Document N2M83B7vx8ZJkaRxweYEOmzwg

Thursday, March 29, 1990 THIS FACSIMILE IS INTENDED FOR: DR. CATE JENKINS U .S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASTE CHARACTERIZATION AND ASSESSMENT DIVISION (OS 332) 401 M STREET S.W ., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 202-382-4627 FROM: JOE COLE, FOUNDER THE INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT AGENT ORANGE NETWORK 6806 - 36 AVENUE S .E . OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON 98503 206-459-7189 - FAC' S 206-456-5021 IN PRESS; THANK HEAVEN FOR PRIVATE CITIZEN CATE JENKINS! THE STARS k STRIPES, THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE nB .R .A . V.O. n THE VETERANS OUTLOOK UNITED VETERANS OF AMERICA VETERANS OF THE VIETNAM WAR, INC. THE DAILY OLYMPIAN NOTE: Cate Jen k in s, The world owes you a deep sense o f gratitude, fo r your lo y a lty to duty and country. Your actions should be viewed with respect. Your employer would better serve the c i tise n s o f our nation by doing the Job the agency was created fo r , rather than c r it ic iz in g you fo r trying to do yours. Please sake copies o f the relevant m aterials, and provide them to Ms. S ylvia lowrance and Mr. Don Clay* You might a lso include a memo to remind them o f the EPA fin d in g sfih the "National Dioxin Study" regarding the s it e contamination o f N itre, W. Va.i;SThanks again. a lly yours, What 3 Evidence A Nation at R isk , The SagetContinues: Wednesday, March 28, 1990 By: J . Cole T 'Jx ja u n Jc H & e l v e x r t t > jr P r i v a t e C i t i z e n T ezn Jcjjn sz f Dr Cate Jenkin fm, & chemist with the Environmental Protection Agency, drafted a memorandum. In the February 23, 1990 Memo to Raymond loehr, Chairman, Executive Committee o f the Science Advisory Board, U .S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ms. Jenkin *s says "Newly revealed Fraud by Monsanto in an Epidemiological Study Used by EPA to Assess Susan Health E ffe c ts From D io x in s ," was s u ffic ie n t reason fo r requesting a review o f the EPA *s dioxin standards. The newly revealed fraud, case as a re su lt o f the Frances E. Kemner, ct a! - v--Monsanto, Case No* 5-88--0420. The legal b r ie f was f i l e d in response to an appeal f i l e d by the Monsanto Co. follow ing a $26*25 m illion award against Monsanto by a St* C la ir County, I l l i n o i s C ircu it Court Ju r y . The legal action brought by the residents o f Sturgeon, M issouri, who were exposed to 19,000 gallons o f the dioxin contaminated "OCP-crude, " follow ing a train derailment on January JO, 19f9, "r According to the b r ie f, the ju r y awarded the p l a i n t i f f s * (65 c itiz e n s) $1 fo r actual damages and $16.25 m illion fo r pu nitive damages* In an a r tic le published March 24-25 1990, the Australian, tr ia l judge Richard P. Qoldenhersh sta te s, the pu nitive damage award was "allowable" under I l l i n o i s law.y Having read the b r ie f and examined several o f the p la in t if f s e x h ib its, I suspect the ju r y believed the p la in t if f s were lik e ly to s u ffe r future barm as a *re su lt o f their exposures. Now, in a bizarre tw ist, S y lv ia Lowrance, d irector o f the EPA S o lid Waste Management o ff ic e , (the department Dr. Jen kin s works in) has to ld the Atlanta Journal Con stitution, in an a r t ic le published March 26, 1990, "She was acting, in e ffe c t , as a p rivate c itiz e n when she wrote th is memorandum. I t was not written am a part o f her o f f ic ia l d u tie s*" EPA A ssistan t Administrator Don Clay says "the views she expresses do not n ecessa rily r e fle c t those o f EPA*" Ju s t what are the "Views" o f the EPA? The evidence o f fraud and manipulation, was presented by Monsanto s c ie n t is t s and others, in a pu b lic t r ia l. Alarming s t a t is t ic s o f the extreme t o x ic it y o f d ioxin : "The c r o s s exam ination^ n o t o n ly re v e a le d th a t th e o v e r a ll death ra te from c a n c e r was 66% g r e a t e r i n th e e x p o s e d p o p u la t io n than c x n o c te d ^ _ h u t t h a t t h e d e a th r a t e fro m l u n * c a n c e r .warn 143% h it h e r .b h a o o xp ecte< L . th e d e a th r a t e from g e n it o u r in a r y ca n c e r was 108% h ig h e r --than e x p e c t e d , th e b la d d e r c a n c e r d e a th rate was, 8Q9X h ig h e r .and,, t h e ly m p h a tic c a n c e r d e a th r a t e was 92X h i g h e r -- tefith frofl JlgflCt d i s e a s e was 37% h ig h e r than e x p e c t e d 1 __( P l* $ X - l4 $ 5 2 x m e governments oi muuLraiiff ana new' e&iantr were so concerned,'ttiey nave demanded "a ll documents rela ted to a United S ta tes court case that appears to ra ise doubts about evidence accepted by the Evatt Royal Commission into the e ffe c t s o f chemicals used during the Vietnam War* Mr* Monty Hollow, an attorney representing Australian Vietnam veterans, says "the case had eo tain ted Monsanto's c r e d ib ilit y that i t d if K n d il* d _ M e coaaimaxan'a f i n d i n g ^ 9 w w h. im *'At the"Royal Commission, Monsanto was accepted as being with the angels, a cleanskin, Mr* Hollow said- ^You' re not cl&analcins i f you s e t a 516 B illio n punitive damages award against tou. n In New Zealand, Vietnam veteran, Mr* Vic Johnson, a member o f the New Zealand Agent Orange Trust Board, s a i d : nThe important thing i s that people who were appare n tly in volved in fa ls ific a t io n :(o f reports) were also those who e&v* evidence_to the Austra lia n _Royal Commissioner, who gave great-weight to th e ir evidence. n More than 10 years ago, Ms* Ja ck ie Strasburger, o f Rochester, ffa*, lo s t an entire herd of Spanish Barb horses, (154) which she a ttrib u tes to an order by the county weed control o f f i c i a l s , who ordered her to use a domestic version o f Agent Orange on her pasture land fo r control o f ntansy ragwort* " At the time o f the horses deaths, the EPA t e l l s Ms* Strasburger, that Washington States Department o f Agriculture was responsible fo r conducting an investigation into the cause o f death* The death o f the Strasburger horses, unfortunately, came at a time when the EPA was also involved with the dioxin contamination discovery in Times Beach, M issouri, which follow ing the discovery o f dioxins at le v e ls thousands o f times greater than the EPA "allowable le v e l - 0 * 5 ppb, n the EPA, without ben efit o f new research and against the advise o f th e ir own s c ie n t is t s and attorneys, raised the ule v e l o f concern" to 1 ppb* ' Mm* Strasburger has never been given an o f f i c i a l explanation o f the cause o f death o f her horses, other than an opinion given by Dr* James A lle n , that the weed control chemicals are the probable cause. The evidence Mm. Strasburger i has provided me, in dicates that had they not died from chemical exposure, they su re ly would have suffocated in the bovine excrement that has stacked up sin ce. Now, not unlike the Veterans Adm inistration, Congress i s expected to elevate the EPA to "Cabinet Level Status* * A move designed to correct the i l l s o f the agency* I t hasn*t worked fo r the Veterans Adm inistration, nor w ill i t work for the EPA. Creating deeper bureaucracy may indeed sh ie ld the agency from c r itic is m , but i t w ill not end the criticism * Naming responsible employees lik e Dr* Cate Jenkin s to p o sitio n s o f authority would be fa r more e ffe c t iv e at curing what a i l s the EPA, and i t wouldn*t take ) an nAct o f Congresstf to get the jo b done* TTie CoAfci-nnAA;