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November 26, 2006
Dow Chemical tried to silence determined science researcher who called for removal of chemical used in plastic
Jill Hilbrenner, The Missourian, November 26, 2006
Fred vom Saal, an MU biological sciences professor, holds a plastic baby bottle that contains the chemical bisphenol A. The prominent chemical has been the focus of years of research for vom Saal, who believes it can cause reproductive problems, brain damage, cancer and many other issues. PHOTO: LYLE WHITWORTH
Fred vom Saal averages a 14-hour workday. As an MU biological sciences professor, his days begin at 6 a.m., and from then until late evening, he conducts laboratory research, writes papers, meets with students and browses the Internet.
For all his efforts, vom Saal has one goal: to see the day when some plastics corporations are seen in the same light as companies that make asbestos or sell tobacco.
Since 1995, vom Saal has studied the effects of bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical found in many plastics and in the linings of steel food cans that prevent food from acquiring a metallic taste. BPA mimics the effects of powerful sex hormones, vom Saal says, and can cause brain damage, abnormal organ development and hyperactivity even when present in small doses.
“There’s over 6 billion pounds of this made and used a year,” explained vom Saal, who works with MU professors Susan C. Nagel and Wade Welshons on his research. “It’s one of the biggest chemicals in production in the world.”
BPA is found in polycarbonate plastics, which are used in many types of baby bottles, toddlers’ spill-proof cups, Lexan items, Nalgene bottles, plastic wrap, microwave-safe plastic dishware and food containers. Many plastic items that carry the number 7 inside of the recycling triangle contain BPA, although not all items with that number have the chemical.
Vom Saal and Nagel began their initial research on BPA in the mid-1990s. The team’s primary research goal was to examine the fetal effects of high levels of estrogen present in the female body during pregnancy. High doses of estrogen are known to cause cancer, abnormal brain development and reproductive abnormalities in humans and animals, vom Saal said, so he questioned how a developing fetus could remain safe.
The team discovered that the body utilizes a barrier system in the blood to ward off potentially negative effects from sex hormones such as estrogen. After learning that, vom Saal said they wanted to know how the system worked with birth control and chemicals.
In laboratory tests, BPA bypassed the protective barriers. “Our research showed harmful effects at a dose 2,500 times lower than the chemical industry said could cause harm,” vom Saal explained.
Shortly before the publication of the first BPA study, vom Saal said, a Dow Chemical Company representative paid a visit to Welshons and him, indicating the company wanted them to withhold the findings.
“This is a direct quote. He said, ‘Can we arrive at a mutually beneficial outcome where you hold off publishing this study?’” vom Saal remembered with a laugh.
Vom Saal said he and Welshons refused, and the study was published in the January 1997 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, a National Institutes of Health journal. He and Welshons reported the visit from the Dow Chemical Company representative in a letter to the Food and Drug Administration, the MU chancellor and a number of media outlets. Before long, vom Saal was featured on PBS’ “Frontline” and ABC’s “20/20.”
“When that paper was published, the chemical industry started attacking us,” he said. “Nobody had ever looked at this, and of course the chemical industry said, ‘That’s not true.’”
Mark Walton, a public relations representative for Dow, said a company scientist visited vom Saal to try to make arrangements to withhold the study. Walton said, however, that the Dow scientist wanted vom Saal to investigate several other research questions before publishing his report. According to Walton, any ideas of a buy off are a misunderstanding.
Credibility is a necessity in the scientific community, as vom Saal will readily explain. “You don’t come back from losing trust in the scientific community,” the researcher said. “Whether you survive or die is based on one thing and one thing only: Is what you published right?”
Vom Saal always believed his findings were true, but they opened the door for two major dissenters: toxicologists and members of the chemical industry.
Vom Saal specializes in endocrinology, or the study of hormones and the endocrine glands, but toxicologists study poisonous chemicals. Toxicologists, vom Saal explained, test unknown chemicals to determine if they are growth-inhibiting or lethal.
Since tests with BPA never proved immediately fatal, toxicologists saw no cause for concern, he said. BPA can boost growth, which leaves the chemical in good standing from a toxicology stance.
But as an endocrinologist, vom Saal sees plenty of problems. He said BPA causes uncontrolled cell growth. He said it harms health and may promote obesity. But he said because of the “clash of disciplines” between endocrinologists and toxicologists, his research has had a hard time holding the respect of some scientists.
After publication of his team’s first BPA article, a representative from the Environmental Protection Agency warned him that the chemical industry had planned an extensive advertising campaign to promote the safety of plastics for infants and children. The same plastics, vom Saal said, that are particularly dangerous to infants because they contain BPA.
“There are risks to everyone, but in babies they’re permanent,” said vom Saal. “Exposure of human or animal babies to bisphenol A is going to have a permanent, harmful effect. Once that effect occurs, you’re not going to be normal, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.”
To date, approximately 175 studies have examined the health risk of BPA. Thirteen of them are industry-funded, vom Saal said, and they all say the chemical is safe. Some say BPA even offers health benefits. Most of the remaining studies have replicated vom Saal’s work, in one form or another, vom Saal said.
“In the world I live in, it’s completely self-correcting. If you do something that doesn’t replicate (with other scientists’ research), you’re toast,” said vom Saal.
Whether or not he is believed, vom Saal said that, in time, the public will not be able to dispute the facts.
Vom Saal said his best option is to let the research speak for itself. He has advised California lawmakers, members of Congress and White House officials about his findings.
He is still working to prove himself, but he said it’s a battle worth fighting. Together with biology research professor Julia Taylor, he is now applying for a National Institutes of Health grant that would allow him to research a potential link between BPA and prostate cancer in mice.
Nagel, an MU assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health, said vom Saal is always willing to incorporate a variety of techniques in his research.
“He definitely tends to think outside of the box. This often allows him to be on the leading edge of research questions,” Nagel said.
Vom Saal has also adjusted his personal life to minimize his risk of harm from BPA. He and his wife never use plastic dishware in the microwave or place hot food in it because heat can cause plastic to become unstable, he explained. They occasionally use non-polycarbonate plastics to freeze food, then heat it in the oven in glass containers.
The couple has no children around their home to protect from the chemical, but vom Saal said that could change. He and his wife have one daughter, and vom Saal wants grandchildren someday.
“... They won’t have polycarbonate baby bottles,” he said.
About BisphEnol A
BPA is found in the linings of steel food cans to prevent food from acquiring a metallic taste
BPA is also found in polycarbonate plastics often used in manufacturing baby bottles, toddlers’ spill-proof cups, Lexan items, Nalgene bottles, plastic wrap, food containers, and microwave-safe containers
Many plastic items with the number 7 inside of the recycling symbol contain BPA, but not all of them do
Posted by bhola at 09:18 PM | Comments (0)
Dursban prohibitions are geared to prevent exposure to children
Richard Fagerlund, San Francisco Chronicle, November 25, 2006
Q: Your answer to a recent question about black widow spiders includes mention of Dursban. What's happened to this product?
A: Dursban, a chlorpyrifos pesticide, is no longer allowed in residential pest control. The following agreement between the EPA and Dow Chemical specifies the cases in which Dursban is permitted or prohibited:
Formulation of chlorpyrifos for home, lawn and most outdoor uses will stop effective Dec. 1, 2000. Formulator will stop sales for home and lawn use effective Feb. 1, 2001. EPA will not order products to be pulled from store shelves. All home use products/retail sales will be canceled (except childproof ant traps). All uses in or around existing structures will be canceled except spot termite treatments with gross visible infestations. Totally banned in 2002. Pre-construction structural use phased out in five years.
Nonresidential uses: Uses in schools, parks and other settings where children may be exposed will be canceled entirely.
Outdoor areas where it was determined children will not be exposed include only the following: Professional applications on golf courses retained at rates reduced by 75 percent. Use on road medians, industrial plant sites, nonstructural wood treatments including: fence posts, utility poles, railroad ties, landscape timbers, logs, pallets, wooden containers, poles, posts and processed wood products retained.
Indoor areas where it was determined children will not be exposed include only the following: ship holds, railroad boxcars, industrial plants, manufacturing plants and food processing plants.
Public health uses: Professional applications directly on top of fire ant mounds retained. Ultra-low-volume applications for mosquito control will be retained (evidently this was at the request of the CDC, but is normally not used).
Agriculture: Uses are retained; however, use on tomatoes is banned and tolerance levels on apples and grapes will be lowered significantly.
My video "Do-it-Yourself Pest Management for Home/Business" is now available. In the video, I show you how to use the products I recommend to control common household pests such as cockroaches, ants, pantry moths, mice, bed bugs and others. I do not use any liquid or aerosol pesticides. To get the video, visit my website.
Posted by bhola at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2006
The man who invented napalm had no regrets
Lenini's Tomb blog, November 22, 2006
The things that occur to a person under capitalism are breathtaking. For instance, in 1941, an unassuming and fameless chemist from Harvard was sent by the government to investigate explosions at a DuPont car plant. The most significant thing he discovered was that the liquid divinylacetyline turns into an extremely sticky slime when set on fire. This was his career-break: he reckoned that if you put such a substance in a bomb, it would spread far and wide over a population and they would be almost unable to get it off. It would burn those suckers to death. Ker-ching.
Interviewed about it in Time in 1968, at the height of its use in Vietnam, he not only had no regrets, but had no particular worries if the substance continued to be produced by Dow Chemical and consumed by the state military machine in the killing of Vietnamese people. (I almost wrote "civilians" rather than "people" there, but the implication of making that distinction is barbarous). The guy's name, and he should be named, was Louis Fieser. I suppose you're expecting me to say that he was a good man, and the system misused his science but, take it from me, he was a real sack of shit. No worse than many others of his class, of course: hardly any of those in the US intellectual class opposed the use of the substance during the Vietnam War, in the same way that hardly any of the leading intellectuals in the US oppose war crimes in Iraq today.
Most of them are outspoken 'defenders' of the Enlightenment.
Posted by bhola at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2006
Chemical industry plans for replacing chlorine rail tank cars: lots of big claims, usual "Responsible Care" bullshit, no details
Press Release, Golin Harris, November 15, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 -- Several leading chemical manufacturers today announced plans to replace their entire U.S. and Canadian chlorine tank car fleets by the end of 2017 with new rail tank cars that will feature significantly enhanced safety and security attributes.
Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem), The Dow Chemical Company, US Magnesium LLC and Bayer MaterialScience reaffirmed their drive for continuous improvement in the safe and secure rail transportation of chlorine through this aggressive rail tank car replacement commitment and announced the formation of a Chlorine Rail Tank Car Development Coordination Panel.
This new effort is a logical progression to the next generation of safe and secure rail tank cars. Multiple safety enhancements have been incorporated into the current generation of tank cars and they are performing well, with a strong record of performance in accident situations. In the spirit of Responsible Care® and continuous improvement, the industry is preparing to break through to the next level of safety and security performance-based improvements.
The primary goal of the Coordination Panel is to accelerate the chlorine industry's development of enhanced tank car designs that can be leveraged across the chemical industry in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation and Transport Canada. The Panel welcomes the participation of other chlorine shippers willing to commit to the same rail tank car replacement plans.
Panel participants believe that enhancing chlorine transportation safety and security is a shared responsibility between shippers, railroads and the government and must go beyond rail tank car design to include a comprehensive review of all the factors involved, including train operations, human factors, routing and track conditions.
Rail transport is the safest mode of transportation for chlorine and other hazardous materials that are critical to the U.S. economy and national security. Although chlorine is best known as a disinfectant for drinking water, it also is essential to the manufacturing of 93 percent of all pharmaceuticals, numerous life-saving medical devices, nearly all crop protection chemicals, and the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), mostly used as building and construction materials -- not to mention advanced materials critical to protecting our armed forces.
"Of all the aspects involved in the safe rail transport of chemicals, shippers like OxyChem can have the greatest positive impact on rail tank car design," said Stephen R. Fitzgerald, OxyChem Sr. Vice President-Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology. "While we believe the current rail tank car fleet is dependable, our commitment to health, safety, environment and security excellence and continuous improvement leads us to support development of a next generation tank car design that incorporates significant safety and security enhancements."
"We at Bayer bring a great deal of experience in improving rail transit safety and rail car design to the group, and we are pleased to participate. Such active involvement in distribution safety improvement aligns with our commitment to the Responsible Care Initiative," said Robert Blake, Director- Distribution Safety, Bayer MaterialScience NAFTA. "We believe that any decision on a new tank car design approach should be based on sound science and engineering and consider all factors of design, construction and operation."
"US Magnesium is looking forward to working with the Chlorine Institute and the members of the industry to achieve significant improvements in transportation reliability and safety," adds Dr. Howard I. Kaplan, Vice President, Chemicals and By-Products, US Magnesium LLC.
The Chlorine Institute has agreed to facilitate the new Panel, which will work in close coordination with the Next Generation Rail Tank Car project -- a joint initiative of Dow, Union Pacific Railroad and Union Tank Car Company. In addition, the Chlorine Institute will incorporate the efforts of its Tank Car of the Future Task Force into these efforts.
"We are pleased to work with these companies and the Chlorine Institute to continue to build upon our shared commitment to Responsible Care," said Henry Ward, The Next Generation Rail Tank Car Project Leader and Global Director of Transportation Safety and Security for Dow. "Together our efforts will help enable the safe and secure production and distribution of essential products for decades to come."
The Next Generation Rail Tank Car project is focused on the design and implementation of a next generation rail tank car for highly hazardous chemicals that provides a step change in safety and security performance. This project is part of a much larger set of initiatives to drive improved rail safety and security that include efforts to address operational safety, material sourcing and routing, implementation of advanced tracking technologies and emergency preparedness.
About Occidental Chemical Corporation:
Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) is a leading North American manufacturer of vinyls, chlorine and caustic soda - the building blocks for such indispensable products as pharmaceuticals, water disinfectants and plastics. The company is based in Dallas, Texas and has manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Chile.
About The Dow Chemical Company:
Dow is a diversified chemical company that harnesses the power of science and technology to improve living daily. The Company offers a broad range of innovative products and services to customers in more than 175 countries, helping them to provide everything from fresh water, food and pharmaceuticals to paints, packaging and personal care products. Built on a commitment to its principles of sustainability, Dow has annual sales of $46 billion and employs 42,000 people worldwide. References to "Dow" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.
About Bayer MaterialScience:
Bayer MaterialScience LLC is one of the leading producers of polymers and high-performance plastics in North America and is part of the global Bayer MaterialScience business with nearly 19,000 employees at 40 sites around the world and 2005 sales of 10.7 billion euros. Our innovative developments in coating, adhesive and sealant raw materials, polycarbonates, polyurethanes and thermoplastic urethane elastomers enhance the design and functionality of products in a wide variety of markets, including the automotive, construction, electrical and electronics, household and medical industries, and the sports and leisure fields. Our inorganic basic chemicals unit produces chlorine and related essential products for the chemicals industry. Let us give life to your vision. Bayer MaterialScience - Where VisionWorks.
About US Magnesium LLC:
US Magnesium LLC (a member of the Renco Group) is the United States' only producer of magnesium metal and has been producing since 1972. The magnesium plant is located on the west shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The Great Salt Lake provides an inexhaustible supply of feedstock of magnesium chloride brine for the plant. The plant uses a highly sophisticated internally developed technical process for magnesium production, and is known for having the highest quality products. Chlorine production and sales is an integral part of the magnesium process and US Magnesium is committed to the safe production and distribution of co-product chlorine throughout the western United States
About The Chlorine Institute:
The Chlorine Institute Inc. (CI) founded in 1924, is a technical trade association of companies that are involved in the safe production, distribution and use of chlorine, sodium and potassium hydroxides and sodium hypochlorite, and the distribution and use of hydrogen chloride. CI's 219 member companies represent the complete value chain-from chlorine producers to packagers, distributors, users and suppliers. The Institute's North American producer members account for 98 percent of the total chlorine production capacity of the U.S. Canada. CI's packager members now represent 100 percent of the total U. S. market. For more information, please visit http://www.chlorineinstitute.org .
® Registered service mark of the U. S. American Chemistry Council.
For Editorial Information:
Tina Janczura
GolinHarris (312) 729-4349
tjanczura@golinharris.com
Posted by bhola at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2006
ANGUS to exit "nitrofuel" racing nitromethane supply
The Dow Chemical Company, November 14, 2006
Buffalo Grove, IL - ANGUS Chemical Company, the leading manufacturer of nitromethane, will exit supply of all grades of its NITROFUEL™ brand racing nitromethane from all top fuel racing venues across the United States at the end of the 2006 season. This follows ANGUS’ exit of NITROFUEL supply from racing venues in other geographical areas effective January 1, 2006.
“Safety is paramount to the use of NITROFUEL racing nitromethane on the racing circuit both to driving teams and to spectators. While safe to use under controlled circumstances, the product must be stored and handled securely to prevent unwanted results,” said Mark Henning, president and CEO of ANGUS Chemical Company. “As a major nitromethane fuel supplier, the security measures we believe necessary to operate in a sustainable manner in the racing environment have not been to our satisfaction.”
ANGUS has taken a number of measures to improve safe use of NITROFUEL products in recent years including safety training for drivers, a safety manual and checklist, the introduction of a colorant in the fuel to indicate safe to use and the introduction of new product grades to meet the restrictions of maximum nitromethane content.
“While we have shown a commitment to the industry to maintain safe use, we have not been fully supported in our efforts,” continued Henning. “We are grateful to the racing drivers and teams who embraced our improved safe handling and use measures and were committed to the safe use of our NITROFUEL product. However, we have seen increased use of imported and unmonitored material and we do not believe that fuel usage is safely monitored at all times on the track. As such, and as product stewards for the long-term success of the nitromethane molecule, we will no longer support our product in this application.”
ANGUS will continue to be supportive on nitromethane sales into other key markets where the molecule is sold and used in de-sensitized levels. Nitromethane is used as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of agricultural fumigants and pharmaceutical products. Hobby racing fuel for remote-controlled vehicles is also a key market; ANGUS fully supports the hobby racing fuels market for remote-controlled vehicles where formulations are sold at de-sensitized levels of 55 percent or less nitromethane.
Aligned as a market-focused, solutions-driven specialty chemicals business, ANGUS is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. ANGUS develops and delivers nitroalkane-based solutions to our customers for applications in latex paints, mineral slurries, metalworking fluids, water treatment, biological buffers, solvents and thinners, wood adhesives, pharmaceutical & agricultural intermediates, SBR latex shortstops, fuel additives and personal care and household products. Further information on ANGUS Chemical Company is available on the Internet at www.angus.com
About The Dow Chemical Company
Dow is a diversified chemical company that harnesses the power of science and technology to improve living daily. The Company offers a broad range of innovative products and services to customers in more than 175 countries, helping them to provide everything from fresh water, food and pharmaceuticals to paints, packaging and personal care products. Built on a commitment to its principles of sustainability, Dow has annual sales of $46 billion and employs 42,000 people worldwide. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.
Posted by bhola at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
Dredging up a public-private partnership: Dow Chemical and the Navy team up for Thames River project
Anthony Cronin, The Day, Connecticut, November 12, 2006
The Dow Chemical plant in Gales Ferry, just upriver on the Thames from the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, shared the burden of needed maintenance dredging. PHOTO: SEAN D. ELLIOT
A unique partnership between the U.S. Navy and the Dow Chemical Co. plant in Gales Ferry, brokered by the regional chamber of commerce, has moved mountains — of dredging materials, that is.
The successful partnership has also ensured that the specialized manufacturing jobs at the Dow plant are secure because the dredging vital to the plant's future has been completed, thanks to help from the nearby submarine base in Groton.
Tony Sheridan, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, says his group brokered the public-private partnership between the submarine base and Dow Chemical — which are both active chamber members — earlier this year because they are essential players in the region's $13 billion economy.
Sheridan explains that the Groton base's dredging project produced clean fill. The Dow plant, meanwhile, needed to dredge a portion of the nearby Thames River to accommodate ships arriving with millions of pounds of manufacturing materials each month for making Styrofoam — and it needed to cap those dredging spoils in state-approved dumping grounds with clean fill.
The result was a sort of “dredging-in-tandem” project, which saved months of work as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars for Dow while also protecting the river.
Sheridan says the partnership involved discussions with Dow officials, submarine base officials, state environmental officials and chamber associates. “We communicated their mutual needs to the other — and took an active role right away,” he adds.
The Dow plant, a longtime local employer, is a specialized manufacturer that employs more than 100 workers and contractors at its Gales Ferry plant. The site manufactures a variety of plastics products, including latex and Styrofoam for customers ranging from the paper, food and packaging industries to the appliance and automotive industries.
The nearby 687-acre submarine base supports more than 70 various commands, including its 17 submarines, the Naval Submarine School and housing and support facilities. The base, which is located mostly in Groton with a small portion extending into Ledyard, has more than 21,000 civilian workers, active-duty service members and their families, representing a significant annual contribution to the eastern Connecticut economy.
If the dredging project couldn't be completed in a timely manner, the Dow plant's future could have been jeopardized, according to chamber officials. “The (dredging) issue,” explains Sheridan, “was critical to the success of both Dow Chemical and the naval submarine base.”
Eastern Connecticut's economy has seen an erosion of manufacturing jobs over the years, especially in specialized manufacturing such as that found at the Dow plant. Manufacturing today represents about 13 percent of the region's work force of about 138,000.
While that percentage has fallen over the years, it's still higher than the statewide work force. Connecticut has about 194,000 manufacturing jobs across its eight counties, which represents about 11 percent of the state's work force of some 1.8 million.
Dredging of river materials is closely monitored by environmental officials. The state's Department of Environmental Protection supported the partnership between the sub base and the Dow plant. State DEP officials, whom Sheridan praised for their flexibility and willingness to help with the projects, worked with Dow and the base to ensure the safety and protection of the river. The DEP also allowed Dow and the Groton base to work on the same timeline with their respective dredging projects.
Chamber officials also said that former Navy captain Denny Hicks, who now serves as the chamber's director of strategic planning, was essential in gaining the permitting approval for the dredging.
Hicks says his military background and experience helped with the permitting process. He says that both Dow Chemical and the naval submarine base are “major economic drivers of the region” so that chamber and the partners are “pleased with what's been accomplished.”
Posted by bhola at 01:41 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2006
Dioxin days: Rhonda's story
Rhonda Bartle, New Zealand Herald, November 12, 2006
I might have been a fiction writer in a former life, but these days as a journalist, I mostly deal in facts. The fact is, I grew up in the shadow of a Dow chemical factory, in the suburb of Paritutu, New Plymouth, during all the dioxin years.
I lived there from 1957 to 1971, from age 3 to 17 years. Our house was the first on Simons St.
As the crow flies, it was the closest to the chemical plant - less than 500m away. The house number was 13, but it never struck anyone as being unlucky. Instead, it promised a blessed, good life in a new suburb, on a small but spectacular coastal peninsular, a short walk to the beach or down to the wharf to fish.
Touted as a great place to raise a family, the suburb of Paritutu was indeed a kids' paradise. We chased pheasants through the lupins and picked lilies from the creeks. Ate blackberries off the bushes and sucked sourgrass stalks. We walked miles to school and dawdled home again. And the sun shone, as it always seems to do in retrospective childhood.
At the time my father bought the property, the land was zoned residential. I still remember his frustration and anger when he was suddenly advised by the local council that everything over our back fence was to be re-zoned industrial. Meetings were held, he and other residents argued, but eventually re-zoning went ahead. We watched Ivon Watkins Dow Ltd grow box-like on our landscape, followed by VetMed Laboratories, Youngs Rubber Company and an oil tank farm.
My father was very protective of his five daughters. He did his best to keep us safe. Yet never once was he privy to the dangers the Dow chemical plant imposed.
I have all the anecdotes, as every child who grew up in that neighbourhood does. Of the foam that flew on a certain breeze and landed on the lawn, leaving burnt orange circles. Of native bushes that failed on one side. Of curtains that rotted against the sills. Of our mother crying: "Shut the windows. The wind has changed". Of visitors complaining of the all-invasive stench and wrinkling up their noses, not only at the smell, but at us crazy people, living within breathing distance of some chemical industry.
Why didn't we move, they asked? "Where to?" our father, a postal worker, replied. Who could afford to move? Who would buy the house, anyway? No, this was it, he said, this was "our" house, and we were there for good. It can't be too bad or they wouldn't have let those buggers build that factory there.
My father collected the empty chemical drums that lay around in their puddles of orange sludge, washed them and planted trees in them that wouldn't survive.
Down on the sand at Back Beach, we walked in the waves where the oily slick from the effluent pipe left orange marks on our skin. Later, my mother served in the Dow canteen, bringing home left-over food. Everything delivered "tasted funny", but to kids of the 50s and 60s, a raspberry bun was a raspberry bun, a doughnut a doughnut. We ate the food, anyway. When she took on work as a cleaner at VetMed, those of us still at home took turns to help her scrub the black rubber boot marks off the floor.
Miraculously, I escaped the explosion of 1972, though my parents and three of my sisters still lived close enough to eye-witness the blast. I have since learned that there have been two dozen such explosions around the world, and they are all listed as world dioxin-contaminated disasters, but nowhere will you find the Paritutu explosion recorded on a global map.
Ignorance is not bliss, but then sometimes neither is higher learning. Here we are in 2006, and as a diminished family, we've come to understand what prolonged exposure to dioxin has done to us.
Journalist Melanie Reid's remarkably easy to digest, but hard to stomach, 90-minute Let Us Spray documentary has aired (on TV3, October 23). Dioxin is all over the country, but this time it's in the news. Finally, there is fallout that's not coming air borne from the direction of IWD.
It's been proven that the Government knew of the dangers and chose not to tell us. It's been proven they kept silent and then went so far as to actually manipulate data, gathered from Paritutu residents through serum testing, to ensure the wool was pulled completely over our eyes. The test process itself was flawed. Government policy seems to have been money over people. A multi-national company over native New Zealanders.
The serum testing was nothing more than window dressing, damage control taken to new heights. Why are we surprised? This is the same Ministry of Health which expected us to be happy with the appointment of Professor Allan Smith to take a fresh new look at the study. Smith was caught on camera saying publicly how great he thought that serum study was.
For the record, I didn't front up for the serum testing, as I already believed it was designed to do exactly what it did - let health officials off the hook instead of making them accountable. But I'll stand head of the line when it comes to DNA testing. I can no longer deny that dioxin from the Dow factory has damaged me in ways I couldn't see.
Let's get personal here. I keep good health. I used to think, somehow, I'd escaped the dioxin threat. Yes, I had a sister who died of cancer at 36. Yes, she'd had a baby who died at 8 months gestation but was delivered full term. Yes, one of those photos taken by midwife Hyacinth Henderson - who suddenly found herself in the midst of a birth defect epidemic and got her camera out - was probably of my unknown and unnamed niece. And yes, my father died of heart disease at 59 and my mother of cancer a decade later, but me? Nope, not me. Never me. Somehow, I remained immune, as my own five children had.
When advised by those in a position to know that my dioxin levels were likely to be higher than those of Vietnam vets directly sprayed with Agent Orange, I shook my head and dismissed the idea. Nope. Couldn't be. They said other awful things: if my levels turned out to be lower than expected, then it was probably because I'd breastfed all five of my babies, and dioxin is secreted through breast milk. "What do you mean?" I asked. Everyone knows that breast is best. Isn't it?
Still, I filed all that away and tried to forget about it, which was fine until the next generation appeared. So, talk to me about intergenerational genetic damage. Ask me about heart defects and hydrocephalus, because I'm something of a pseudo-expert now. New members of our family have been born with the exact same conditions as those commonly found in third generation Vietnam vets. I put my hand up to be counted.
Posted by bhola at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2006
Dow to increase ethanolamines capacity
Textile World, November 7, 2006
The Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich., will increase ethanolamine production capacity at Union Carbide’s facility in Hahnville, La., by 100 million pounds, bringing total annual capacity at the facility to 340 million pounds.
“We are pleased to be making a strategic investment in ethanolamines in the world’s largest market,” said Kevin Dillan, global business director, Dow Amines. “This expansion will ensure that Dow has sufficient EOA capacity to meet both its own internal requirements for ethyleneamines, herbicides and gas-treating products, as well as to satisfy the growth needs of our customers in North America and Latin America.”
Posted by bhola at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2006
Dow Chemical shares principles for chemical management systems
GreenBiz.com, November 8, 2006
MIDLAND, MI, Nov. 8, 2006 - Dow Chemical has published a set of company Principles for Chemical Management Systems that it describes as an important initial step towards achieving the company's 2015 Product Safety Commitment goals.
These principles describe Dow’s views on science-based chemicals management policy, which are fundamental to effective product safety legislation or regulation. Approval and publication of these principles is actually another step in a long legacy of Dow leadership in the area of EH&S. This is consistent with Dow’s commitment to Responsible Care in leading the development of responsible governmental requirements that safeguard our communities, workplaces and the environment.
The principles were originally developed in the late 1990s, as Dow defined its positions on emerging chemicals management policy around the world. Dow shared these positions with other chemical producers at the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which adopted similar principles earlier this year. A consistent set of principles is currently being evaluated by the International Council of Chemical Associations, whose Board of Directors is expected to adopt such principles this fall.
"We believe that there needs to be adequate information available to assess potential chemical risks to human health and the environment, and approaches need to be in place to effectively manage those risks,." said Greg Bond, Dow’s Corporate Director of Product Responsibility. “These principles will help guide our behavior, our interactions with others in the supply chain and help shape our advocacy with government and other external stakeholders.”
The completion of these principles will provide a basis from which to build consensus in the chemical industry for the development of effective chemicals management policy. Furthermore, the principles will guide industry efforts around the world to work with governments and other stakeholders to develop workable and effective chemicals management policies.
Posted by bhola at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2006
New Zealand: Ministry seeks extra dioxin expert to review report of poisoning from Dow plant
Stuff.co.nz, November 2, 2006
The Health Ministry wants an additional expert to independently review a dioxin poisoning report, after critics questioned the independence of a ministry-appointed scientist.
Deputy director-general of health (public health) Don Matheson said it would approach the World Health Organisation for advice about appointing the extra reviewer.
The move could be seen as a partial concession after the Green party questioned the independence of ministry-appointed scientist Professor Allan Smith to review the dioxin report.
Critics have said the report is seriously flawed.
The Government announced last month that Professor Smith – a scientist at the University of California – would review questions raised by forensic accountant John Leonard about the ministry report on a New Plymouth chemical plant.
In a TV3 documentary shown last month, Mr Leonard said high levels of dioxin contamination at the Ivon Watkins- Dow factory in Paritutu were obscured by poor methodology in last year's ministry report.
Ivon Watkins-Dow, now called DowAgro Sciences, made the herbicide 245T from 1962 to 1987. A by-product was a type of dioxin. Dioxins can cause birth defects, diabetes and some rare cancers.
Dr Matheson said the ministry believed the original report on dioxin exposure in Paritutu was of a "high, international standard".
It would have been unusual to provide peer reviewers of that report with individual serum results. The reviewers were given analysed anonymised data from the individual data tables in line with normal accepted practice, he said.
"However, given the public concern about the integrity of this process the ministry has taken these steps to reassure former Paritutu residents and the wider New Zealand public."
The ministry planned to complete the process promptly. "We believe the most appropriate way to maintain public confidence is to make the overall process as transparent as possible and to complete it quickly."
Posted by bhola at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)
First day at EPA, former Dow Chemical official met by protesters
Peggy Anderson, Associated Press, October 31, 2006
The region's new Environmental Protection Agency administrator — a former Dow Chemical executive — was greeted by about two dozen protesters Monday, her first day on the job.
Activists raised concerns about Elin Miller's 1996-2004 stint at Dow and her subsequent work with Tokyo-based pesticide maker Arysta LifeScience.
"EPA has a responsibility to protect the community and an appointment like this reflects their unwillingness to so," said Jeri Sundvall-Williams, executive director of the Environmental Justice Action Group, in a joint news release from activist groups. It's an example "of the fox guarding the henhouse," she said.
"We know the public and EPA are not always going to agree on everything. We want people to know they're being heard," agency spokesman Mark MacIntyre said of the demonstration.
Miller also served as chief deputy of California's Department of Pesticide Regulation and in 1995 was named to head California's Department of Conservation, which oversees oil and gas production.
Environmentalists are also concerned about some reshuffling in the office of civil rights and environmental justice for the EPA's Region X, which covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. That office traditionally handles such issues as cleanup of an industrial site in a poor neighborhood, where residents are concerned about exposure.
MacIntyre said two of the three people in the office — the two who focused on environmental justice — are being moved to the office of ecosystems, tribal and community affairs.
"That's the best fit for that job. People in that unit are already working on service to communities, working with farmworkers on pesticides and other issues," MacIntyre said. The civil-rights person will remain in the office of management programs, where the three-member unit had been based.
"We understand what people are saying ... but we feel pretty strongly that the way we're going to be organizing the office of environmental justice will make the effort stronger, not weaker," MacIntyre said.
But B.J. Cummings of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition in Seattle declared, "They're closing the office and scattering the staff to different programs. ... It's an entirely different level of commitment.
"Duwamish River neighborhoods suffer from Superfund sites, air emissions and industrial waste that the rest of Seattle is largely spared," Cummings added. "It's no coincidence that these communities are our poorest and represent the largest Latino population in the city. They need more protection, not less."
Posted by bhola at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)