Federal dioxin review flows downriver to Saginaw, Bay City

Thursday, July 13, 2006
Bay City Times Editorial

In years of studies, meetings and controversy over dioxin contamination of the Tittabawassee River floodplain below Midland, people downstream in the Bay City area have waited for the other shoe to drop.

It is about to.

And it's about time.

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry later this summer will begin a study of dioxin data taken from the Saginaw River in Saginaw and Bay counties.

Lone Tree Council representatives, who wrote the petition letter asking for the study, said state and federal information shows that there are dioxin hot spots in the Saginaw River that are higher in concentration than those found in the Tittabawassee.

The petition was signed by 40 individuals and groups.

The key questions that need to be answered are where is the dioxin, how much is there and how does it affect human health?

If fish, for example, are heavily contaminated, the people who eat them could be at risk.

Because of contamination concerns, state advisories warn against eating any bottom-feeders such as catfish and carp.

Yet some fishermen say they eat them regularly.

Along the Tittabawassee River downstream of the Dow Chemical Co., the federal agency's recommendations were part of the process that continues today to address dioxin contamination.

All the while, we've wondered just how bad it may be here, at the end of the Saginaw River.

The federal review should help us find out.
 

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