EPA Should Emulate States, Act on Dioxin

In the wake of calls by the chemical industry and some agribusiness groups for a delay in the release of the final reassessment on dioxin's health effects, Health Care Without Harm urges the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bush Administration to release the document and begin making policy.

"The states of Maine and New Hampshire are taking action on dioxin. These states are looking at the same science the Bush Administration is looking at," said Charlotte Brody, RN, Co-coordinator of Health Care Without Harm. "The difference isn't scientific. It's political."

In early March, the Maine Hospital Association, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) signed a memorandum of understanding that called for, among other things, a phase out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. PVC was addressed in the agreement because of its potential role in dioxin formation during incineration. New Hampshire Governor Jean Shaheen wants to limit medical waste incineration as part of her plan to cut the state's dioxin emissions in half by 2003.

Dioxin, one of the most toxic substances ever studied, is formed unintentionally when household trash or medical waste that contains chlorine is burned. It also forms during the chemical reactions that occur when chlorine compounds are used to make paper white or when pesticides or PVC items are manufactured. The World Health Organization and the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health have reviewed the research on dioxin and consider it a known human carcinogen. The toxin has also been associated with birth defects, suppressed immune systems, learning disabilities, diabetes, endometriosis and infertility.

In December 2000, the scientific information on dioxin was enough for the United States and 121 other countries to come to a global agreement to phase out dioxin and other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in a global POPs Treaty.

"The science on dioxin hasn't changed in the last four months," continued Brody. "What has changed is the willingness of the Administration to do what it has to do to protect the health of American people and their environment."

Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition of 300 organizations in 28 countries working to eliminate the environmental harm caused by the health care industry, with a particular emphasis on ending medical waste incineration because this produces dioxin. To learn more about HCWH, visit www.noharm.org.

This alert was reprinted with permission of Health Care Without Harm and revised by Butte Environmental Council.

This column originally appeared in March 2001 in the Chico Examiner.