The Chemical Papers: Secrets of the Chemical Industry Exposed

[Guest guest]

http://www.utne.com/webwatch/archive.tpl?d=03/23/2001

03/23/2001

The Chemical Papers: Secrets of the Chemical Industry Exposed

Bill Moyers is a walking repository of toxic waste. The famed

documentarist's body contains at least 31 different types of PCBs, 13

different toxins and pesticides such as malathion and DDT, reports Don Hazen

on the AlterNet news service. Moyers discovered this alarming fact from a

test he took while researching his ground-breaking new PBS special report

called " Trade Secrets " that will air next Monday evening, March 26.

Moyers' " chemical body burden, " as the test is known, is not unusual. In

fact, with more than 75,000 synthetic chemicals having been released into

the environment in the last century, most of them unregulated and untested

for human safety, such contamination is quite common.

Moyers' report is an investigation of more than a million previously secret

industry documents obtained over the last decade in a landmark court case

brought by Louisiana resident Elaine Ross, whose husband died of brain

cancer in 1990, at the age of 46, after working for years with highly toxic

vinyl-chloride. After winning a multi-million dollar judgment against her

husband's former employer, Ross and attorney Baggett sued nearly the

entire chemical industry for conspiracy, Hazen writes, including " 30

chemical companies [and] the Chemical Manufacturers Association...alleging

that they hid and suppressed evidence of vinyl chloride-related deaths and

diseases " from their workers and the public.

The show " is expected to re-energize veteran health activists and medical

professionals in their fight against...unregulated and untested chemicals

flooding the commercial market place, " Hazen asserts. Activists are

organizing media events and viewing parties to bring attention to the show.

Airing the night after the s, Hazen points out, when actress

may well win the Best Actress award for her role as anti-pollution

activist Brockovich, the public response the Moyers' report " may set

the industry on the defensive like never before. "

--Leif Utne

http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10600

The Chemical Papers: Secrets of the Chemical Industry Exposed

Don Hazen, AlterNet

March 15, 2001

Viewed on March 26, 2001

Bill Moyers TV special to reveal how the public was kept in the dark about

the dangers of toxic chemicals.

Every powerful story about fighting for truth and justice has its heroes.

This story, a tale of the secrets and lies behind America's chemical

industry, is no exception.

Like Brockovich, the paralegal-turned-movie icon who fought against

toxic polluters in California, Elaine Ross was determined to uncover the

truth. Ross wanted to know what had killed her husband, a chemical plant

worker in the bayous of Louisiana, at the untimely age of 46. She teamed up

with crusading lawyer " " Baggett, Jr, the son of a famous

Southern litigator, and together they have become central figures in a

-and-Goliath battle to protect the health of all Americans, especially

workers.

Now, in the latest chapter of the story, a team led by Bill Moyers has

created a PBS special report called " Trade Secrets " that will air on Monday

evening, March 26. The special, based on a secret archive of chemical

industry documents, explores the industry pattern of obfuscating, denying

and hiding the dangerous effects of chemicals on unsuspecting workers and

consumers.

At its core, the Moyers show asks a deeply troubling question: With more

than 75,000 synthetic chemicals having been released into the environment,

what happens as our bodies absorb them, and how can we protect ourselves? As

part of the report, Moyers took tests designed to measure the synthetic

chemicals in his body -- a measurement known as " chemical body burden. "

Moyers learned that his body contained 31 different types of PCBs, 13

different toxins and pesticides such as malathion and DDT.

When it hits the air, the Moyers special is expected to re-energize veteran

health activists and medical professionals in their fight against a growing

problem -- unregulated and untested chemicals flooding the commercial market

place. This public heat, coupled with a burgeoning grassroots resistance to

chemical producers, may set the industry on the defensive like never before

.... but that's getting ahead of the story.

Legal Battle in the Bayou

Elaine Ross's husband, Dan, spent 23 years working at the Conoco (later

Vista) chemical plant in Lake , Louisiana. After being diagnosed with

brain cancer, according to Jim of the Houston Chronicle, " Dan Ross

came to believe that he had struck a terrible bargain, forfeiting perhaps 30

years of his life through his willingness to work with vinyl chloride, used

to make one of the world's most common plastics. "

" Just before he died [in 1990] he said, 'Mama, they killed me,' " recalled

Elaine. " I promised him I would never let Vista or the chemical industry

forget who he was. "

And she hasn't. She teamed up with Baggett to file a wrongful death

suit against Vista. Baggett won a multimillion-dollar settlement for Ross in

1994, but she wasn't satisfied with just the money. She knew that her

husband's death wasn't an isolated incident -- that many other chemical

plant workers were dead, dying or sick because their employers weren't

telling them about potential health hazards. And Vista certainly wasn't the

only culprit.

So Ross told Baggett to take the fight to the next level. Baggett did, suing

30 companies and trade associations including the Chemical Manufacturers

Association (now called the American Chemistry Council) for conspiracy,

alleging that they hid and suppressed evidence of vinyl chloride-related

deaths and diseases.

As a result of the litigation brought on Ross's behalf, Baggett has been

able to obtain what he says is more than a million previously secret

industry documents over the past decade. These " Chemical Papers, " as they

are becoming known, chronicled virtually the entire history of the chemical

industry, much of it related to vinyl chloride -- minutes of board meetings,

minutes of committee meetings, consultant reports, and on and on.

According to Jim of the Chronicle, the documents suggested that major

chemical manufacturers closed ranks in the late 1950s to contain and

counteract evidence of vinyl chloride's toxic effects. " They depict a

framework of dubious science and painstaking public relations, coordinated

by the industry's main trade association with two dominant themes: Avoid

disclosure and deny liability. " The chemical companies were hiding the fact

that they had " subjected at least two generations of workers to excessive

levels of a potent carcinogen that targets the liver, brain, lungs and

blood-forming organs. "

" Even though they (the chemical companies) may be competitive in some

spheres, in others they aren't, " Baggett told . " They have a mutual

interest in their own employees not knowing (about health effects), in their

customers not knowing, in the government not knowing. "

" There was a concerted effort to hide this material, " said Dr. Rosner,

a professor of public health and history at Columbia University who has

reviewed many of the documents as part of a research project. " It's clear

there was chicanery. "

And while the documents show that the industry freely shared health

information among themselves, " the companies were evasive with their own

employees and the government, " wrote . " They were unwilling to disrupt

the growing market for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, used in everything

from pipe to garden hoses. " The whole case and others like it " accentuate

the problem of occupational cancer, which, by some estimates, takes more

lives (50,000) each year than AIDS, homicide or suicide, but receives far

less attention. "

" What I hope to achieve, through , is that every man who works in a

chemical plant is told the truth and tested on a regular basis in the proper

manner, " Elaine Ross told the Chronicle. " I want the chemical companies to

be accountable for every little detail that they don't tell these men. "

In a prepared statement, the Chemical Manufacturers Association called such

charges " irresponsible. " The group said that it promotes a policy of

openness among its members.

From Courtroom to Television Set

Award-winning TV producer Sherry , who got access to the treasure trove

of chemical company archives, started deeply probing the industry and its

secret ways. She brought her findings to Bill Moyers, with whom she had

previously worked.

Moyers agreed that the story needed to be told. The result of their

collaboration is " Trade Secrets, " the 90 minute special that will be

followed by a 30 minute roundtable discussion among industry representatives

and advocates for public health and environmental justice. Coming as it does

on Monday night, March 26 -- the night after the Academy Awards, where

may very well receive an for her portrayal of

Brockovich -- this one-two punch of mass audience attention could deal the

chemical industry quite a blow.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Center for Disease Control has released its " National

Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals " (available at

www.cdc.gov/nceh/dls/report). The report, based on new technology that

measures chemicals directly in blood and urine, has found a wide range of

dangerous chemicals present in most humans.

Citizen activists and health experts have been fighting for decades to

protect their families from untested and unsafe synthetic chemicals. It has

been a difficult battle, due in part to public misconceptions. Almost 80

percent of Americans think that the government tests chemicals for safety,

which is untrue. Aside from chemicals directly added to food or drugs, there

are no health and safety studies required before a chemical is manufactured,

sold or used in commercial or retail products. The same is true for cosmetic

products and the chemicals in them.

So if the government isn't regulating chemical safety, who is?

Unfortunately, the chemical industry itself.

As health advocates have long complained, this self-regulation simply isn't

enough. " For the most part, we rely on chemical companies to vouch for the

safety of their products, " says public health advocate Charlotte Brody, a

former nurse. " That's like relying on the tobacco industry to assess the

risk of tobacco. "

Take the case of Dursban, Dow Chemical's indoor insecticide product. Even

after 276 people filed lawsuits claiming that they were poisoned by Dursban,

Dow didn't reveal information about the product that proved its toxicity.

When the truth finally came out in 1996, the company was fined a miniscule

$740,000 by the Feds for withholding information from public officials.

Critics have long said that strong government regulations would have

prevented such fiascoes, and with " Trade Secrets " and the Chemical Papers as

ammunition, they may be closer to getting their wish than ever before.

Taking the Chemical Industry to Task

Using the Moyers special as a rallying point, a coalition of grassroots

groups called " Coming Clean " has bonded together to oppose the chemical

industry. In early March, dozens of national leaders -- health

professionals, scientists, activists and media experts -- gathered for a

weekend retreat in Northern Virginia to plan the elements of this long-term

assault. Charlotte Brody, currently Coming Clean's head organizer, expressed

the anger and outrage behind the meeting.

" For decades, chemical companies kept secret the hazards of chemicals they

produce, " Brody said. " These chemicals are in our food, our water, the air

we breathe. Now, they're in all of us. Every child on earth is born with

these synthetic chemicals in their bodies, and only a small percentage of

these chemicals have been adequately tested. "

Dr. Mark , a physician from Hartford, Connecticut and one of the

leaders of the national effort, insisted that to protect ourselves and our

children from the harm of toxic chemicals, " We must phase out all dangerous

chemicals over the next 10 years, beginning with those for which there are

safer alternatives. And we must stop making the same mistakes, by

prohibiting the introduction of any new chemicals that pose a threat to our

health and our children's health. There also needs to be government action

to insure the right to know about toxic chemicals, production, use and test

results. "

As a first step, Coming Clean plans to engage the public with the message of

" Trade Secrets. " All across the country, thousands of events and viewing

parties are being organized, timed to coincide with the Moyers show. The

events harken back to the campaign surrounding the 1980s nuclear holocaust

film, " The Day After, " which galvanized a vanguard of anti-nuke activists to

oppose the arms race.

" The local viewing parties will give people a chance to talk about the film

after they see it, " says Malkan, Coming Clean's media coordinator.

" Rather than going to bed angry, they can discuss the issues with other

concerned neighbors, and then channel their outrage and ideas into powerful

grassroots coalitions. "

Momentum around the Moyers special seems to be picking up. The Whole Foods

supermarket chain has agreed to carry Coming Clean's flyers in every one of

their stores, and many email listservs, chat rooms and message boards are

buzzing about the March 26 show.

While most viewings will happen in private homes, activists in dozens of

cities -- from Anchorage to Austin to Biddeford, Maine -- are holding public

viewing events. In Ann Arbor, for example, a public viewing will be held in

an organic brew pub. In Buffalo, New York, environmental and labor leaders

will stage a public showing, and will use it as an opportunity to recognize

three local whistle blowers battling pollution and environmental injustice.

And in San Francisco, where breast cancer rates are among the highest in the

country, Mayor Willie Brown, Representative Pelosi and Senator Barbara

Boxer will all watch the show at the public library.

Eventually, the coalition hopes to harness the public outcry to push for

government regulations and class action suits against the chemical giants.

Some organizers are hoping that Congress finally wakes up and focuses a

spotlight on the chemical industry, while others are calling for corporate

accountability.

" The American people deserve to know what chemical executives knew and when

they knew it, " said Cohen, a leader of the Boston-based Environmental

Health Fund and co-coordinator of the group Health Care Without Harm.

The Chemical Industry Backlash

In all likelihood, the chemical industry will trudge out familiar responses

to " Trade Secrets. " They will bring in experts to argue the scientific

validity of chemical poisoning. They will say, for example, that doses are

so low that animals would have to drink 50,000 bathtubs of contaminated

water to suffer any harm. But health professionals counter that small doses

can have measurable impact in humans, and that people are often more

sensitive to toxic substances than test animals. Furthermore, no tests have

been done on the cumulative, long term effects of small doses.

The industry also likes to tell the public that it has changed since the

50's, 60's and '70s, when chemical companies stonewalled every request for

information or hint of danger. Of course, major incidents like the debacle

over Dursban undermine that claim. Thus, despite millions of dollars of

effort over the years, the public ranks the industry next to last in terms

of public confidence (trailing only the tobacco industry).

So the chemical industry has essentially abandoned it's efforts to change

public opinion. As in most industries with health and safety issues, the

chemical giants focus instead directly on Congress, where lobbying and

campaign contributions are often more effective ways to wage their battle.

Their goal is a simple one: to make sure that no laws would ever require

them to perform health and safety testing for the compounds they produce.

Needless to say, they have been totally successful thus far. But the time

may be ripe for change. Polls show public sentiment is increasingly

anti-corporate. According to a recent Business Week poll, 82 percent of the

public feels that corporations wield too much power. According to a recent

Roper poll, half the population feels that environmental regulations haven't

gone far enough.

With the chemical industry at the bottom of the public's " good corporate

citizen " list, a critical mass of citizens may soon come together to fight

back.