=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #462
—October 5, 1995—
News and resources for environmental justice.
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KILLING SCIENCE
Last week Congress permanently closed down its scientific
research arm, the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA).
Although we did not agree with the recommendations of every
report that OTA produced during its 23 years of policy analysis,
we know that the death of OTA will be an immeasurably great loss
to the nation’s ability to get the facts straight. The so-called
conservatives in this Congress claim to favor public policies
based on “good science,” yet they are hacking away the
infrastructure of laboratories and institutes that, for decades,
has done the nation’s scientific work. Next on the chopping
block is the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST, formerly the National Bureau of Standards), which designs
standardized testing and measurement protocols that are relied
upon by scientists and engineers throughout the world. This
Congress is moving us steadily back toward the dark ages.
On the chopping block as we go to press is the university-based
program of basic research within the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIEHS Superfund Basic Research
Program, now in its ninth year, provides funding to 17 programs
at 60 universities and institutions around the country, studying
the human health effects of hazardous chemicals in the
environment, especially those found at leaking waste dumps.
Congress has already reduced the appropriation for this program,
which makes up barely 1% of the Superfund toxic waste cleanup
effort. But now the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and
Hazardous Materials, chaired by Rep. Michael Oxley of Ohio’s 4th
District, is refusing to reauthorize the program entirely, thus
killing it dead. Mr. Oxley’s position is that Superfund money
should only be used for cleanup, not for any “extraneous” uses
like determining how clean our cleanups need to be, and why.
Like other so-called “conservatives” who claim they want policies
based on “good science,” Mr. Oxley reveals his true intentions as
he prevents any “good science” from being funded and carried out.
Looking at some of last year’s research highlights produced by
the Superfund research program, one can appreciate Mr. Oxley’s
fear of what good science will reveal: [1]
** Researchers determined the dose-response relationship for
benzene down to doses as low as those received by ordinary
people. Millions of Americans are exposed to small amounts of
benzene when, for example, they pump their own gasoline. These
benzene experiments strongly suggest that a cancer risk from
benzene is present even at very low doses. With millions of
people exposed to benzene every day, it seems important to know
that benzene really does cause cancer.
** Other investigations demonstrated for the first time in
laboratory animals that benzene exposure, which has been
associated with leukemia and aplastic anemia in humans and
animals, is also mutagenic; that is, it causes inheritable
genetic changes which can affect the next generation, the next
after that, and so on.
** Researchers showed that several biological markers (subtle
observable changes in a person) can be used to detect probable
chromium exposure in humans living near places where chromium
wastes have been dumped. Researchers studied Jersey City, N.J.,
and surrounding Hudson County where corporate polluters dumped
chromium wastes on the ground for decades. Such research should
make it easier to sue corporate polluters for exposure to toxics.
** Researchers developed a test to detect a single molecule of a
cancer-associated chromosomal rearrangement in the presence of
DNA from a million normal human cells. This work offers the
possibility of very sensitive detection of the ability of
chemicals to cause chromosomal rearrangements as an indicator of
their cancer-causing potential.
** Researchers are studying the neurological and immune-system
effects of drinking water containing mercury compounds. Early
results indicate that even a small dose of methyl-mercury, such
as 5 ppm [parts per million] in drinking water, impairs
neurological, endocrine (hormone), and immune-system functions in
animals. This corresponds to a daily consumption of 0.3
milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of body weight which is smaller
than the “safe” dose of 0.48 mg/kg body weight indicated by the
World Health Organization. In other words, mercury is even more
dangerous than formerly believed.
** A large epidemiologic study examined the respiratory disease
hazards of susceptible individuals living near toxic waste sites
and industrial facilities. Analysis of interim data has provided
important information on the association between asthma status
(active or inactive) and exposure to irritants –active
asthmatics have been found to suffer an adverse effect on lung
function resulting from irritant chemical exposure (after
adjustment for smoking). Asthma is increasing each year in the
U.S. population, and annual production of toxic chemicals is
increasing as well. Could these two trends be related? It would
be important to know.
** Researchers demonstrated a high degree of correspondence
between laboratory and field-test results of immune-system
toxicity in dogs exposed to industrial PCBs [polychlorinated
biphenyls]. Not only have these studies clarified effects of
PCBs on the immune system, but they have sparked a number of
spin-off studies involving the thyroid, lymphocyte (white blood
cell) development, and brain function. These studies help clarify
how PCBs affect behavior, physiology, and response to infectious
disease, in addition to environmentally-induced threats such as
cancer. Efforts to date have provided a key step in validating
laboratory immune-system toxicity observations with field studies
of animal health.
** In a study comparing effects of perinatal (near the time of
birth) vs. adult exposure to PCBs, researchers have found that
toxic effects on the brain occur in completely opposite ways. In
adults, ortho-PCBs reduce brain dopamine levels while dioxin-like
coplanar-PCBs have no such effect. (Dopamine is an important
natural chemical in the brain.) However, following perinatal
exposure, dioxin-like PCBs elevate brain dopamine concentrations
and alter the behavior of exposed female offspring while
ortho-PCBs reduce brain dopamine concentrations. Thus, PCB
exposures have opposite effects, depending on the age at exposure
and the type of PCBs to which the organism is exposed. These
results suggest that PCBs may not only directly affect nerve
function, but may also alter steroid hormone function during a
baby’s development.
** Some of the most interesting and important Superfund research
involves the role of estrogens and estrogen-like chemicals that
seem to interfere with the reproductive system of fish, birds,
and mammals, probably including humans. Estrogens are female sex
hormones.
A study of sea gulls on Santa Barbara Island, not far from Los
Angeles, in 1977 revealed bizarre gull behavior: female gulls
were pairing up and sharing nests. In 1981, bird toxicologist
Michael Fry published a study showing that, by injecting a small
amount of DDT into bird eggs, he could produce hermaphroditic
male birds –that is, male birds with the sex organs of both a
male and a female. Fry’s work met with skepticism back in 1981,
but in the subsequent decade wildlife experts worldwide reported
declining birth rates, hermaphroditic offspring, lowered sperm
counts, and deformities of the testicles of fish, panthers,
alligators, and other animals in polluted habitats. [2]Timothy
Gross, a wildlife endocrinologist (hormone specialist) at the
University of Florida in Gainesville, says, “If you look at
people, the same pollutants are in our bodies. What is a safe
level? We don’t know. But I’d be a pretty naive scientist to
conclude there couldn’t be the same effects in humans.” [3]
The possible effects of estrogen-like chemicals on humans are now
thought to include prostate cancer and testicular cancer [4]in
men, and perhaps breast cancer in women. [5] Prostate cancer has
been steadily increasing in the U.S. in recent years, especially
among older men; it strikes 244,000 men each year in the U.S.,
and kills about 40,000. Breast cancer strikes 183,000 American
women each year and kills about 46,240. One out of every 8 women
gets breast cancer, and one out of every 7 men gets prostate
cancer. Because men with undeveloped testes, and castrated men,
rarely develop prostate cancer, researchers began to suspect that
sex hormones circulating in the blood might affect prostate
cancer. “The evidence has since been stacking up to form an
alarming picture that paints estrogen [female sex hormone] and
testosterone [male sex hormone] as cancer culprits,” says a
recent issue of ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES, [4]published
by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
[NIEHS], a staid scientific organization that does not use the
word “alarming” lightly. Estrogens and estrogen-mimicking
industrial chemicals in the environment have now been shown to
alter testosterone levels in men. Thus the wildlife research
supported by Superfund money has begun to pay off with a better
understanding of major killer diseases. “We’re relying on
Superfund money for research,” says wildlife-and-hormone
specialist Timothy Gross at University of Florida. “And who
knows what will happen to that? Congress now has a vendetta
against lots of this environmental research,” he says. [3]
Indeed, people calling themselves “conservatives” in Congress are
determined to cut off the funding for this line of research. In
their mind, the only good science is no science. Without federal
funding, this research will cease because the private sector has
no interest in showing how industrial discharges may be
contributing to the nation’s steadily-rising burden of cancer,
diabetes, birth defects, endometriosis, and infertility.
Now a Congressman from Ohio is leading the charge to kill this
important health research program. Mr. Oxley might change his
mind if he received letters or phone calls from people in his
district, who hold the power to end his political career. In
addition, calls from outside his district might help, too. Mr.
Oxley represents 11 counties (Allen, Auglaize, Crawford, Hancock,
Hardin, Knox, Logan, Marion, Morrow, Richland and Wyandot), with
the district’s four most populous cities being Lima, Mansfield,
Marion, and Findlay (Mr. Oxley’s home town). His phone number in
D.C. is: (202) 225-2676; fax: (202) 226-1160. Mail: 2233 Rayburn
Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.
                
                
                
                
    
–Peter Montague
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[1] Highlights of Superfund research can be found on the World
Wide Web at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/sbrp/1994-hig.htm.
Descriptor terms: research funding; superfund; congress;
science; ota; benzene; chromium; congressman michael oxley;
cancer; mercury; asthma; hazardous wastes; pcbs; dogs; estrogens;
hormones; immune system; nervous system; endocrine system;
endocrine disruptors; wildlife; hermaphroditism; fish; gulls;
birds; panthers; alligators; prostate cancer; testicular cancer;
breast cancer; morbidity statistics; mortality statistics;
testosterone; niehs