s talk was fascinating<br />
and he spoke of one disturbing<br />
moment during his research:<br />
“ ...when l <strong>to</strong>ok blood samples from<br />
the children not one child cried,<br />
flinched, or moved away from the<br />
needle. They were so passive it was<br />
unnatural” he said.<br />
Dr. Janna Koppa (Holland) investigating<br />
38 healthy breast-fed infants<br />
in relation <strong>to</strong> dioxin content of breast<br />
milk <strong>to</strong>ld of the significant collation<br />
between the levels of dioxin in mothers<br />
breast milk and the activity of a<br />
thyroid gland in newborn infants.<br />
“We concluded that exposure <strong>to</strong><br />
increase concentrations of dioxin via<br />
breast milk seems <strong>to</strong> modulate the<br />
hypothalamus pituitary thyroid regula<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
system in newborn babies.<br />
Stillborn babies showed 6.9 p <strong>to</strong> 11.9<br />
parts per trillion TEQ of dioxin in<br />
their bodies.”<br />
Dr. Paul Connett (St. Lawrence<br />
University) <strong>to</strong>ld delegates:<br />
“Hormonal changes, birth defects,<br />
cancers, sexual dysfunction, infertility,<br />
learning disorders, immune system<br />
suppression, are all caused by<br />
dioxin. It’s like throwing a hand-grenade<br />
in<strong>to</strong> the centre of human biology.”<br />
Marilyn Leistner said: “I cringe<br />
when someone says, ‘<strong>Dioxin</strong> never<br />
hurt anybody.’ <strong>Dioxin</strong> has harmed<br />
everyone who has come in<strong>to</strong> contact<br />
with it. For us, it has meant loss of<br />
property values, community, neighbours,<br />
friends, identity and security,<br />
and most of all, loss of our health.<br />
Source:<br />
Various Waste Not Fact sheets,<br />
personal interviews and observations<br />
by Ralph Ryder during the 2nd<br />
Citizens Conference on <strong>Dioxin</strong>. St.<br />
Louis, Missouri, July 29-31 1994.<br />
The Times Beach S<strong>to</strong>ry, by Marilyn<br />
Leistner published in, <strong>Dioxin</strong>: the<br />
Orange Resource Book,<br />
Synthesis/Regeneration 7/8.<br />
1995. 2nd Citizens Conference on<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong>. St Louis, Missouri, July 29-<br />
31, 1994.<br />
As part of this conference over 250<br />
former residents of Times Beach<br />
gathered for a reunion at the Eureka<br />
Community Center.<br />
[1] S<strong>to</strong>ckbauer, J.W., Hoffmann, R.E.,<br />
Schramm, W.F., Edmonds, L.D.<br />
(1988) “Reproductive outcomes of<br />
mother with potential exposure <strong>to</strong><br />
2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.”<br />
American Journal of Epidemiology<br />
128:410-19. Quoted in ‘Dying From<br />
<strong>Dioxin</strong>.’ Lois Marie Gibbs South End<br />
Press, ISBN 0-89608-525-2 (1995)<br />
As long ago as 1980, the year of the very first <strong>Dioxin</strong> Symposium, several critical elements of the dioxin s<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
were already known. [1] Poland and co-workers had described the isolation of the aryl hydrocarbon recep<strong>to</strong>r<br />
(AhR) from mouse hepatic cy<strong>to</strong>sol.[2] Structure-binding and structure-activity relationships among the<br />
polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), biphenyls (PCBs), and other<br />
Halongenation as had been determined.[3] Moreover, studies in genetically inbred strains of mice and in other<br />
species had clearly defined differences in Ah-responsiveness between species that may be related, in part, <strong>to</strong><br />
differences in the AhR.<br />
However, since 1980, thousands of papers on the <strong>to</strong>xicology/molecular biology/mechanism of action of<br />
TCDD, and related compounds have been published and selection of the important advances would vary with the<br />
individual scientist’. Some of the key mechanistic/molecular biology discoveries include: (i) cloning of the AhR<br />
gene [4][5] (ii) cloning of the AhR nuclear transloca<strong>to</strong>r (Arnt) gene [6], (iii) generation of the AhR knockout<br />
mouse[7] and (iv) development of the molecular mechanisms of action of the nuclear AhR complex using the<br />
CYP1A1 gene as a model.[8] <strong>One</strong> of the important <strong>to</strong>xicological studies was the report that in utero exposure of<br />
pregnant female rats <strong>to</strong> exceedingly low doses of TCDD resulted in gene reprogramming which affected<br />
physiological function in the offspring.[9] This study also formed an underpinning for the endocrine disrup<strong>to</strong>r<br />
hypothesis. Mechanism-based risk assessment and development of <strong>to</strong>xic equivalency fac<strong>to</strong>rs (TEFs) and <strong>to</strong>xic<br />
equivalents (TEQs) was derived from early and later structure-activity studies of PCDDs and PCDFs. Earlier<br />
research contributing <strong>to</strong> this concept included the identification of mono- and diortho-substituted PCBs as AhR<br />
agonists[10] and subsequently as antagonists.<br />
References:<br />
1. Chlorinated <strong>Dioxin</strong>s and Related Compounds (Hutzinger, O, Frie, R.W., Merian, E. and Pocchiari, F., Eds.), Pergamon Series on<br />
<strong>Environment</strong>al Science, Vol. 8, Pergamon Press, Oxford, UK.<br />
2. Poland, A., Glover, E. and Kende, A. S. (1976) J. Biol. Chem. 251: 4936-4946.<br />
3. Poland, A., Greenlee, W. F. and Kende, A. S. (1979) Annu. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 320: 214-230.<br />
4. Burbach, K. M., Poland, A. B. and Bradfield, C. A. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 8185-8189.<br />
5. Ema, M., Sogawa, K., Watanabe, N., Chujoh, Y., Matsushita, N., Go<strong>to</strong>h, O., Funae, Y. and Fujii-Kuriyama, Y.<br />
(1992) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 184: 246-253.<br />
6. Reyes, H., Reisz-Porszasz, S. and Hankinson, O. (1992) Science 256: 1193-1195.<br />
7. Fernandez-Salguero, P., Pineau, T., Hilbert, D. M., McPhail, T., Lee, S. S., Kimura, S., Nebert, D. W., Rudikoff, S., Ward, J. M.<br />
and Gonzalez, F. J. (1995) Science 268: 722-726.<br />
8. Whitlock, J. P., Jr. (1993) Chem. Res. Toxicol. 6: 754-763.<br />
9. Mably, T. A., Moore, R. W. and Peterson, R. E. (1992) Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 114: 97-107.<br />
A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN Communities Against Toxics Research Unit
Immunological Studies on 16 Times Beach Children<br />
By P.R McConnachie,1 A.C. Zahalsky, 2 G.H. Smoger 3<br />
We were asked because of our interest<br />
in the effects of halogenated<br />
aromatic hydrocarbons (HAH) on<br />
the human immune system, <strong>to</strong> perform<br />
immunological testing on a<br />
group of 16 children who were exposed<br />
<strong>to</strong> dioxin in utero or perinatally,<br />
as their mothers lived or<br />
visited frequently in Times Beach<br />
between 1977 and 1983 while pregnant.<br />
<strong>One</strong> of the 16 was exposed only<br />
after birth for the first year of her life.<br />
The studies were performed at the<br />
Memorial Medical Centre Springfield,<br />
Illinois between February 11<br />
and March 5 1992.<br />
Analysis revealed multiple immunological<br />
anomalies 9 <strong>to</strong> 14 years<br />
after the exposure. The testing<br />
included lymphocyte phenotype frequency<br />
measurements, functional<br />
testing of natural killer (NK) ability<br />
and responses <strong>to</strong> mi<strong>to</strong>gens, serum<br />
immunoglobulin levels, au<strong>to</strong>antibody<br />
detection and measurement of<br />
viral antibody titers.<br />
Cy<strong>to</strong><strong>to</strong>xic T cells (CD8),<br />
Interleukin 2-recep<strong>to</strong>r bearing T cells<br />
and Natural Killer (NK) cells (CD3-<br />
/CD16,56) were present in<br />
higher frequency in the<br />
children than in controls.<br />
There was also an increased<br />
frequency of early B cells<br />
(CD19) and paradoxically, a<br />
significant decrease in the<br />
frequency of light bearing B<br />
cells in the children.<br />
The helper induced T cell<br />
subpopulation (CD29/CD4)<br />
was very significantly<br />
reduced in the children.<br />
The particular finding was<br />
previously reported in<br />
TCDD exposed monkeys by<br />
Neubert.<br />
Female NK function was<br />
increased compared <strong>to</strong> controls<br />
in the children. The<br />
mi<strong>to</strong>genic responses <strong>to</strong><br />
human lymphocytes was significantly<br />
elevated in the children.<br />
Au<strong>to</strong>-antibodies (anti-smooth<br />
muscle) were detected in 75% of the<br />
children’s sera. Two were deficient<br />
in serum 1gA, but overall, the children<br />
demonstrated above normal levels<br />
of serum 1gC and 1gM.<br />
1gG anti-viral antibodies were detected<br />
<strong>to</strong> HSV-1 (Herpes) (31% incidence),<br />
HSV-2 (25%) CMV<br />
(Cy<strong>to</strong>megalovirus) (19%) and EBV<br />
(Epstein Barr) (75%).<br />
The deficiency in the helper inducer<br />
T cell subset and the surprising<br />
incidence of anti-viral antibody are<br />
evidence of immune system dysregulation.<br />
This is further supported by<br />
the hypergammaglobulininemia, the<br />
evidence of T cell activation, the<br />
increased responses <strong>to</strong> mi<strong>to</strong>gens and<br />
in NK cell function in girls.<br />
Similar, but not identical, characteristics<br />
of immune dysregulation<br />
have been noted in children and<br />
adults, exposed <strong>to</strong> pentachlorophenol<br />
in the home environment, in children<br />
exposed <strong>to</strong> chlordane/heptachlor in a<br />
school environment and in adults liv-<br />
Gerson Smoger address's the delegates of the<br />
2nd Citizens Conference on <strong>Dioxin</strong> in St. Louis<br />
watched by Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr.<br />
ing in a highly industrial chemically<br />
contaminated environment.<br />
Organochlorine exposure, in general,<br />
can lead <strong>to</strong> dysregulation of the<br />
human immune system including<br />
one or more, or all of the following<br />
immunodeficiency, inappropriate T<br />
cell activation, au<strong>to</strong>inununity, and<br />
hypo or hypergammaglobulinemia.<br />
The mechanism of this remains<br />
undescribed.<br />
1. Memorial Medical Center, Southern<br />
Illinois University School of Medicine<br />
2. Immunox Research, Edwardville IL.<br />
3. Smoger and Associates, Walnut<br />
Valley, CA<br />
Communities Against Toxics Research Unit A <strong>Beginners</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>to</strong>: DIOXIN<br />
© R Ryder<br />
31
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