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Great Lakes danger zones?

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Here’s the report that top officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thought was too hot for the public to handle — and the story behind it.

For more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially “alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates.

The 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was undertaken by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of the International Joint Commission, an independent bilateral organization that advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary waters between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for release in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen “areas of concern”—including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee—may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants.

In many of the geographic areas studied, researchers found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and premature births, and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.

Since 2004, dozens of experts have reviewed various drafts of the study, including senior scientists at the CDC, Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies, as well as scientists from universities and state governments, according to sources familiar with the history of the project.

“It raises very important questions,” Dr. Peter Orris, a professor at the University of Illinois School of Public Health in Chicago and one of three experts who reviewed the study for ATSDR, told the Center. While Orris acknowledged that the study does not determine cause and effect—a point the study itself emphasizes—its release, he said, is crucial to pointing the way for further esearch. “Communities could demand that those questions be answered in a more systematic way,” he said. “Not to release it is putting your head under the sand.”

In a December 2007 letter to ATSDR in which he called for the release of the study, Orris wrote: “This report, which has taken years in production, was subjected to independent expert review by the IJC’s Health Professionals Task Force and other boards, over 20 EPA scientists, state agency scientists from New York and Minnesota, three academics (including myself), and multiple reviews within ATSDR. As such, this is perhaps the most extensively critiqued report, internally and externally, that I have heard of.”

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goldenways

17 responses // Great Lakes danger zones?

  •  

    Is there no end to the corruption of our current administration? We need access to information that is critical to us all. Thank you for this article.

    MeganMcKenzie
    1 response to this
  •  

    this is just fucked

    crazy_french
  •  
    http://current.com/items/88838979_great_lakes_danger...
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    I posted this here this past February. it's still unconscienable.

    JanforGore
    2 responses to this
  •  

    I posted a comment and also made a call to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management back on July 31st 2007, here it is:

    I called the emergency line, because this IS AN
    EMERGENCY, A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN!!!!!! This WILL poisen people, AND FISH, AND ANYTHING THAT EATS THE FISH!

    It's about the planet we all share. STOP this
    abuse! This permit to ALLOW BP to be exempt from the 1.3 ounce mercury
    FEDERAL REGULATION LIMIT in INSANE. STOP IT. REVOKE THE PERMIT PLEASE!!!

    WAKE UP PLEASE. No more corporate handouts that
    ruin MY/OUR planet!!!

    HERE'S THEIR RESPONSE:

    Thank you for your e-mail to the Indiana Department of Environmental
    Management (IDEM) regarding your concerns about the BP refinery in
    Whiting, Indiana. We appreciate the time you took to share your
    comments.

    The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) issued the BP
    wastewater permit in accordance with state and federal environmental
    laws, which are protective of human health and the environment. IDEM
    coordinated with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during this
    permitting process to ensure that the final permit is compliant with
    the
    Clean Water Act. On April 5, 2007, EPA issued a letter to IDEM
    indicating that EPA had no objections to the permit being issued
    pursuant to the Clean Water Act.

    The public was asked to participate in developing this permit. The
    public comment period lasted several weeks and included a public
    meeting
    at Whiting City Hall. The permit document was on file in several
    locations before the public meeting, including the Lake County Health
    Department and the IDEM office in northwest Indiana, on the web and at
    IDEM's offices in Indianapolis.

    There were several inaccuracies in the recent media reports, one of
    which referred to the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) limits as industrial
    sludge. It is not. The TSS limits in the permit are similar to the
    limits a small Indiana city may have for a wastewater treatment
    facility. Sludge is a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process and
    must be disposed of in a landfill or incinerator. This permit does not
    allow BP to put sludge into the lake. The permit requires the company
    to
    follow state and federal laws to ensure the protection of human health,
    aquatic life, and the environment.

    Mercury monitoring is one of several new requirements related to BP
    Whiting's wastewater permit. Under the old permit, mercury levels were
    not required to be examined. The new permit requires both monitoring
    and
    that the facility meet the limits established by the Great Lakes
    Initiative - which is a comprehensive plan to restore the health of
    the
    Great Lakes.

    When new water quality requirements are introduced, the facilities are
    allowed a reasonable period to meet the new limits. The Great Lakes
    Initiative provides five years to meet the mercury limits.

    There are no exceptions for this facility. The permit meets both state
    and federal laws and regulations. Many of BP's permit limits are more
    protective than required by federal law. Because the discharge point is
    in Lake Michigan, additional protections were included. This discharge
    will not negatively affect drinking water, recreation or aquatic life
    in
    Lake Michigan.
    Thank you for your active citizenship. Please do not hesitate to
    contact
    IDEM with future questions or concerns.

    Sincerely,

    Tania McDonald
    Complaint Coordinator
    IDEM, External Affairs

    onechance
  •  

    And just now, with your help and article, my most recent letter:

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    I hope you feel like part of this is your fault.
    Maybe you'll wake up and grow a conscience...

    http://www.publicintegrity.org/projects/entry/359/

    onechance
  •  

    Why is it, since administration took office, that all government agencies seem to think it is better to let people die than scare them with the truth. Thanks GW and JFG.

    recommended by Conniepae
    bluestranger
  •  

    More and more goverment officials have taken on this Laissez-faire attitude. They really just do not care. They do not understand they we put them in office.

    We need to understand that we can remove them from office as well. There is a time and place for everything, including revolutions.

    What will it take to spark our generation into action?

    Kynmore
  •  

    I would also like to know what it will take before americans take to the streets again. How high does the autism rate have to rise. Oh wait we can have a marathon and raise money for research:)

    chris50
  •  

    This really sucks and needs to stop now.

    Bren589
  •  

    REVOLUTION!!!!!!
    Who will stand against EVIL?

    victimofcoal
  •  

    Sadly the most imminent threat to my health and wellbeing is my own federal government.

    gp5241
  •  

    Can Bush/Chaney be defined as mass murderers?

    gp5241
  •  

    This is horrible. My house is like ten feet away from lake erie. I don't want cancer.

    weenis
  •  

    This sucks, I live in Cleveland but I can't say that I'm not surprised that it is a high risk area considering the Cuyahoga River has caught on fire numerous times.

    L4YER_CAK3

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