Word: dioxins
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...federal researcher at whose urging Times Beach, Mo., was permanently evacuated in 1982 because of a dioxin scare has conceded that the draconian action was a mistake and that newer data suggest dioxin is far less toxic than previously believed. While some environmental scientists dispute the conclusion, the Environmental Protection Agency has launched a review of its strict dioxin standards, leaving the public confused about what to believe...
...science, as in life, simple questions rarely have simple answers. That principle of uncertainty is especially frustrating when researchers try to determine the hazards of various chemicals to humans. Ten years after sounding an alarm over the dioxin-contaminated roadways of Times Beach, Mo., federal scientists wonder whether they acted too hastily in ordering the community's permanent evacuation. Perhaps, they say, dioxin was not such a serious threat after all. This kind of waffling only reinforces public skepticism about the credibility of scientists, who seem to change their mind with bewildering regularity whether the subject is the danger...
...research suggests that men exposed to substances such as lead, alcohol and some anticancer medications, as well as nuclear radiation and dioxin-containing herbicides, could be conceiving children with serious physical and mental abnormalities. Although the reports do not prove that such damage is occurring, the increasing number of studies reflects a concern about the issue that some experts feel is long overdue. Says Dr. Ellen Silbergeld, a toxicologist at the University of Maryland: "There has been a sense ((among scientists studying birth defects)) that reproduction is something that women do, and that men don't contribute very much. That...
Vietnam veterans have long contended that the herbicide Agent Orange, which contains dioxin, has contributed to birth defects in their children, although scientists have not been able to confirm the link. Still, a patchwork of reports continues to suggest at least a minor effect. The most recent study, published last month in the American Journal of Public Health, found that the children of men who served in Vietnam were 1.7 times as likely as the babies of other veterans to suffer from major malformations, such as clubfoot or serious heart problems...
...current issue of Microwave News, Slesin has printed what may be his greatest scoop: the key paragraph of a two-year Environmental Protection Agency study recommending that so-called extremely low-frequency fields be classified as "probable human carcinogens" alongside such notorious chemical toxins as PCBs, formaldehyde and dioxin. The recommendation, which could have set off a costly chain of regulatory actions, was deleted from the final draft after review by the White House Office of Policy Development. "The EPA thing is a stunner," says Paul Brodeur, a writer for the New Yorker. "It's a clear case of suppression...