A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY 13617 315-379-9200 February 13, 1993

Send check to VideoActive Productions, Box 322, Route 2, Canton, New York 13617. Tel: 315-386-8797.

SPECIAL OFFER: The Conference Transcript plus Video # 1 for $35.00 -- See Waste Not # 228.

1. 10 Video set for any Citizen Group/Individual that made a financial contribution as U.S. & Canada Per Tape

a Conference Co-Sponsor in appreciation to those who made this Conference possible. $100 $10

2. 10 Video set for any bona fide Grass Roots Group (please place order on letterhead) $200 $25

3. 10 Video set for any NON-PROFIT organization........................................... $300 $35

4. 10 Video set for any FOR-PROFIT organization............................................ $600 $75

5. ALL OVERSEAS REQUESTS: Please add U.S. $10 per tape, or $30 for complete set, for Air Mail postage. Available in the European video PAL standard for an extra $5 per tape.

When VideoActive Productions first obtained the video footage of the Conference, kindly filmed for us free of charge by local North Carolina professional videomakers, Steve and Della Gray, we thought it would be a relatively easy task to edit the tapes. 17 months and approximately 1,200 hours of editing time later, Roger Bailey and Paul Connett realize what a massive task they had taken on! Billie Elmore and her stalwart assistants at NC WARN [Waste Awareness and Reduction Network] discovered the same reality with the task of editing the transcript. Ironically, the task of editing the videotapes was so difficult, because the material was so good. We wanted to do justice to the very high quality of the presentations and the unique moment that the Conference represented. We wanted to set the record straight on dioxin. We wanted to show the truth about its human health effects and also, reveal the sordid machinations of government agencies, industrial consultants and certain elements of the national press, who have done their very best to obfuscate the issue. Secondly, we wanted to present the various aspects of the dioxin issue in a language that everyone could understand. We wanted a set of tapes that could go on the shelves of any activist group battling for environmental justice, so that any citizen who studies them would never again be intimidated by so-called experts who use jargon to conceal their true intentions on this matter. Thirdly, we wanted a set of tapes which could go into High Schools and Colleges, so that students could see the larger social and political context, within which science has to operate. These videos will be of invaluable help to anyone in their efforts to educate their communities on the imperative to stop all sources of dioxin from entering our bodies and our environment.

A Description of the Videos:

1. THE FIRST CITIZENS’ CONFERENCE ON DIOXIN: OVERVIEW. (59:02 minutes).

Dr. Paul Connett. An introduction to the Conference with highlights of the 9 videos. The only video with commentary.

2. BASIC SCIENCE AND BACKGROUND. (Running Time 59:29 minutes).

Dr. Paul Connett. The chemical structure and function of dioxin. Lethal dose for animals. Doses which cause cancer in rats. Regulatory levels for humans in Germany, Canada and the U.S.A.

Dr. Alastair Hay. (Toxicologist, Leeds University, England.) Mechanism of action of dioxin

Ruth Stringer. (Greenpeace, U.K.). Communicating dioxin analytical data. Dioxin levels in the environment.

Tom Webster. (Senior Scientist, Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, N.Y.) Bioaccumulation. History of health effects and accidents. Sources of dioxin.

Dr. Lennart Hardell. (Epidemiologist, Sweden). Epidemiological studies from Finland. Dioxin levels in Swedish food.

Dr. Peter Kahn. (Biochemist, Rutgers University.) Why it is difficult to pin down dioxin’s human health effects.

Dr. Arnold Schecter. (Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York, Binghampton, N.Y.). A summary of the results of ten recent dioxin research projects.

3. HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS. (Running time: 57 minutes).

Dr. Lennart Hardell. Epidemiological studies of phenoxy herbicide sprayers in Sweden. Increases in soft-tissue sarcoma.

Dr. Mikael Eriksson. (Oncologist, Umea, Sweden). Epidemiological studies of phenoxy herbicide sprayers and farmers in Sweden. Increases in malignant lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

Tom Webster. Summary of 1991 NIOSH study. The problems of estimating low dose effect. Developmental toxicity.

Dr. George Lucier. (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, N.C.) Mechanism of action. Dose response curves. Threshold levels? Are animal models appropriate for estimating human risks? Regulatory levels.

Dr. Otmar Wasserman. (Chairman, Department of Toxicology, University of Kiel, Germany). Neuro-toxicity and psychological effects. Immune system damage. Levels in breast milk. The need for action.

Jerry White. (Executive Director, Sprayers of Dioxin Association, New Brunswick, Canada.) The stunning mortality rates in herbicide sprayers in British Columbia. Battling DOW in the courts.

Jeff Shelton, from Jacksonville, Arkansas. What dioxin means to one man, his family and his community.

4. AGENT ORANGE COVER UP. (Running time 51:34 minutes).

Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, Jr., U.S. Navy, Retired. (Former Chief of Staff.). “We need the whole truth about dioxin.”

Dr. Peter Kahn. Difficulties inherent to epidemiological studies.

Richard Christian. (Deputy Director for Research & Technology Assessment, American Legion, Washington, D.C.) The complicity of the Center for Disease Control in the Agent Orange cover up.

George Claxton. (National Chairman, Agent Orange Committee for Vietnam Veterans of America.) An historical perspective of the Agent Orange cover up.

5. MANIPULATION AND FRAUD. (58:03 minutes).

Marc Smolonsky. (Investigator, U.S. Congressional House Committee on Human Resources and Inter Governmental Relations, Washington, D.C.) Civics lessons on government manipulation.

Gerson Smoger. (Chairman, Litigation Committee on Dioxin, American Trial Lawyers Assoc., California.) Times Beach, Missouri. Industry’s paid experts. The Media. Alvin Overmann’s trial.

Tom Webster. The Chlorine Institute’s manipulation of the Banbury Conference. Manipulation of the Media.

Pat Costner. (Research Director, U.S. Toxics Campaign, Greenpeace). Dioxin is a political and economic issue. Media manipulation. The dioxin problem is a chlorine problem. The need for grassroots action.

Dr. Alastair Hay. Misclassification in Monsanto studies.

Dr. Otmar Wasserman. Scientific accomplices of fraud.

Dr. Peter Kahn. White House manipulations of the Agent Orange Ranch Hand Studies.

6. SHIFTING THE FOCUS TO THE FRONT END: PHILOSOPHY AND LEGALITIES. (57:20 minutes.)

Dr. Barry Commoner and Dr. Mary O’Brien. Two of America’s most articulate scientists.

7. SHIFTING THE FOCUS TO THE FRONT END: PRACTICALITIES. (49:49 minutes).

Dr. Paul Connett. The “overflowing bathtub” analogy.

Dr. Ken Geiser. (Director, Toxics Use Reduction Center, U. of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA.) Re-thinking environmental policy. Shifting from pollution control to pollution prevention. Toxics use reduction. Concrete steps.

Jonathan Wishon. (Hazardous Waste Incinerator fighter.) A case study from North Carolina. A closed-loop solvent recycling system for dry cleaners.

Renata Kroesa. (Toxics Research Director, Greenpeace, Canada.) Getting chlorine out of the paper and pulp industry.

8. GETTING CHLORINE OUT OF THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. (40:01 minutes).

Tom Webster. History of chlorine in the chemical industry. U.S. chlorine production. Major markets for chlorine.

Joe Thornton. (Research Analyst, U.S. Toxics Campaign, Greenpeace, Seattle, WA.) Greenpeace’s campaign to ban chlorine use. Industry’s reaction. Dioxin: tip of the iceberg of organochlorine contamination.

Richard Miller. (Policy Analyst, Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers’ Union (OCAW).) The social costs of chlorine phase-out. The need for a superfund for displaced workers.

Dr. Otmar Wasserman. The need to ask big questions about the conduct of the chemical industry.

9. INCINERATION AND THE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT. (60:06 minutes).

Dr. Paul Connett. The need to ask the right questions.

Irmgard Immenkamp. (“The Better Garbage Concept,” Stuttgart, Germany.) Grassroots opposition to municipal solid waste incineration in Germany.

Dr. Kees Olie. (Research Scientist, Laboratory of Environmental & Toxicological Chemistry, University of Amsterdam, Holland.) Municipal solid waste incineration in Holland. How universities can help citizens.

Ruth Stringer. (Research Analyst, Greenpeace, England.) Incineration proposals in Britain.

Pat Costner. Problems with hazardous waste incineration.

Billie Elmore. Grassroots opposition to hazardous waste incineration in North Carolina.

Sharon Golgan. (Incinerator fighter.) The continuing chemical abuse of Jacksonville, Arkansas.

Terri Swearingen. (Incinerator fighter.) East Liverpool, Ohio: the final battleground of hazardous waste incineration?

10. THE USES AND ABUSES OF HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT. (39:19 minutes).

Dr. George Lucier. The components of risk assessment. Dr. Richard Clapp: Recent developments. Marc Smolonsky: The politics. Dr. Barry Commoner: The semantics. Tom Webster: Industry’s influence. Dr. Paul Connett: The incinerator industry abuse of. Pat Costner: The “B.S.” of risk assessment. Dr. Mary O’Brien: The ethics.