Dioxin health risks ignored?

Kathie Marchlewski , Midland Daily News

06/10/2004

Potential health risks are being overshadowed by politics and money in the local dioxin debate, some area residents say.

A group of residents from Midland and the Tittabawassee River flood plain, along with representatives of Bay City-based Lone Tree Council, expressed outrage at how the Saginaw Valley contamination issue is being handled by local and state officials.

A group of nine is hoping to meet with Gov. Jennifer Granholm the week of June 21 to talk about the problem.

Ward Hodge, a 30-year Midlander who has been battling prostate cancer for the last five, does not want the state’s residential direct contact criteria level changed, as Sen. Tony Stamas and Rep. John Moolenaar recently proposed. The Midland County Board of Commissioners and Midland City Council have offered their support for the proposed legislation.

"While some areas of uncertainty remain, there is widespread scientific consensus that dioxin is toxic in tiny amounts, and that any additional exposure to dioxin increases our risks," he and others wrote to Granholm. "We believe our health has already been harmed by exposure to dioxin."

The group believes that The Dow Chemical Co., which is the source of the contamination, is influencing lawmakers to help resolve the controversial matter. Many of the lawmakers taking action have a relationship with or have accepted campaign contributions from Dow or its affiliates, they say.

Along with introducing bills to increase the state dioxin standard from 90 parts per trillion to 1,000 ppt, lawmakers also had threatened funding cuts for the Waste and Hazardous Materials Division of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the agency that administers the state standards for cleanup. That threat was removed by the legislature Wednesday. (See related story, page A1)

"This (was) a desperate strategy and a shameful one," Hodge said. "This (was) corrupt politics at its worst. These lawmakers (were) working for Dow instead of the citizens of the state of Michigan."

Granholm has said she wants to work with local communities and the company on the handling of dioxin contamination.

©Midland Daily News 2004