Yet one proven connection remains little known: the link between dioxin and cancer. Dioxin is formed when chlorine-containing chemicals, like plastic or industrial waste, are burned, or when pulp or paper are bleached. The chemical then becomes airborne, settling on plants that are eaten by animals that, in turn, are eaten by humans. And once dioxin is lodged in the body, there it stays - forever.
In 1985, when the US Environmental Protection Agency first assessed the effects of dioxin, it concluded that more people will get cancer from dioxin than from any other chemical on earth. That appraisal was intended to form the basis of all future EPA dioxin regulations. But according to a report released April 3 by the Centre for Health, Environment and Justice, the EPA assessment was never released because the paper and chlorine industries have done everything in their power to bury it. CHEJ’s report “Behind Closed Doors” is among the most damning studies ever written on how corporate pressure has influenced policy makers and concealed vital health information from the public. Industry tactics have included:
“If you start telling people that every child born in this country has dioxin in their body, if you show them the list of health effects and that every mother is passing dioxin on to her child, if you say we are all being exposed to hundreds of thousands of chemicals - it’s an explosive issue,” says Gary Cohen of the Environmental Health Fund, a partner of CHEJ. “The chemical industry, particularly the chlorine section of the chemical industry, will be in trouble.”
A key finding of “Behind Closed Doors” is evidence that the American Chemical Council and the Chlorine Chemistry Council may have manipulated the Science Advisory Board of the EPA’s dioxin committee. The CHEJ’s research reveals that one-third of the November 2000 dioxin committee members received funding from 91 dioxin generating companies, such as Dow and DuPont.
One committee member, Harvard Centre for Risk Analysis director John Graham, who has a long history of working for the chemical industry, told National Public Radio last year that the chances of getting cancer from dioxin and getting killed in a car crash were both one in 100, which puts dioxin “on par with common risks.” However, according to information leaked to the New York Times last year, the EPA’s unreleased 2000 draft report on dioxin reports that the “chemical is ten times more likely to cause cancer than previously estimated.” Other documented health risks of dioxin include attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, weakened immune system, birth defects and endometriosis, which often results in infertility.
“Behind Closed Doors” was released the same day Whitman met with top EPA scientists and policy officials to talk about the future of the dioxin reassessment. Nothing concrete came out of the April meeting. And given that Whitman did much to deregulate the chemical industry while governor and that, according to Newsweek, the American Council raised over $350,000 for Bush’s campaign, further stalls are likely.
So Americans may remain in the dark. Still, a growing movement threatens to turn chemical manufacturers into the next pariah industry. If so, watch for the chemical corporations to end up in court just as the tobacco industry is clearing the benches.
For more info: www.chej.org.
- Tamara Straus, AlterNet. E-mail: info@alternet.org
This article was also reproduced in Adbusters magazine, Jul/Aug 2001.