A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY 13617 315-379-9200 October 24, 1991
PUBLIC HEARING ON EPA’S SCIENTIFC REASSESSMENT OF DIOXIN
Date: November 15, 1991 - Time: 8:30 am to 5 pm
Place: EPA Education Center Auditorium, 401 M Street, SW, Washington,
DC.
Telephone Environmental Management Support [EMS] at 301-589-5318
who will fax or mail you the “background document” for
the meeting & sign you up to speak. EMS is an EPA contractor.
EPA’s background document to the public hearing states that “EPA will inform the public of the Agency’s Scientific Reassessment of Dioxin, hear and otherwise receive public comments and reviews of the anticipated course of action for the Reassessment, and receive any current, scientifically relevant information. The meeting will begin with a brief presentation by EPA officials concerning the scientific reassessment of dioxin, followed by a short question and answer period. The rest of the meeting will consist of oral comments by organizations and individuals who indicate an interest to do so in accordance with the procedures described in the Federal Register Notice”, V.56, No.196, 10-9-91, pgs 50903-50904 -call Waste Not for a copy of the Fed. Reg. EPA’s Scientific Reassessment of Dioxin consists of 5 basic activities: (1) development of a biologically based dose-response model for dioxin; (2) laboratory research in support of dose-response model; (3) update & revision of the health assessment document for dioxin; (4) update & revision of the dioxin exposure assessment document; (5) support for research to characterize ecological risks in aquatic ecosystems.
Ivy vs. Diamond Shamrock, Monsanto, Dow, Uniroyale, and Hercules. This lawsuit (described below) has produced affidavits which provide an encyclopaedic account of the scientific evidence developed since 1984 supporting a causal relationship between dioxin and human health effects. The 150-page affidavit of EPA’s Dr. Cate Jenkins for the plaintiffs in the Ivy/Agent Orange suit , together with the legal brief, is available for $15 (first class mail) or $10 (3rd class mail) from: Greenpeace, Information Services, 1436 U Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009. Request the IVY/AGENT ORANGE report. In 1984 the lawyers for the Vietnam Veterans of America accepted $180 million in a nuisance value settlement for Agent Orange Vets. The 1984 settlement found no evidence of cancer causation among Agent Orange exposed Vets, thus the nuisance value settlement. The lawyers were handsomely paid for what many consider to be a settlement that represents the biggest injustice in any single lawsuit in American history. The Ivy/Agent Orange suit was filed in Texas State Court for compensation to those Vietnam Vets whose disabilities, cancers and illness were caused by exposure to Agent Orange that were diagnosed after 1984. US District Court Judge, Jack B. Weinstein, from Brooklyn, NY, oversaw the 1984 Agent Orange settlement. On October 7, 1991, Brooklyn-based Judge Weinstein dismissed the Texas State Court Ivy case on the grounds that the 1984 settlement covered all Agent Orange exposed veterans. Rob Hager, the lawyer representing Ivy, told Waste Not that Judge Weinstein does not want this case to go to a jury trial because the Agent Orange Vets will win with a jury trial, and when they do, it will break the financial back of Diamond Shamrock, Monsanto, Dow, and Uniroyale, even though these corporate giants are claiming sovereign immunity because they were working on government defense contracts. This lawsuit should go to the Supreme Court. The treatment of Agent Orange exposed Vietnam Vets is an American tragedy. Agent Orange Vets have been consistently abandoned by every U.S. federal agency set up to protect them. In 1983 Vintage Books published the book Waiting for an army to die: the tragedy of Agent Orange written by Fred A. Wilcox. Wilcox detailed an “appalling chronicle of governmental bad faith, bureaucratic stonewalling, scientific inertia and individual courage.” The only thing that has changed since 1983 is that there is even less interest today in the Vietnam veterans who have died from Agent Orange exposure and those who are living with serious health defects, cancers, and birth defects in their children.
Physician’s Information for care of Vietnam Veterans exposed to Agent Orange and Other Chemicals, published in June 1991 by the MI Agent Orange Commission is available free from the Michigan Dept. of Public Health, Center for Health Promotion, 3423 North Logan - Martin Luther King Blvd., PO Box 30195, Lansing, MI 48909. Tel: 517-335-8354. For Michigan residents call 1-800-MIC-VIET for a free copy. This report includes a list of health effects that Agent Orange Vets may exhibit: Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; soft tissue sarcoma; skin disorders; chloracne; subclinical hepatotoxic effects; porphyria cutanea tarda; Hodgkin’s disease; neurological effects; reproductive and developmental effects; leukemias; cancer of the kidney, testis, stomach, prostrate, colon, hepatobiliary tract and brain; psychological effects; immunological abnormalities; gastrointestinal ulcer; and altered lipid metabolism. Also included in this report is the powerful Statement of Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, Jr. before the Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, U.S. House of Representatives, June 26, 1990 on the fraud and manipulations in the Agent Orange, Monsanto and BASF studies.
The following New York Times report, published October 18, 1991, on page A7, is a review of The Lancet article Cancer mortality among workers in chemical plant contaminated with dioxin, by Manz, Berger, Dwyer, et al, published October 19, 1991, Vol. 338, pgs 959-964. Reprints of The Lancet article are available from: Dr. Dwyer, Institute for Prevention Research, 1000 S. Fremont Avenue, Suite 641, Alhambra, CA 91803-1358. Tel: 818-457-4000.