Wednesday, September 15, 2004
JEREMIAH STETTLERTHE SAGINAW NEWS
Tittabawassee Township officials are spreading the word: The University of Michigan dioxin study is legit.
Board of Trustees members agreed on Tuesday to send notices to residents along the Tittabawassee River vouching for the credibility of a U-M investigation into the relationship between dioxin in the soil and dioxin in people's blood.
The mailings, which would take no position on whether people should participate, would go to residents whom researchers may target for the study.
"We just need to communicate with people that this is a legitimate study," said Trustee Rick Hayes. "You get solicited and hit up by so many people that you don't know if it's for real."
U-M scientists have launched a $10 million study to determine whether people who live on polluted properties have higher dioxin levels in their blood than people who don't.
Scientists plan to sample 350 people along the Tittabawassee River -- a region known for elevated dioxin levels -- and 175 people in areas with presumably low concentrations in Saginaw and Midland counties.
The study also will include 175 residents in Jackson and Calhoun counties in southern Michigan. Those communities have similar demographics but no known source of dioxin.
The study is funded by a Dow Chemical Co. grant.
Board members said the mailings are not an official endorsement of the study. Rather, it attests to the scientific nature of the study and the reputability of the university conducting the research.
While the university will contact residents about the nature of the study, Trustee Mary Kay Knoerr said a local confirmation could settle any suspicions before someone is standing at their doorstep.
"This would come from us," she said. "They know us. They don't know them."t
Jeremiah Stettler is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at
776-9685.
© 2004 Saginaw News.
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