Document MMQXg5wLpmXMr1X4R6n7MyRNj

FROM E . d . OF M I S S O U R I . vr& I 1/23/90 14:44 p1 V^llCllilBI 'jllUir r Monsanto On Dioxin I hidings ByWUttemH. Frtivogtl The EPA hemlst Cate Jenkins, l>ot-CNpetch WisNftfton Sutmu alio urged a < Imioal Investigation of WASHINGTON -- Greenpeace und the firm, alls ing that it covered up whistle-blower at the Environment evidence of d xln'i ill effects. til Protection Agency are accusing A Monsai :o spokesm an said Monsanto Co. of fraudulently under* Wednesday tt t there appeared to be stating the health risks of dioxin. criminal la ilry under way and so Both the international envtronmen* declised to omment on Jenkins' tal organization and the EPA chemist charges. called upon the agency to conduct an But the cm pany said that Green independent evaluation of what they peace's allagi ions ware untrue and say are flawed Monsanto studies indi that the firm ood by the studies He cating that dioxin has little health ef noted that M isanto sent a letter to fect on humans. See DIOXIN, Page If | Dioxin Prom page one the EPA last month asking it to audit the studies to clear the air. Jenkins, a chemist In the Regula tory Development Branch at EPA. wrote a memo Nov. 15 to the agency1* Office of Criminal Investigations ac cusing the company of a "long pattern of fraud" concerning "dioxin contami nation of a wide range of Monsanto Corp. products, us well as health stud ies of Monsanto's dioxin-exposed workers." The memo indicates that Jenkins, kgoariLAt the EPA as a whistle-blower, rapt NO?, H with agents of the NationasEoforcemeni Investigations Center, vfcleh conducts EPA's criminal inqul* r W -EPA refused to comment on vftefher U was conducting a criminal iAhstisation. Meanwhile, Greenpeace is releas ing* report today that, it a y s, expoees `tethduleat end manipulated sol* e g g? ia`Monsanto's studies of the ef* f i d ef dioxin on workers at its plant in HfedrSLY*. An explosion at the plant exposed workers to dioxin. 5mm Greenpeace report is being rt1 4 0 0 in .Washington and at dioxin- 1 sites around the coun__ j Times Beach, Mo. 4* lin a g e report, written by for* fihaJfGU Co. chemist Pat Costner, --- says that sti lies done for Monsanto in 1980 and 19 3made several key scien tific mlstak t. In two si dies, for example, some people expt ed to dioxin were lndud* d in the ' c atrol" group. Because egulaton relied on the Monsanto s idles as proof that dioxin is not too d tigerous to humans, EPA should rev< e ail decisions based on those studit , Greenpeace said. The grou also called upon EPA to , Kt up m lonal dioxin elimination program, i ich would phase out use of chlorine a the paper industry and chlorinated im pounds in pesticides and would < 'emualiy ban some wood prtservativ . Den R. I shop, director of corpo rate cornu nlcatlons at Monsanto, said that n t of the allegations by Jenkins an Greenpeace were not new. He Mi that Jenkins' memo bad been baaed irgely upon claims made in a three-} ar trial In Belleville, 111., where real enta of Sturgeon. Mo., sought dan tges for exposure to a small amoi t of dioxin after a train derailment 11979. In her itu no, Jenkins wrote: "Mon santo cover d up the dioxin contami* hation of a i de range of its products," Including ysol, the disinfectant. Members oi he Canadian Parliament recently b< ;an an investigation of product con imJnatloa, she wrote. The mem also maintained that, ac cording to lternal Monsanto docu ments, sera es of herbicides submit* ted by the d npany to the Department of Agrtcultz e in the 1970s had been "doctored" nd that highly contami nated n m p s had not been submit ted. The be >iddes were used in the Agent Oran e defoliants during the Vietnam Ws . The mai criticism In Jenkins' memo and ie Greenpeace report is targeted at ie 1980 and 1983 studies of Moosantt workers, which were su pervised by >r. Raymond Susklnd of the Ketterin Institute In Cincinnati. s u *o **0 * * ito Q j <J>** *-O\ioc to*, KUvJ j wovo M 3 3 Qm vo