Hi all, Thanks to many of you, today CHEJ and over 100 local, state and national environmental health, environmental justice, labor, and health-affected groups sent a letter to Obama calling on him to take action on dioxins On October 15th, 2008 — the Bush Administration announced a departing gift to the chemical industry — the formation of yet another Science Advisory Board review of the EPA’s health assessment study on dioxins. The EPA already released a final draft Dioxin Reassessment in 2000 and an EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) already reviewed this report in 2000-2001. In June, 2001, the EPA Science Advisory Board sent a letter to EPA Administrator Christine Whitman urging the reassessment be completed and released ‘expeditiously.’ Since then it’s been further delayed and another review is not necessary. This new review will take several years to complete at least, and will further delay regulation of this highly persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemical. This study has been delayed for almost 20 years by the chemical industry. In response, we have sent this letter to President-Elect Obama, requesting that his new administration directs the EPA to cancel the unnecessary review, release the Dioxin Reassessment, so that the EPA and others can move forward in developing protective dioxin policies and standards. We are planning on circulating another similar sign-on letter to the new EPA Administrator once she’s confirmed. The letter is below which includes additional background on the issue.
Best, Mike Schade, CHEJ, mike@chej.org, 212.964.3680
Center for Health, Environment and Justice
Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Allergy and Environmental Illness Group
American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Basel Action Network (BAN) * Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
Breast Cancer Action * Breast Cancer Fund * Buckeye Environmental Network
Calhoun County Resource Watch * California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Caney Fork Headwaters Association * Center for Corporate Policy
Center for Environmental Health * Center for International Environmental Law
Center for Media and Democracy * Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment * Chemical Weapons Working Group
Chlorine Free Products Association * Citizens Against Ruining the Environment
Citizens’ Environmental Coalition * Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
Citizens Leading for Environmental Action and Responsibility * Clean New York
Clean Water Action * Commonweal * Communities Against Toxics
Communities for a Better Environment
Community In-power and Development Association Inc
Concerned Citizens of Lake Twp. * Concerned Citizens of Russell
Concerned Citizens of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community Inc.
Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice
Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice * Downwinders At Risk
Ecological Health Organization * Eco-Cycle Inc * Ecology Action Centre
Ecology Center * Electronics TakeBack Coalition
Empire State Consumer Project * Environmental Health Fund
Environmental Health Strategy Center * Environmental Research Foundation
Farmworker Association of Florida * Farmworker Health and Safety Institute
Finger Lakes Zero Waste Coalition * Friends of the Earth US
GAIA: Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives/ Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance
Global Community Monitor * Glynn Environmental Coalition
Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition * Green Change
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice * Green Delaware
Green Press Initiative * Greenpeace * Habitat Map
Hands Across The River Coalition * Health Care Without Harm-Boston
Healthy Building Network * Healthy Child Healthy World
Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water * Indiana Forest Alliance
Indiana Toxics Action * Indigenous Environmental Network
Institute for a Sustainable Future * Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute for Children’s Environmental Health * Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Institute for Social Ecology * International POPs Elimination Network
Ithaca South Hill Industrial Pollution * Just Transition Alliance
Kentucky Environmental Foundation * Kids for Saving Earth
Learning Disabilities Association of America * Lone Tree Council * MassCOSH
Mossville Environmental Action Now
National Association for the Dually Diagnosed
Natural Resources Council of Maine * Neighbors Against the Burner
Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility of the –
United Church of Christ
New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health
North Carolina Occupational Health and Safety Project(NCOSH)
Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance * Nuclear Information and Resource Service
NYPIRG * NY Vapor Intrusion Alliance * Old Bedford Village Development, Inc.
Organic Consumers Association * People For Puget Sound
The Peoples Advocate * Pesticide Free Zone
Physicians for Social Responsibility * Pioneer Valley Preservation Coalition
Protect All Children’s Environment
The Public Health and Environmental Health Committee of the Puerto Rico -College of Physicians and Surgeons * Science and Environmental Health Network
Stop the Spray Marin * The Story of Stuff Project
TEDX (The Endocrine Disruption Exchange)
Texas Campaign for the Environment * Tittabawassee River Watch ToxicTargets.org * U.S. PIRG * USMWF.ORG, Inc * Washington Toxics Coalition
WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Inc. (WE ACT) * West County Toxics Coalition
Western Broome Environmental Stakeholder Coaltition
WNY Council on Occupational Safety & Health * Women’s Voices for the Earth
Worksafe * Working Films
January 16, 2009
Dear President-Elect Obama:
We are writing to express our deep concern over the Bush administration’s departing gift to the chemical industry on October 15th, 2008 — the formation of yet another review of the EPA’s health assessment study on dioxins, one of the most toxic chemicals on earth.
We request that you direct the EPA to cancel the unnecessary review and release the Dioxin Reassessment so that the EPA and others can move forward in developing protective dioxin policies and standards.
The EPA completed its first report on dioxins in 1985, and began its reassessment in 1988. The EPA began its second reassessment in 1991. Since that time the completion of this report has been repeatedly delayed by the chemical industry for close to twenty years. The EPA already released a final draft in 2000 and an EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) already reviewed this report in 2000-2001. In June, 2001, the EPA Science Advisory Board sent a letter to EPA Administrator Christine Whitman (see enclosed) urging the reassessment be completed and released ‘expeditiously.’ Since then it’s been further delayed and another review is not necessary. This new review will take several years to complete at least, and will further delay regulation of this highly persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemical.
Dioxins are a family of chemicals that are known to cause cancer and to disrupt the endocrine system. They are active in the body at very low levels. Dioxins can cause developmental and immune effects at levels close to those currently found in the general population. Every American eats dioxins when they consume fatty foods, and nearly every American has measurable levels of this chemical in their body. The toxicity of dioxins is of such concern that they have been targeted for global phase out by over 100 nations across the world through the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. They’ve also been targeted for virtual elimination in the Great Lakes through the U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy.
The EPA study-called the “Dioxin Reassessment”-still remains a draft, which has stymied the agency’s development of federal regulations for over 15 years. Evidence has accumulated since EPA began its reassessment in 1988 that dioxins cause many other health problems even at low levels, including cancer, developmental problems in children, immunologic problems in children and adults, reproductive problems in adults, and diabetes.
In 1985, EPA concluded that there was an increased cancer risk in humans at dioxin exposure levels lower than had been estimated by any government agency anywhere in the world. Dioxin is the most potent carcinogen ever evaluated by the agency. Scientists at EPA have long concluded dioxins and dioxin-like compounds are highly toxic, but a strong coalition of industries responsible for generating dioxins as a by-product of production and disposal have successfully stalled the completion of this health assessment report for over 15 years. Chlorine-based industries have demanded reviews, reassessments and re-analyses. Each re-assessment and review affirmed the findings and newer scientific data continues to strengthen the conclusions that dioxins are a serious public health threat. Most recently, the National Academies released a 2006 report confirming what numerous scientific panels have concluded: dioxin is a potent cancer-causing chemical. The chlorine-based industry is following the tobacco industry’s strategies to keep information from the public and delay release of the report. Enclosed is a document that summarizes these delays.
While panels are convened, people in communities across the country are continuing to be exposed to this highly toxic chemical. Many state regulating agencies have ignored dioxin contamination and risks because of the lack of a final health assessment from the EPA. Dioxin contamination is particularly high in areas with dioxin sources like incinerators, smelters, pulp and paper mills, chemical factories or other industries that use chlorine. These dioxin sources are predominantly located in low-income communities of color, making this a major issue of environmental justice and racism. The disposal of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic is the largest source of dioxin-forming chlorine in solid waste. PVC is the leading contributor of chlorine to four combustion sources- municipal solid waste incinerators, backyard burn barrels, medical waste incinerators and secondary copper smelters-that account for an estimated 80% of dioxin air emissions. Residents living near PVC chemical plants in Mossville, LA had three times more dioxin in their blood than the average U.S. citizen. Dioxin has been found at hundreds of Superfund toxic waste sites. It was a contaminant at the Love Canal landfill in NY where over 900 families were relocated and in Agent Orange, the herbicide sprayed in Vietnam that resulted in major health impacts for Vietnam Veterans. Dioxins have been found in milk, cheese, beef, pork, fish, chicken, birds, deer, turkey, squirrel, and worms, as well as soil and sewage sludge.
We request that you direct the EPA to cancel the unnecessary review and release the Dioxin Reassessment so that the EPA and others can move forward in developing protective dioxin policies and standards.
We also request the opportunity to meet with your team to discuss this further. To schedule a meeting, please contact Mike Schade at CHEJ: (212) 964-3680 / mike@chej.org
Thank you for your attention to this critical public health and environmental justice issue.
Sincerely,
Lois Gibbs, Executive Director
Center for Health, Environment and Justice
Michele L. Roberts, Campaign and Policy Coordinator
Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Sandra Boswell PEI
Allergy and Environmental Illness Group
Laura Abulafia, MHS, Director, Environmental Health Initiative
American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Formerly AAMR)
Jim Puckett, Executive Director
Basel Action Network (BAN)
Lou Zeller
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
Barbara A. Brenner, Executive Director
Breast Cancer Action
Janet Nudelman
Breast Cancer Fund
Teresa Mills, Director
Buckeye Environmental Network
Diane Wilson
Calhoun County Resource Watch
Barry Broad, Executive Director
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Rev. Charles Lord Caney Fork Headwaters Association
Charlie Cray
Center for Corporate Policy
Ansje Miller
Center for Environmental Health
Glenn Wiser, Senior Attorney
Center for International Environmental Law
John Stauber, Founder & Executive Director
Center for Media and Democracy
Lenny Siegel
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Luke W. Cole, Executive Director
Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
Craig Williams, Director
Chemical Weapons Working Group
Archie J. Beaton, Executive Director
Chlorine Free Products Association
Ellen Meeks Rendulich, Director
Citizens Against Ruining the Environment ~ C.A.R.E.
Barbara Warren, Executive Director
Citizens’ Environmental Coalition
Laura Olah, Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
Jackie Elliott
Citizens Leading for Environmental Action and Responsibility
Kathleen A. Curtis, Policy Director Clean New York, a project of Women’s Voices for the Earth
Lynn Thorp
National Campaigns Coordinator
Clean Water Action
Davis Baltz, M.S.
Commonweal
Ralph Ryder, Coordinator
Communities Against Toxics
Nile Malloy
Communities for a Better Environment
Hilton Kelley, CEO / Founder
Community In-power and Development Association Inc
Chris Borello, President Concerned Citizens of Lake Twp.
Jana Chicoine
Concerned Citizens of Russell
Pioneer Valley Preservation Coalition
Carol Meschkow, President
Concerned Citizens of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community Inc.
Mark A. Mitchell M.D., MPH, President
Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice
Rev. Walter Stark Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice
Jim Schermbeck, Field Organizer
Downwinders At Risk
Carolyn Wysocki, President
Ecological Health Organization
Eric Lombardi, Executive Director
Eco-Cycle Inc
Aaron Schneider
Ecology Action Centre
Tracey Easthope
Ecology Center
Barbara Kyle, National Coordinator
Electronics TakeBack Coalition
Judy Braiman,President
Empire State Consumer Project
Judith Robinson, Director of Programs
Environmental Health Fund
Mike Belliveau, Executive Director
Environmental Health Strategy Center
Peter Montague, Ph.D., Executive Director Environmental Research Foundation
Jeannie Economos, Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Project Coordinator Farmworker Association of Florida
Teresa Niedda, Director, Farmworker Health and Safety Institute
Katherine Bourbeau
Finger Lakes Zero Waste Coalition
Ian Illuminato, Health and Environment Campaigner
Friends of the Earth US
Monica Wilson GAIA: Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives/ Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance
Denny Larson
Global Community Monitor
Bill Owens, President
Glynn Environmental Coalition
Laura Weinberg, President
Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition
Marnie Glickman, Executive Director
Green Change
Bradley Angel
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
Alan Muller, Executive Director
Green Delaware
Tyson Miller
Green Press Initiative
Rick Hind, Legislative Director
Greenpeace
Michael Heimbinder
Habitat Map
Edwin Revria, President
Hands Across The River Coalition
Bill Ravanesi
Health Care Without Harm-Boston
Tom Lent, Policy Director
Healthy Building Network
Christopher Gavigan, CEO / Executive Director
Healthy Child Healthy World
Debra Hall, Founder
Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water
Rhonda Baird, Director Indiana Forest Alliance
Lin Kaatz Chary, PhD, MPH Indiana Toxics Action
Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director
Indigenous Environmental Network
Jamie Harvie, Executive Director
Institute for a Sustainable Future
David Wallinga, MD, MPA
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Aimee Boulanger, Program Director Institute for Children’s Environmental Health
Brenda Platt, Co-Director
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Brian Tokar
Institute for Social Ecology
Bjorn Beeler, International Coordinator International POPs Elimination Network
Ken Deschere
Ithaca South Hill Industrial Pollution
Jose T. Bravo, Executive Director Just Transition Alliance
Elizabeth Crowe, Director
Kentucky Environmental Foundation
Tessa Hill, President
Kids for Saving Earth
Maureen Swanson
Learning Disabilities Association of America
Terry Miller, Chairman
Michelle Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council
Tolle Graham
MassCOSH
Mr. Edgar Mouton, President
Mossville Environmental Action Now (MEAN)
Robert J. Fletcher, DSW, ACSW
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
National Association for the Dually Diagnosed
Matt Prindiville, Project Director, Toxics and Sustainable Production
Natural Resources Council of Maine
Nancy Hone, Coordinator
Neighbors Against the Burner
Donald B. Clark, Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility of the United Church of Christ
Joel Shufro, Executive Director
New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health
Marilyn Baird, Coordinator North Carolina Occupational Health and Safety Project(NCOSH)
Niaz Dorry
Executive Director
Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance
Diane D’Arrigo, Radioactive Waste Project Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)
Laura Haight, Senior Environmental Associate
NYPIRG
Bruce Oldfield, Chair
NY Vapor Intrusion Alliance
John G. Andrade, Executive Director
Old Bedford Village Development, Inc.
Ronnie Cummins, Director
Organic Consumers Association
Heather Trim, Urban Bays and Toxics Program Manager
People For Puget Sound
Beth Zilbert, Founder
The Peoples Advocate
Whitney Merchant
Pesticide Free Zone
Stop the Spray Marin
Kristen Welker-Hood, ScD MSN RN
Director, Environment and Health Programs
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Elizabeth O’Nan
Protect All Children’s Environment
Tomas Hernandez MD
The Public Health and Environmental Health Committee of the Puerto Rico College of Physicians and Surgeons
Ted Schettler MD, MPH
Science and Environmental Health Network
Annie Leonard
The Story of Stuff Project
Theo Colborn, PhD, President
TEDX (The Endocrine Disruption Exchange)
Robin Schneider, Executive Director
Texas Campaign for the Environment
Kathy Henry
Tittabawassee River Watch
Stephanie Smolen
ToxicTargets.org
Liz Hitchcock, Public Health Advocate
U.S. PIRG
Tammy Miser, President/Executive Director
USMWF.ORG, Inc
Laurie Valeriano, Policy Director
Washington Toxics Coalition
Peggy M. Shepard, Executive Director WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Inc. (WE ACT)
Henry Clark, Executive Director
West County Toxics Coalition
James Little
Western Broome Environmental Stakeholder Coaltition
Roger Cook, Executive Director
WNY Council on Occupational Safety & Health
Tracy Lakatua, Executive Director, Women’s Voices for the Earth
Suzanne Murphy, Executive Director
Worksafe, Inc.
Judith Helfand
Working Films
Mike Schade PVC Campaign Coordinator
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) 9 Murray St. 3rd Fl. NY, NY 10007 Phone: 212.964.3680 Fax: 212.349.1366
http://www.besafenet.com/pvc
http://www.chej.org