November 15, 2007

BY TINA LAM

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The discovery of the highest level of the feared chemical compound dioxin ever in the Great Lakes

region has prompted the EPA to order an emergency cleanup in the Saginaw River in Saginaw and the

state to issue new warnings about eating fish from the river.

The chemical hot spot was found in river-bottom sediment near a city park popular among shoreline

anglers. Dow Chemical Co., whose plant in Midland was the source of the likely decades-old dioxin,

found the chemicals as part of a larger sampling program.

In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's cleanup order, the Michigan Department of

Community Health said late Wednesday that it was adding white bass to existing warnings on fish not to

eat from the river and adding warnings for other fish.

Some fish are mainly bottom-feeders and accumulate more toxins than others. Health and environmental

officials said Wednesday that eating fish from the river is, by far, the greatest risk for people from the

dioxin.

The EPA's senior health adviser in Chicago, Milton Clark, said dioxin is highly toxic and may be more

problematic in river sediment than in soils because it gets into the food chain.

The new hot spot is across from a Saginaw city riverfront park, Wickes Park, which has play areas for

children and a boat launch. Locals say people often fish there.

Spots of dioxin have been found in rivers below Dow's Midland plant all the way out to Saginaw Bay,

starting in 1978, but never at such a high level, EPA officials said. The agency issued three other

emergency cleanup orders in June for three hot spots on the Tittabawassee River.

The company reported the preliminary results to the EPA last Friday. The sample came in at 1.6 million

parts per trillion. The state requires a cleanup if dioxin is found near a home at levels above 90 parts per

trillion, and the EPA's cleanup standard is 1,000 parts per trillion.

"This is an extremely high concentration," said Bob McCann, spokesman for the Michigan Department

of Environmental Quality.

Until now, the highest level found in the Saginaw River was 32,000 parts per trillion. Since dioxin is in

the middle of the river, its most harmful effects are likely for people who eat fish. Certain fish take up

dioxins and it stays in the fatty tissue. When people eat the fish, it gets into their bodies.

The health effects of dioxin can include cancer, and the chemical can affect the reproductive and

immune systems, the state health department said. It also can affect children's development and fetuses.

"Our primary concern is for people who may be consuming moderate to high amounts of fish from the

Saginaw River system," said Clark.

People are advised not to eat white bass, carp or catfish from the river, said James McCurtis Jr.,

spokesman for the state health department.

Clark said a recent University of Michigan study showed that people who eat fish from the rivers in the

area have higher-than-average levels of dioxin in their blood.

"We know people are being exposed to it," he said.

John Musser, spokesman for Dow, said the hot spot, like others along the river, comes from chemicals

flushed into the river before World War I. Dow employees at that time flushed dioxin-contaminated

waste into the river to dilute it.

"That was the standard at the time," he said.

Since then, the dioxin has migrated into rivers and the Saginaw Bay.

Musser said another sample 6 inches deeper showed a level of 2,400 parts per trillion, but the rest of the

three dozen samples nearby were not high.

"That suggests it's not a large deposit, but we haven't confirmed that," he said.

Dow is working on a quick plan to get rid of the hot spot, which will involve heavy equipment and

dredging, he said. Bad weather could interfere and make a fast cleanup impossible, he said.

Dow, the EPA and the state DEQ are negotiating a much larger, more comprehensive cleanup of the

entire river system below the Midland plant.

Environmental groups have criticized those efforts, saying Dow is downplaying the toxicity of dioxin

and resisting a cleanup.

"The time is long past due for them to step up and address this contamination, and to give us our rivers

back," said Michelle Hurd-Riddick of the Lone Tree Council.

McCann, from the DEQ, said the area where dioxins are thought to be is about 50 miles long.

"We need to make sure Dow does a good job with its cleanup, without making the problem worse" by

stirring up and further spreading the chemicals downstream, he said.