Document JJkGLxZ8qgJ0pbqLmvRBEw5ZZ

SUBJECT TO R. T. Berendt - E2ND T. M. Bistline - E2ND D. L. Coleman - G2WF A. M. "Ford" - A2SA G. F. Fort - F3EC J. F. Hussey - F3EA G. D. Ingenthron - F3EB F. E. Kearney - E2SA W. J. McCarville - G3WG P. S. Park - G3WB G. Roush - G2WG J. H . Sgraul - G 2 W F ^ M. C.'Trhrodahl - DID E. Tillman - G2WF J. D. Wilson - G3WG F.Y.I., attached letters were messengered today. Attachments Dan R. Bishop \ 237063 Monsanto Monsanto Company BOO N. Lindbergh Boulevard St. Louis. Missouri 83167 Phonr (314) 694-1000 PUBLIC RELAVONS DEPARTMENT March 23, 1983 Mr. Eric Newhouse Associated Press 900 N. Tucker Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63101 Dear Mr. Newhouse: The Associated Press told half a story about Agent Orange and dioxin as it appeared in the March 18 front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The AP story concerned Vietnamese research suggesting that the offspring of men exposed to dioxin run an abnormally high risk of being born with birth defects. What was the half of the story left untold? It was that recent Australian research on its Vietnam veterans found "no evidence that army service in Vietnam relates to the risk of fathering a child with an anomaly." Did the AP not know of this work? Other news media did. The March 18 New York Times discussed both the Vietnamese and Australian studies in the same story and correctly pointed out that "conflicting conclusions" were reached. Apparently a conflict also exists on the reaction of American scientists who reviewed the Vietnamese research. The AP story said that these scientists "are impressed" by the work. But a February 27 article in the Washington Post stated that the U.S. researchers "concluded that none of the Vietnamese reports was scientifically valid." I obviously don't know why the Associated Press told only half a dioxin story, but I regret that it missed the opportunity for balanced coverage of a subject so vital to our Vietnam veterans and the public, especially Missourians. Sincerely, DRB:ec Enclosures Dan R. Bishop Director, Environmental Communications 237064 Monsanto Monsanto Company 8 0 0 N Lindbergh Boulevard St. Louis. M issouri 63167 Phone G14) 6 9 4 - 1 0 0 0 March 23, 1983 PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT Letters to the Editor St. Louis Post-Dispatch 900 N. Tucker Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63101 Dear Sir: The Post-Dispatch told half a story about Agent Orange and dioxin on its March 18 front page. The paper carried an AP story about Vietnamese research suggesting that the offspring of men exposed to dioxin run an abnormally high risk of being born with birth defects. What was the half of the story left untold? It was that recent Australian research on its Vietnam veterans found "no evidence that army service in Vietnam relates to the risk of fathering a child with an anomaly." Did the Post-Dispatch not know of this work? Other papers did. The March 18 New York Times discussed both the Vietnamese and Australian studies in the same story and correctly pointed out that "conflicting conclusions" were reached. Apparently a conflict also exists on the reaction of American scientists who reviewed the Vietnamese research. The AP story used by the Post-Dispatch said that these scientists "are impressed" by the work. But a February 27 article in the Washington Post stated that the U.S. researchers "concluded that none of the Vietnamese reports was scientifically valid." I obviously don't know why the Post-Dispatch told only half a dioxin story, but I regret that it missed the opportunity for balanced coverage of a subject so vital to our Vietnam veterans and Missourians generally. Sincerely Dan R. Bishop / Director, Environmental Communications DRB:ec Enclosures 237065 CC: Mr. Bruce Sankey City Editor, St. Louis Post-Di > Sxfay, Frirtuiry 27, 983 THE WASHINGTON POST Dioxin Is Still a Mystery A S3 3-million decision despite scientific confusioi By Pte Earley A RMY MAJ. Charlie Hubbs used to drink Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to convince report ers it was harmless. "It tasted terrible," recalls Hubbs, now a 52-year-old resident of Camp Springs, Md., "but l haven't changed my mind." He still believes the herbi cide, used to clear jungle and kill crops, hasn't damaged anyone'9 health, including his own. Michael Ryan never drank Agent Orange, but the Long Island police man was exposed to it in Vietnam. He believes it caused his 12-year-old daughter, Kerrie, to be bofn with 18 birth defects, including missing bones, twisted limbs, a hole in her heart and no rectum. Their conflicting views are not only at the core of the Agent Orange dis pute but central to the Environmen tal Protection Agency's $33 million political decision last week to buy out the entire town of Times Beach, Mo. The chemical that made Times Beach unfit for its 2,400 inhabitants is dioxin. Dioxin -- found in Agent Orange at levels more than six times greater than that detected in Times Beach -- is what many Vietnam vets charge has caused them everything from headaches to cancer to birth de fects in their children. So far 16,102 vets have filed disability claims. Moreover, some estimates have claim that as many as 165 million Americans may have been exposed to dioxins in the years they have been sprayed on forests, crops and road sides and home gardens. The herbi cides have been used to control weeds at the Washington Monument and on the White House lawn. In yet another twist, EPA still lets chemical manufacturers sell dioxinridden herbicides for use on rangeland and rice -- 1.3 million gallons were spraved on rangeland last year. In fact, EPA hns moved recently to ease restrictions on the dioxin con taminated herbicide, 2,4,5-T. All these contradictions 9imply un derscore the key point about the gov ernment's conflicting stands on diox in: political decisions are being made more on headline appeal than on scientific evidence. The bulk of repu table science indicates simply that no one knows whether dioxin is toxic to humans and if so, how much. Strange as it may sound after a week of reports describing dioxin as a threat to humankind, scientists are deeply divided over whether expo sure to dioxin causes health problems in humans. Consider these comments by two experts on dioxin: Drs. Samuel Ep stein, a cancer researcher at the Uni versity of Illinois, and Matthew Meselson of Havard, considered a pioneer in dioxin research. Epstein: "The evidence is over whelming that dioxin is carcinogenic (causes cancer] in humans." Meselson: "Anyone who says that it is a clear and present danger can not prove it, and anyone who asserts that it is not a danger cannot prove that either. We simply don't know." Dioxin is formed as an unwanted byproduct when "phenoxy" herbi cides are made. Just how much dioxin is formed depends upon how well the manufactuer controls the temperature and pressure when mak ing a herbicide. In 1979, the President's Council on Environmental Quality announced that dioxin had caused cancer in test animals when 2.2 parts per billion of their normal diet consisted of dioxin. Pete Earley is a Washington Post national staff writer. It caused birth defects in monkeys at doses of 2.5 parts per trillion. The council called dioxin "one of the most toxic substances ever studied.'' The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta now says dioxin at levels higher than one part per billion may be dangerous to humans. But dioxin effects animals differ ently, making some scientists skepti cal of comparisons with humans. For instance, the dosage needed to kill a hamster is 5,000 times greater than that needed to kill a guinea pig, ac cording to Dr. Barclay M. Shepard, the VA's expert on Agent Orange. Epstein claims other chemicals have been banned after causing can cer at much lower doses than dioxin. The government is stalling to avoid paying compensation, he charges. Most of what is known about the effect of dioxin on humans is based on studies of industrial accidents, primarily one in 1949 at a chemical plant in Nitro, W. Va., and another in 1976 in Seveso, Italy. The Nitro accident occurred when a value popped, spraying fumes in side a building. After that mishap 121 workers developed chloracne. a skin problem caused by dioxin. Stud ies have documented numerous short-term effects after the accident, including nausea, headaches, blood disorders and impaired nerve func tion. But the symptoms diminished over a period of time and eventually disappeared. Recent studies show the death rate among the 121 men actu ally was lower than normal. There also were no signs that the men had developed higher rates of cancer. At Seveso, an explosion spewed an estimated 10 ounces of dioxin over 700 acres. Within six days, 11 chil dren had been hospitalized with skin inflammation and 175 cases of chlo racne had been diagnosed. The gov ernment evacuated 212 families from homes near the plant after the dioxin level was found to be 50 parts per million. Two months later more than 2,000 small animais had died, mostly rabbits. Another 78,000 animals had 237066to be slaughted to prevent dioxin from entering the food chain. Officials reported a significant in crease in birth delects in Seveso and a higher rate of spontaneous abor tions. But l)oth rates were lower than the country's national average. In -January, Vietnam invited 21 na tions to send scientists there to re view 60 herbicide studies by the Viet namese. Fourteen scientists from U.S. universities attended, but they concluded that none of the reports was scientifically valid. The only U.S. study linking a her bicide with dioxin to human health problems was issued in 1979 by the EPA. It was prompted hy Bonnie Hill of Alsea, Ore., after she and seven other women in the Alsea area suffered miscarriages several weeks after 2,4,5-T was sprayed near their homes. The study said the miscar riage rate "appears to be correlated to the amount of 2,4,5-T sprayed," prompting EPA to limit 2,4,5-T use to rangeland and rice. More than 18 critiques of the Alsea II study have been published in scientific journals. In 1979, the Brit ish medical journal The Lancet de scribed the sentiment among scien tists like this: "Independent statisti cians have been unable to find any evidence in the (Alsea II] data of a link between abortion and 2,4,5-T." In 1980, the VA hired a consulting firm to review some 1,200 scientific articles about phenoxy herbicides. The study found "no evidence" that the chemicals pose "a potent carcino genic risk" to humans. It also found no evidence that dioxin caused repro ductive damage in humans. Last October, the American Medi cal Association issued its 2,4,5-T and dioxin studies. It said "there is still little substantive evidence for the many claims that have been made against these compounds." Dow has even given volunteer em ployes dose3 of 2,4,5-T to see how long it took to go through their bodies. The VA is involved in 50 studies alone this year of Agent Orange, at a cost that will exceed $100 million. EPA will spend another $495,000 to study residents of Times Beach and other areas exposed to dioxin. Suspicion remains, of course, about the VA's objectivity. Congress last year forced VA to surrend its most important study to the CDC because it said the VA had lost credibility with Vietnam veterans. The scientific dispute, however, may now lie mute. "We're simply bevond that now," says Frank McCarthy, president of Agent Orange Victims International, a privately funded self-help group. How can the government pay $'W million to 2,400 residents of Times Beach and not feel responsible for "the healthy young men it sent to Vietnam who came back sick and dis eased?" he asks. 237067 237068 r" THE NEW YORK TIMES, FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1983 Studies by Vietnam and Australia Conflict on Agent Orange's Effects By PHILIP OFFFY W a n wTWI* TatTVa WASHINGTON. March 17 -- Two said of the Vietnamese results. "There ' studies conducted abroad have reached is no precedent for it in the interna conflicting conclusions an whether tional literature." Birth defects from by Agent Orange, the herbicide usnd in toxic agents usually mean the mother, Vietnam, caused birth defects for chil not than the father, has been exposed. dren of non Vletnameae troops who Amenesp experts on Agent Orange fought in Vietnam said they were withholding judgment A study by Vietnamese scientists re until they saw the full data and analysis ported an Increase in abnormalities In Children cf North Vietnamese women whmc husbands served in South Viet for both studies. The Veterans Adminis tration said the Australian study ap peared well conducted. It reported nam and thus were potentially expoaed to Agent Orange But a study of Australian veterans of Vietnam found "no evidence that army "persuasive evidence that Vietnam service has not been associated with , any important harraaaa la tha risk of birth defects." aervire in Vietnam relates to the risk of fathenng a child with an anomaly." The Aus'/allan Government praised the study It was not d e a r to acientista in this country why the studies reached such opposite eentlusiana. or what the rele vance of eldier might be to whether Agent Orange caused birth defect* for American servicemen's chlldinn. U.S. Shady Being CanAirted The national O n iers for Disease Con trol in Atlanta is trying to deterrnine if tie re was tny Increuse in defective American children of veterans. The Virtnam rse study was discussed Se January in Ho Chi Mlnh City at a symposium attended by American scientist*. A report of that conference, now d ro ilatin g In American bcirnliflc circles, says the group was "very much Impressed." but stops short of endors ing the Vietnamese findings. Arthur H Westing, an ecologist from Hampshire College in Amherst, Maas., t o baiped orgamaa tha ooniaranoa. Fri., M ar. 18 , 1 0 8 3 STLOUISPOST-OISPATCH Vietnamese Link Dioxin, Birth Defects WASHINGTON (AP) -- American scientists say they are Impressed by Vietnamese research suggesting that the offspring of men who are exposed U> dioxin run an abnormally high risk of being born with birth defects. Pep. Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., chairman of Vietnam Veterans In Congrest, said that the Vietnamese Investigations strengthen the case for legislation be has proposed. It would award disability benefits to veterans suffering certain diseases they believe are related to the dioxin in Agent Orange. Published American research has yet to find a link betwee* exposure la dipxia and birth abnarniaiUlaa, ath1Karrlagaa ar aullbirUw. Based on a survey of 40,000 families, Columbia University's School of Public the Vietnamese findings on the after Health. effects of the spraying of Agent Orange Dr. John Constable, a plastic in Vietnam were presented at a surgeon from Massachusetts General conference In Ho Chi Minh City Hospital who also attended, said, "I am (formerly Saigon) Jan 13-20. persuaded that this is sufficient Scientists from several countries, evidence that unnecessary exposure to Including the United States, attended dioxin should be rigorously avoided " the conference. Reports from the meeting are beginning to circuala among scientists in this country. Asked what could account for the contradiction between American and Vietnamese research. Samuel Epstein, Some of the Americans who were an epidemiologist from the University there said the studies struck them as of Illinois School of Public Health, said worthy of attention. birth defects occurred so rarely that "I don't think anyone deliberately * many thousands of people must be fudged tha data." taya one who investigated before valid conclusions a tta a d a d , M aureen H atch , a can emerga. He said moat America* reproductiva apldamlologlst at Saa DEFECTS, Pagal Defects From p ag ao n studies Involved too small a group. The Vietnamese doctors said they had found that women from North Vietnam whose husbands stayed in the North during the war ran significantly less risk of having "unfavorable outcomes of pregnancy" than women whose husbands may have been exposed to Agent Orange in the South, the only place where it was sprayed. That suggests that the cause of the difficulty was transmitted In the husband's sperm to his wife. Between 1965 and 1F71, about 12 million gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed in South Vietnam to expose communist sanctuaries in the jungles. Vietnam veterans have suspected that their exposure to the herbicide while they fought the war increased their risk of having children with birth defects *