Fw: OPPT-Newsbreak Monday, 9 August 1999

[Guest guest]

> OPPT NEWSBREAK Monday 9 Aug 1999

>

>

> Today's " Toxic News for the Net "

> Brought to you by the OPPTS Chemical Library

> http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/oppt_nb.txt

>

> NEWS

>

> " Belgium Defies EU Directive on Dioxin [World Watch]. " Wall

>Street Journal, 9 August 99, A13.

> On Friday, the Belgium government at first appeared to agree

> with a European Commission order to suspend all food exports

> that have more than 2% fat content and have not been tested

> for dioxin. However, after hearing from farmers and food-

> industry officials, the government said it will restore the

> threshold for food exports requiring dioxin testing on foods

> with more than 20% fat content.

>

> " Islanders Cast Adrift: Nova Scotians Feel Forsaken Amid Toxic

>Waste [World News]. " Washington Post, 9 Aug 99, A9.

> For two decades, residents of the eastern edge of Cape

> Breton Island in Sydney, Nova Scotia have been struggling to

> clean up toxic waste in this economically depressed steel

> and coal mining community. Environmentalists say that the

> government has been slow to respond and has neglected to

> acknowledge any link between pollution and public health

> problems. This community has some of Canada's highest

> cancer rates, rates which some believe are linked to toxic

> waste from industry, households, tar ponds and an abandoned

> coke oven that collects in the middle of downtown making a

> " toxic chowder of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), benzene,

> arsenic and mercury... " . Last month, the provincial and

> federal governments awarded $40 million to a citizens group

> to conduct environmental assessments and develop plans for

> cleanup. Some, however, are skeptical that cleanup will

> begin within the next 10 years and fear that the government

> is not prepared to spend the estimated $1 billion it will

> take to do the job. Another recent action taken by the

> government is its purchase of nearly a " dozen houses in a

> neighborhood where residents had long suffered from

> persistent headaches, vomiting, fatigue and diarrhea. "

> Prior to these recent developments the federal and

> provincial governments had financed an incinerator in the

> 1980's, which failed due to an inadequate piping system.

>

> " Some Popular Diets for Cleansing System May Pose Health Risks

>[Health Journal]. " Wall Street Journal, 9 August, B1.

> Both alternative and conventional doctors agree that people

> should be cautious about " 'cleansing' " or " 'detoxification' "

> programs designed to rid the body of industrial pollutants,

> food preservatives, and pharmaceutical compounds and other

> " potentially toxic elements " that lead to ailments such as

> fatigue, asthma, and headaches. The programs range from

> herbal supplements and juice fasts to enemas, colonics, and

> dry body scrubs. Some doctors say that people who cleanse

> feel better because they have changed their diet by lowering

> fat intake and increasing fiber. Some doctors warn that

> some cleansing programs may be ineffective or even risky,

> possibly causing digestive problems, dizziness, and muscle

> cramps and depleting minerals. There is little scientific

> evidence that cleansing programs prevent or cure disease,

> but the National Cancer Institute is funding a study at

> Columbia University where detoxification is part of a

> randomized clinical study on the impact of alternative

> therapies on patients with untreatable pancreatic cancer.

>

> AROUND THE BELTWAY: NEWS FROM DC/MD/VA

>

> " The Dead Zone: For Well-Connected People, Environmental Concerns

>Clash With Desire for Cellular Clarity in Debate Over Park

>Antennas [Metro]. " Washington Post, 9 Aug 99, B1, B5.

> The dead zone referred to in this article is the " Rock Creek

> Park dead zone " , a few square miles of poor cellular clarity

> that has become the center of debate between cellular phone

> companies who want to erect two antennas in the park and

> opponents that say the poles could " mar the view, endanger

> migratory birds and possibly blaze a trail for yet more

> poles in Rock Creek and other parks " . Advocates of two

> proposed towers say that increased public safety and

> convenience in the popular dead zone will result from

> improved cell phone service. Read more about the debate

> online at themail@dcwatch, an e-mail discussion forum on

> D.C. affairs. Map of dead zone showing proposed tower sites

> accompanies the article.

>

> FOOD QUALITY PROTECTION ACT

>

> " Pesticides and Politics [Editorials]. " New York Times, 9 August

>99, A18.

> The New York Times discusses the Food Quality Protection Act

> and EPA's decision to ban methyl parathion and azinphos.

> They point out the politics involved, as " [T]here always is

> when Congress passes a broad, well-intentioned law and then

> passes the nasty details along to an administrative agency. "

> They advise in their conclusion: " Ms. Browner needs to

> accelerate pesticide reviews to the extent possible without

> jeopardizing their scientific quality. Separating the bad

> from the benign among 500 pesticides is a massive task, and

> the most important thing is to get it right. "

>

> CAR CORNER

>

> " EPA Astray Over Additive [Commentary]. " Washington Times, 9

>August 99, A15.

>

> Bonner R.Cohen, a senior fellow at the Lexington Institute

> in Arlington, discusses the EPA's decision-making processes

> over the years on the use of methyl tertiary butyly ether

> (MTBE) in reformulated gasoline, first to use it, then to

> discontinue its use because of concerns over water

> pollution. Noting that EPA scientists had warned that there

> might be problems with MTBE (EPA 600-AT-92/002 " Alternative

> Fuels Research Strategy'), he explores some of the

> consequences to public health as well as the economy of the

> two EPA decisions.

>

> BIOTECHNOLOGY

>

> " Greenwar [Review & Outlook]. " Wall Street Journal, 9 August 99,

>A18.

> Long editorial on Greenpeace's European campaign against

> genetically engineered foods. Their conclusion: " The best

> lesson we could learn from Europe is the foolishness of

> allowing food technology and safety to become politicized

> merely for the benefit of fund-raising by the fringe. "

>

> MAD COW DISEASE

>

> " 'Mad Cow' Disease Blamed On Scientific Blunder [World:

>Britain]. " Washington Times, 9 Aug 99, A11.

> Serious consideration may be given to the theory that

> Britain's epidemic of ' " mad cow " ' disease, bovine

> spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was caused by a scientific

> experiment that went wrong in the 1980's. Some experts

> believe that the disease originated from an agent that

> scientists used, while trying to create a new breed of

> " supercattle " , to inject cows with hormones that had been

> taken from the pituitary glands of slaughterhouse carcasses.

> Eventually, humans were affected by the new variant

> Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (nvCJD). A similar experiment in

> which growth hormones were extracted from the pituitary

> glands of cadavers and given to children with congenital

> dwarfism produced like results in that children who had

> received the hormones developed CJD. Dr. Anne Maddocks, a

> retired senior medical scientist who specialized in

> infection control at St. 's Hospital in London and who

> recently spent a year investigating the theory, says that

> the ' " timing of the deaths in cattle and humans who were

> exposed to pituitary hormone is very compelling. " ' While

> separate evidence has been supplied that supports the

> theory, some scientists remain unsure, like Collinge,

> an advisor to the government, who recently suggested that

> people having their tonsils and appendix removed could be at

> risk of contracting nvCJD through surgical instruments, as

> the disease has been found in these parts of the body. The

> ban on British beef exports was lifted in Europe last week

> but specialists warn that nvCJD could still kill millions of

> people. It is expected that several variants of the disease

> exist.

>

> INTER ALIA

>

> " Conservation Easements Lighten Taxes [Your Money Matters]. "

>Wall Street Journal, 9 August 99, C1, C15.

> Today's column explains how putting a conservation easement

> on a portion of your property will help preserve open space

> as well as provide you with income-tax, property-tax, and

> estate-tax savings.

>

>

>* All items, unless indicated otherwise, are available at the

>U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

>Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxics Substances (OPPTS)

>Chemical Library

>Northeast Mall, Room B606 (Mailcode 7407)

>Washington, D.C. 20460

>(202) 260-3944; FAX x4659;

>E-mail for comments: library-tsca@....

>(Due to copyright restrictions, the library cannot provide

>photocopies of articles.)

>

>*Viewpoints expressed in the above articles do not necessarily

>reflect EPA policy. Mention of products does not indicate

>endorsement.*

>

>To subscribe to OPPT Newsbreak, send the command

> subscribe OPPT-NEWSBREAK Firstname Lastname

>to: listserver@...

>To unsubscribe, send the command

> signoff OPPT-NEWSBREAK

>Also available on the World Wide Web (see banner for address)

>The OPPTS Chemical Library is operated by GCI Information

>Services

>

>