Monday, August 30, 2004
JOE SNAPPERTHE SAGINAW NEWS
A "club" or a "shield"?
Whichever way litigants in a pollution lawsuit use the results of Dow Chemical Co.-funded research, the researchers say one thing is certain: "We are not Dow."
So dioxin study chief Dr. David Garabrant told a skeptical Freeland audience of 46 Sunday night, adding: "The lawsuit has nothing to do with this study."
But the results do, the scientists generating them admit.
At the heart of the University of Michigan researchers' two-year project to begin this fall: Whether the toxins in Tittabawassee River residents' soil are linked to toxins in their bloodstream.
At the heart of 164 residents' 2003 lawsuit: Showing evidence of elevated dioxin levels in their property and bodies.
A strong dioxin correlation tends to bolster the residents' case. A weak or missing correlation tends to absolve Dow. The results are due in fall 2006.
Many in the Sunday evening crowd at Freeland Elementary School said they are part of a lawsuit suing Dow on pollution claims. The action is simmering as Dow appeals part of it to the state Supreme Court.
"Some people probably will use (the results) as a club, some people probably will use it as a shield," study co-chief Dr. Alfred Franzblau said after the 90-minute meeting, in which a majority of public commentators worried about a Dow "shield."
One man dubbed the study part of Dow's "master plan." A woman asked, "How do you do the study if you don't have the (financial) backing? I'm a little nervous."
Garabrant said the estimated $10 million Dow has pledged to finance the 10-member study team and as many as 70 paid field interviewers carries a high cost.
"It doubles the workload," Garabrant said, slightly bleary-eyed, hunched on a folding chair in the school cafeteria after the meeting.
For every minute he spends on science, Garabrant said, he spends another on public relations.
He expects to keep fending off charges of collusion with Dow even after his results are complete. He'll cooperate with federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention auditors, who will monitor the study's integrity.
Franzblau said dealing with ongoing study minders marked a professional first. "It is highly unusual," he said, adding: "I think it's great."
The politically-charged atmosphere somewhat obscured the meeting's official purpose: Garabrant's unveiling of more study details and a community advisory panel's first public appearance.
Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Veronica Horn, chairwoman of the 11-member panel of various communities' leaders, officiated public comment as Garabrant laid out his plans.
Researchers will draw blood from 525 mid-Michigan residents, 175 of them in the Tittabawassee River flood plain, 175 living adjacent and 175 far removed.
Garabrant soon will mail letters to randomly selected households. Confidentiality is assured, he said, noting that study results will become public only in the aggregate, not by person or property, though individuals may choose to receive their own results privately.
Another 175 residents of far-away Calhoun and Jackson counties will serve as the benchmark for "normal" dioxin levels.
Researchers also will take more than 8,000 soil samples from all 700 households. In the flood plain, they will include "contact points" such as gardens.
Test will run through next spring. The study leaves aside the question of dioxins' health impact, Garabrant emphasized. "This is not a health study," he said.
In addition, field interviewers will ask participants -- who may refuse to aid the study -- a series of non-health-related questions in an hour-long interview, he said.
Researchers also will vacuum the dirtiest spot in participants' homes, because they're testing for levels of dioxin in dust as well.
They must have plenty of dust, they emphasized, so they are asking participants wait for the scientists.
"Don't vacuum your house" for about a week, Garabrant said. "We will."
For more details on the study, visit www.umdioxin.com. The Website remains under construction. t
Joe Snapper is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9715.
© 2004 Saginaw News.
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