LIVING DOWNSTREAM FROM DOW CHEMICAL

It’s been more than 50 years since Dow Chemical Company stopped dumping dioxin into the river flowing past its plant in Michigan. But the company and government regulators are still arguing over how to clean it up.
 Vincent Duffy reports:

(sound of backyard)

Kathy Henry’s backyard runs down to the bank of the Tittabawassee River. It’s a beautiful view, but that’s not what Kathy Henry sees.

“When I look back there now, I see dioxin.”

You can’t really see the dioxin, but it is there. Dow Chemical started dumping dioxin into the Tittabawassee river in the 1890s. Dioxin is believed to cause cancer and damage reproductive systems. And, there are high concentrations of dioxin not only in the Tittabawassee, but in all the water and floodplains between the chemical plant and Lake Huron 50 miles downstream.

Kathy Henry first found out about the dioxin seven years ago when a whistleblower at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality warned local environmentalists about the contamination. She has wanted to sell her house ever since.

“We’ve lived here for 24 years. We loved living in here. Now I’m afraid to go out in my own yard. I just, psychologically, couldn’t stand living here anymore. I had to get out.”

Dow says it will clean up any dioxin that’s proven to be dangerous to human health, but the company has spent decades fighting with Michigan and the US Environmental Protection Agency over how much of it is a threat.

Dow spokesman John Musser says there’s no proof anyone has gotten sick because of the dioxin.

“We’re not seeing any impacts. We’re not seeing any cause for alarm. We’re not seeing any imminent health threat. If it’s not a problem for humans or the environment, then maybe the best thing to do is to leave it alone.”

But Michigan environmental officials are not so laissez-faire about the contamination. They continue to warn residents about eating fish from the rivers, about eating wild game killed in the region, and about swimming at some beaches.

Robert McCann is with the state of Michigan. He says science is way past the point of debating whether dioxin is dangerous.

“Study after study has shown that there are some very serious potential health effects from being exposed to it, even at some lower levels over a long period of time and those health effects do include things like cancer and diabetes as well as some more minor health effects that can be caused from it.”

But Dow does debate whether dioxin is dangerous. John Musser says Michigan and the EPA are using bad science based on dioxin exposure to lab animals. He says Dow has human data from employees that show dioxin is not as dangerous as people think.

“They were exposed at extremely high levels. And we’ve tracked their health and their death records for 60 years and we’re not finding any ill health effects.”

Attacking regulatory science is a common defense for industries. David Michaels is an epidemiologist at George Washington University. He says just like big tobacco questioned the link between smoking and lung cancer, big business always questions the science.

“Companies know that by putting off the scientific debate for as many years as they can they can keep doing the work that they’re doing and not be disturbed. It works.”

For example, a recent meeting supposed to update residents about clean up efforts turned into more of a debate between government scientists and scientists hired by Dow. One member of the audience got sick of it.

“I’m not a geologist, I’m not a toxicologist, I’m just a resident that lives on the river. And the last I knew dioxin was the most toxic substance known to man. And what I’m seeing here is you guys trying to find excuses to justify poisoning us.”

The EPA recently forced Dow to clean up four hot spots along the river, including one spot with the highest concentration of dioxin ever found in the United States.

But the last few months have had more set backs than progress. In January, the EPA gave up trying to negotiate a clean up agreement separate from Michigan’s. It said Dow’s proposals were going backward.

Earlier this month the Region 5 director of the EPA was fired. Mary Gade says it was because of her tough stance against Dow Chemical.

For The Environment Report, I’m Vincent Duffy.