Document 10ERXB4DmNz93xG560L20814X

% Defeating Cancer Scares >'-* After years of health scares, rea`v, son is now coming to bear in assess^ tug the cancer risks posed by certain' > industrial chemicals, pesticides, food additives and the like. Two of the latL' est examples involve dioxin and a chemical used on apples and other crops. : Dioxin is actually the name for a 7* family of chemicals. The particular compound of health concern Is re- :* ferred to as TCDD; it is produced in ^ the manufacture of some herbicides, ^ the antibacteriologicai agent hexaZ* chlorophene, and in a variety of com* > bustion processes, including the burn* ^ -ing of municipal garbage. The legacy $ of TCDD worries includes Agent Or- ange--a defoliant used in Vietnam that was at the center of a multi-mil* ^ Ilon-dollar lawsuit brought by vet* : erans charging that the chemical had caused cancer and birth defects-and < Times Beach, Mo., where the federal ^ government bought up a town contam5 iiiated by dioxin*Iaced oil sprayed < along roads. The largest industrial ac'V-- cident occurred in Seveso, Italy, in 5; .1976, when some 37,000 people were : exposed to considerable amounts of ; TCDD after an explosion. > ; "Concern that this material [di3;- oxinl is harmful to health or the envt7fonment may be misplaced. Although ^; it is toxic to certain animals, evidence : Is lacking that it has any serious long -term effect on human beings," says fred H. Tschierley, executive director "* ;*w the Michigan Agriculture/Business I^jHincil and a former professor of bot* and plant pathotogy.fe an article Scientific American's February isj^AsUhiiar conclusion was reached ` Whelan. execottve direc* American Coqfccil on Sci* H8th, in her recent bode : Hie Trmh. About the ^ Labemtory experiments have shown that TCDD causes cancer in specially bred mice and tats, and also causes reproductive abnormalities in some test animals. But research, into the effects of TCDD on humans points to nothing more serious than a mild skin irritation called chloracne, which clears up quickly without any long* term Injury. In short, dioxin has never been found to cause cancer in humans. Nonetheless, the Environmental Protection Agency has responded to public concern about TCDD with a number of regulations governing its production and limiting individual ex posure to it. Moreover, the Office of Science and.TechnoLogy Policy calcu lates that more than $1 billion will have been spent by the federal gov ernment for research and other di oxin-related work before all the cur rent studies are completed. This fig ure doesn't include the large sums spent by chemical companies or the S180 million settlement in the Agent Orange case. Separately, the EPA decided Wednesday that It will not pursue its previously announced intention to can cel uses of daminozide, a plant growth regulant used on apples, peanuts and other crops. The EPA said that it has "no reason to believe" that the chemi cal "poses some unreasonable risk." The decision follows a ruling by the EPA's Scientific Advisory Panel that "none of the present studies are con sidered suitable" for assessing health risk and as a basis for regulatory ac tion; indeed, none of the studies of workers exposed h> .daminozide over the past 3fl:years shows .any health damage. - ... Science ls now beboiiitag'tnere careful in assigning cancer warnings ~ -- at1* <.*; tfcs come raote jucucfous in its own regu lation actfons and to by to dispel un warranted public fear about illusion- ary health risks from these much- needed chemicals. Asides Deficit Reduction Federal red ink totaled only $14.66 billion in December, the Treasury re ported Friday, and that was actually less than reported for December a year before. We're, not supposed to take the decline seriously* since the October-December deficit was up 5% from a year earlier and the projection for fiscal 1986, barring ramm-Rudman cuts, remains at <220 billion. Still, we can't help wondering if those bouts with the debt ceiling and threat ened government shutdowns late last year might nave done some good. URL 04897