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City Council weighs bid to curb dioxins by Kay Lazar

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Widely used building materials and office supplies that generate cancer-causing dioxins would be phased out under a sweeping proposal to be considered today by the Boston City Council.

``Boston has the opportunity and the responsibility to take the lead on this important public health and environmental issue,'' said Councilor Felix Arroyo, sponsor of the resolution to create new city purchasing guidelines.

The new rules would require the city, within 18 months, to develop a system for identifying and buying dioxin-free products, with the costs of those products no higher than 10 percent above current ones.

Dioxins are toxic chemicals that are released when vinyl or chlorinated products, such as building materials, packaging, or common office paper, are incinerated.

Calling the dioxin-free proposal ``path-breaking'' and ``scientifically well-founded,'' Dr. Clapp, of Boston University's School of Public Health, yesterday urged passage of the measure.

The proposal was crafted by Health Care Without Harm, a statewide coalition of health and environmental experts.

But a statewide business group, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, is urging city councilors to reject the proposal.

``Adoption means that the city will implement a costly, and in our view, unnecessary program with no environmental or public health benefits - at a time when budget cuts are threatening school funding and other core service,'' it said.

The debate comes as international scientists in Boston this week present new studies on dioxin's longterm effects. One report concludes dioxin levels in Vietnamese people and in their food supply, from the herbicide Agent Orange sprayed by the United States during the Vietnam War more than 30 years ago, are as high today as three decades ago.

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