Dow Wild Game study: just the facts, no spin
 Click on a link in the image below to view the
Entrix studies results as graphs & raw data without the Dow spin. The Squirrel,
Turkey, and Deer links are specific the Dow WG study and include graphs of the Total TEQ
levels of ALL the samples. This information was gleaned from the 321 page Dow
Final report which intentionally presents the results in a manner that most people would
never understand. The Humans, Fish, Birds, Soil, and Sediment links offer
additional information about activities related the the contamination including
reviews of the Dow WG data by the EPA's Dr. J. Milton Clark and GES's Dr. Hector
Galbraith.
 | Click
here for official Final report: MDCH Dioxins in Wild Game Taken
from the Tittabawassee River Floodplain South of Midland, Midland and
Saginaw Counties, Michigan EPA ID# MID980994354 Final Report April 29,
2005. Report is officially peer reviewed and backed by the Federal
Government ATSDR. |
| Click here for
official State of Michigan T.River Flood Plain Wild Game Consumption Advisory. The Michigan Department of Community Health has issued an advisory against
eating wild turkey meat or deer liver and urge consumers to limit consumption of venison
and squirrel harvested in or near at least 22 miles of the floodplain along the
Tittabawassee River. Although dozens of advisories exist for fish tainted with toxic
chemicals, it is only the second time the state has issued such a warning for terrestrial
animals. |
| Click
here for official MDEQ Analysis of Wild Game Study. Levels of dioxin in the wild game harvested in the floodplain
downstream of Midland are higher than levels found in game harvested from a location
upstream of Midland (2 to 120 times higher). Typically, the highest concentrations
were seen in the samples collected near Imerman Memorial Park. |
| EPA: "Unacceptable,
elevated cancer risk's to public health to frequent consumers of fish" |
| GES: The studies design results "in an
underestimation of the contaminant concentrations to which wildlife would be exposed and,
hence, the magnitude of the risks incurred." |
vvvv Click on the links in the image below for details of
the study. vvvv
| Click here to listen to more of the Dr.
Linda Birnbaum (EPA) presentation: "Dioxin, are we at risk?". You
are hearing a clip from the video when this page is opened. |
| EPA memo (7/30/04) to the MDEQ indicates the results of the Dow/Entrix Wild Game study
in the Tittabawassee River Flood plain are much more serious than the Dow Press release indicates. The EPA goes
on to state that they may need "to become engaged in the dioxin contamination problem
and to re-enforce existing risks to public health and wildlife". A summary of
the memo was published today in the Midland
Daily News. Conclusions:
 | The contamination has similar characteristics regarding levels of risk and area affected
as the Kalamazoo
and Fox Rivers, which are currently a focus of
the US EPA remediation plans. |
| It is clear than a persistent, un-addressed dioxin problem exists. |
| Unacceptable, elevated cancer risk's to public health to frequent consumers of fish. |
| Potential health risks to persons consuming game. |
| Dioxin contamination of game indicate contamination of the terrestrial food chain |
| Unacceptable, serious aquatic ecological risks to fish, fish eating birds, and mammals. |
| Strong consideration should be given to removal of dioxin contaminated sediments
and flood plain soil. |
| There is particular concern regarding distortions
of risk information which are causing inaccurate risk messages to the public. |
| Click here to read the EPA 7/30/04 memo.
|
|
| GES memo (7/16/04) to the MDEQ indicates the results of the Dow/Entrix Wild Game study
in the Tittabawassee River Flood plain confirms findings of MDEQ/GES 2003 T.River Aquatic
Ecological Risk Assesement. Conclusions:
| Review of the Entrix (2004) report has shown that the data contained therein support one
of the major conclusions of the Michigan DEQ terrestrial ecological risk assessment (GES,
2004), that is that biota and food chains on the Tittabawassee River downriver of Midland
are contaminated by PCDDs and PCDFs. A reasonable conclusion from this is that predators
and scavengers at the tops of these food chains are likely to be even more exposed to
these contaminants than the deer, squirrels, and turkeys sampled in the Entrix (2004)
study. |
| However, the Entrix (2004) study was designed to generate data for an evaluation of risk
to human health, rather than to ecological receptors. Because of this, design elements in
the Entrix (2004) study, though perhaps appropriate for a human health risk analysis,
result in an underestimation of the contaminant concentrations to which wildlife would be
exposed and, hence, the magnitude of the risks incurred. These design elements comprise:
 | The sampling was confined to organisms which, because of their diets, are unlikely to
bioaccumulate PCDDs and PCDFs to the extent that other organisms would. |
| The carcass handling procedures resulted in a likely underestimation of the magnitudes
of the PCDD/PCDF whole-body burdens to which predators and scavengers may be exposed. |
| The sample spatial distribution almost certainly results in an underestimation of the
PCDD/PCDF body burdens of turkeys in the lower sections of the floodplain, and, hence, in
the potential exposures to their predators and scavengers. |
|
| Click here to read the
entire July 2004 memo |
|
| Tittabawassee River Aquatic Ecological Risk
Assessment Slide Show |
| Tittabawassee
River Aquatic Ecological Risk Assesement Final Report (pdf) |
| Click here to review the Dow/Entrix 321
page report which contains the actual data. We welcome anyone to review the data and
provide corrections to those presented on this site. Dow lawyers should love this as
they will be able to bill Dow for another 1000 hours or so. And you can bet if they
find a mistake, they will not reveal it until we are in trial. |
| Click here to review the Dow Public
Relations spin summary of the study which contains all the speculation, statistical
manipulation, and other types of misinformation. The conclusions are especially
entertaining. According to Dow, If you intend to eat any wildlife from the
floodplain, the game is safe to eat. We say just make sure you get an
"Average" specimen. When you review the data it will be evident that many
specimens exceed the average by orders of magnitue. How lucky do you feel?
|
"OK, with a great deal of reading and some perseverance one
need not be a rocket scientist to get to the substance of the Dow Wildgame study.
Substance being the operative word! Able to spin their abysmal findings and get their
desired headlines and slant, Dow’s press release in no way reflects the high levels
of dioxin found in these floodplain animals. Dow apparently diluted and or averaged the
numbers south of Midland taking their "sound science" spin to new levels. The
hard data which appeared later on Dow’s website confirms that dioxin in the
floodplain soils is available to individual game animals at very high levels in many
cases. Some of these animals are very young and many were found to have numbers that
exceed 100ppt TEQ. The national standard is less than .5 ppt. Headlines and news stories
accomplished what Dow wanted ----to convince the public that these game animals were no
more harmful than supermarket chicken. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s
not rocket science take a look at the data yourself. "
"Dow’s wildgame study was spin, not " sound
science" and in fact is tantamount to a lie. There is no excuse and no ethical
justification for this corporate misdeed. If Dow wants people to trust that they are
committed to "sound science" and " working with the community", they
need to stop twisting, distoring, lying and ommitting information. "
"One other major distortion? Dow’s Wildgame Study contrary
to their press releases in November and this month, was not approved by DEQ. Resolution to
this issue will never come to fruition so long as Dow’s misinformation campaign and
manipultation of the facts go unchallenged by those agencies and officials, state and
local, charged with protecting the health and welfare of the people.
" [Excerpts from the Lone Tree Council/Trw Dioxin Update News letter of 7/27/04]
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