TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - After researching the question for seven years,
a federal agency said Wednesday it cannot draw broad conclusions about how
industrial pollution in the Great Lakes region has affected human health.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry called for more study
-- and better organization and analysis of information -- so the area's citizens
and governments can deal with potential dangers from environmental contaminants.
The ATSDR is affiliated with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which
released an updated version of a report by agency scientists about health
problems in 26 highly polluted "areas of concern" around the lakes.
"The major conclusion of this report is that we need better data to allow us
to assess threats to human health," said Dr. Howard Frumkin, director of the
CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
It is impossible to know the extent of the problem from currently available
information, he said.
The report had been scheduled for release in July 2007 but was withheld
after senior officials questioned its methodology and conclusions. The holdup
drew accusations of a cover-up from members of Congress.
"The fact that this report was delayed for almost a year raises serious
questions about whether this is another example of the administration
suppressing science for political purposes," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.,
chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
That was not the intention, said Dr. Henry Falk, who oversees CDC research
on environmental health hazards. Critics had noted problems in the report that
needed fixing -- particularly its use of data that might have implied unproven
cause-and-effect relationships between toxins and illness in the area, he said.
"We're being as open and cooperative as we can," Falk said.
CDC officials have asked the Institute of Medicine, an independent
scientific advisory organization, to review the report's various drafts and
assess their quality. The panel's first session begins Thursday.
After getting feedback from the institute and the public, the CDC will
produce a final version.
The study originally was requested in 2001 by the International Joint
Commission, a U.S.-Canadian agency that advises the two nations on issues
affecting the Great Lakes and other boundary waters.
It didn't generate new data, but pulled together existing information from a
variety of sources, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic
Release Inventory and state reports on how pollution has degraded resources such
as wildlife and water.
Earlier drafts noted elevated levels of cancer, premature births and other
health concerns in counties where some heavily tainted sites are located.
But Falk said those drafts made flawed correlations between countywide
health data and environmental measures drawn from areas sometimes larger or
smaller than a county.
The new version removes some material that senior agency scientists decided
was irrelevant or misleading -- including the countywide health statistics --
while updating or improving other data, Falk said.
The only health data it includes comes from previous ATSDR assessments of
about 150 hazardous waste sites within the areas of concern. Of those, 86 were
described as posing a potential problem; 47 were classified as hazards; and two
were labeled "urgent" hazards.
But that information provides little insight on whether people were actually
exposed to toxins, the report acknowledges.
"For exposure to occur, there needs to be a completed pathway from a source
to people's bodies," it says.
"Discharge of a pollutant into a stream ... does not mean that people are
exposed to that pollutant, or if so, how much. Use of a chemical in a factory
... does not mean that people are exposed to the chemical, or if so, to what
extent."
Peter Orris, a scientist who reviewed previous drafts and called for their
public release, praised the updated version and endorsed its plea for further
research.
"We have the capability to do the environmental monitoring and the health
monitoring today that would give us these answers with a good deal more
confidence than the current databases provide," said Orris, professor of
occupational and health sciences at the University of Illinois School of Public
Health in Chicago.
Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations, said the panel would continue looking into the
CDC's handling of the report and the deletion of the county-level data.
"The revised draft begs the question of why CDC is just now seeking public
comment on a watered-down third draft of a report that was commissioned seven
years ago," said Stupak, D-Mich.
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