Amici Curiae are eleven organizations committed to effective public health and environmental policy, including:

1. The Ecology Center. The Ecology Center is a Michigan non-profit charitable corporation based in Ann Arbor with 2,500 members across the state, including members residing, owning property, or recreating in the city of Midland, Midland County, and the Tittabawassee River floodplain. The Ecology Center works for a just and healthy environment through organizing, advocacy, research, education, and demonstration projects.
2. American Public Health Association. The American Public Health Association, the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals, represents more than 50,000 members from over 50 public health occupations.
3. Endometriosis Association. The Endometriosis Association is a non-profit international self-help organization, focusing on support, education, and research. Membership includes women and girls with endometriosis, and their families, along with healthcare practitioners, scientists, and others interested in understanding the causes of endometriosis, improving treatment methods and prevention options, and finding a cure. Endometriosis is a hormonal and immune disease that affects 5.5 million women and girls in Canada and the United States and millions more worldwide. Endometriosis can be debilitating, as well as create a high risk of developing cancers (ovarian, breast, melanoma, brain, thyroid, and non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) and autoimmune diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and allergies including asthma and eczema). Research has shown that dioxin can cause endometriosis in animals. Women and girls exposed to dioxin should be tested and monitored for endometriosis. Early detection is critical in managing this chronic, painful disease that affects women and girls from eight to eighty.
4. American Lung Association of Michigan. Celebrating its 100th anniversary, the American Lung Association works to prevent lung disease and promote lung health. Lung diseases and breathing problems are the leading causes of infant deaths in the United States today, and asthma is the leading serious chronic childhood illness. The American Lung Association has long funded vital research on the causes of and treatments for lung disease. It educates children and adults living with lung diseases on managing their condition. The American Lung Association is "Improving life, one breath at a time."
5. Genesee County Medical Society. The Genesee County Medical Society has 819 physician members treating patients in the Mid-Michigan region. The mission of Genesee County Medical Society is leadership, advocacy, education, and service on behalf of its members and their patients.
6. Physicians for Social Responsibility. Physicians for Social Responsibility is a membership-based education and public policy organization with a long history of working to protect public health and the environment. PSR was founded in 1961 by a group of Boston physicians concerned about the potentially irreversible and devastating health and environmental impact of this country's preparation for nuclear war. PSR's work throughout the Cold War was done as part of an international network of physicians led to its sharing in the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. In 1993, PSR formally expanded its environmental health program beyond nuclear issues. PSR has since become a major force in mobilizing the medical and public health communities around human health threats posed by toxic exposures, drinking water quality, climate change and air quality, global climate change, and environmentally-influenced chronic diseases.
7. Science and Environmental Health Network. The Science and Environmental Health Network engages citizens and governments in the effective application of science to restore and protect the health of communities and ecosystems. The Network encourages the practice of science in the public interest and the accurate interpretation of scientific information; identifies information, ethical concepts, and logic that have the potential to provoke important change; and helps communities, organizations, and governments use these intellectual tools to develop sound policies.
8. Lone Tree Council. The Lone Tree Council is a Michigan non-profit charitable corporation based in Bay City with members across the state, including members residing, owning property, and enjoying recreation in the city of Midland, Midland County, and the Tittabawassee River floodplain. The Lone Tree Council has existed for 24 years and is devoted to clean water, clean air, the preservation of Michigan's natural resources, and environmental justice for the citizens of our watershed.
9. Public Interest Research Group in Michigan. PIRGIM is a Michigan non-profit charitable corporation based in Ann Arbor with 10,000 members across the state, including members residing, owning property, and recreating in the city of Midland, Midland County, and the Tittabawassee River floodplain. PIRGIM is devoted to Michigan's public interest through research, advocacy and public education.
10. Sierra Club. The Sierra Club was founded in 1892 and is the nation's oldest grassroots environmental organization. The Sierra Club is incorporated in California, and has its headquarters in San Francisco, California. It has more than 700,000 members nationwide, including over 21,000 members in Michigan. The Sierra Club's purpose is to explore, enjoy and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; and to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environments.
11. The Center for Civil Justice. The Center for Civil Justice is a non-profit law firm serving low-income clients in a 14-county region of mid-Michigan and the Thumb. The Center focuses its work on issues and problems that impact a large number of low-income persons, and/or for which representation is not available through federally funded, civil legal services providers. As a provider of direct legal representation to low income persons, the Center has a significant interest in ensuring that meaningful remedies are available to low-income individuals who suffer legal injuries. Because low-income individuals and families frequently live in the neighborhoods closest to industrial sites, many of the clients served by the Center are more likely than higher income individuals to suffer exposure to industrial pollutants or contaminants. Many low-income individuals are uninsured or lack health care coverage to pay for medical monitoring to ensure the early detection and preventive care that is needed to forestall or ameliorate the adverse health consequences of exposure to toxic industrial contaminants. Accordingly, the Center is interested in ensuring that medical monitoring may be an available remedy when the facts of an industrial contamination case warrant such relief.

Source: Amicus Brief 090104

For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawasse River Watch web site www.trwnews.net. for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga.. The source organization's web site link is listed above. The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.