Document XRn0e3adB5jdG53wv8XnaqYp4

From the Desk of Robert G. Kaley, II March 11, 1999 XCC: K. R. Barnickol C. B. Beckmann T. M. Bistline K. S. Cahill D. L. Cavner J. J. Collins A. Faust J. Ferguson M. A. Pierle G. S. Ruskin D. C. Shepperly FYI - a selection of articles about the GE epidemiology study. DSW 138666 STLCOPCB4038621 Copyright 1999 Newsday, Inc. Newsday (New York, NY) March 11, 1999, Thursday, ALL EDITIONS SECTION: NEWS; Page A22 LENGTH: 320 words HEADLINE: STUDY: NO LINK IN PCBS, CANCER DEATHS BYLINE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DATELINE: Albany BODY: Albany - The largest-ever study on human exposure to toxic PCB chemicals found no link between PCBs ' and deaths from cancer. The study, conducted by researchers Renate Kimbrough and Martha Doemland at the Institute for Evaluating Health Risks, a Washington-based nonprofit research organization, focused on the effects of PCBs in more than 7,000 former employees of two General Electric plants near here. GE used PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, for nearly 50 years as insulation in electrical capacitors and transformers. GE, which faces potentially huge financial liability for cleanup of PCBs it dumped, financed the study. According to Kimbrough, the workers exposed to PCBs had high levels of the chemical in their blood, but their rate of cancer deaths was lower than the national average. The researchers tracked the medical histories of the employees for an average of 31 years and compared causes of death over that time to national and regional averages. While 353 workers died of cancer over the period of the study, a statistically similar sample of people would have had 400 deaths due to cancer. "The findings of this study are consistent with a belief that cancer risks from exposure to PCBs have been overstated," Dr. John Moore, president of IEHR, said. The study was published yesterday in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The release of the study comes just five months after GE struck a deal with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to remove PCB contaminants from the Housatonic River in Connecticut and polluted areas of Pittsfield, Mass., at an estimated cost of $150 million. The company has also been in protracted negotiations with the EPA and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation over continued cleanup of the Hudson River, into which it legally dumped more than one million pounds of PCBs from the late 1940s to 1977. LANGUAGE: English LOAD-DATE: March 11, 1999 2 OSw 13866? STLCOPCB4038622 Copyright 1999 Bergen Record Corp. The Record (Bergen County, NJ) March 11, 1999; THURSDAY; ALL EDITIONS SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A06 LENGTH: 753 words HEADLINE: GE SAYS STUDY FOUND NO LINK BETWEEN PCB EXPOSURE, CANCER SOURCE: Wire services BYLINE: MARCO LEAVITT, The Associated Press DATELINE: ALBANY, N.Y. BODY: A biologist whose research more than 20 years ago found the first link between PCBs and liver cancer in laboratory rats has published a new study finding no evidence that work exposure to the chemicals causes cancer in humans. The General Electric-funded study of more than 7,000 former employees of two GE plants appears in the March issue of The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "The bottom line is that we didn't find anything,"said researcher Renate Kimbrough. Kimbrough and Martha Doemland conducted the study, which is the largest ever to focus on human exposure, at the Institute for Evaluating Health Risks in Washington. The study tracked the medical histories of employees for an average of 31 years and compared causes of deaths to national and regional averages. To their surprise, researchers found that workers who were exposed to PCBs had a lower rate of cancer deaths than the national average, despite having high levels of the chemical in their blood, according to Kimbrough. While 353 workers died of cancer over the period of the study, a statistically similar sample of people would have 400 deaths due to cancer. The employees had worked at two GE plants north of Albany. Richard Caspe, the director of the EPA's superfund program, said the agency was still reviewing the study and didn't know how it would affect their negotiations with GE over cleanup of the Hudson River. The company legally dumped more than 1 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson from the late 1940s to 1977. 4 DSW 138668 STLCOPCB4038623 Caspe pointed out that the study only concerned itself with death rates, and didn't take into account the health of survivors. He said that other studies have found that PCBs cause reduced birth weights in children and can disrupt a person's immune system. Studies have also found a link between PCBs and death rates, he said. State Health Department officials said they were in the midst of reviewing the study and were unable to comment on it. The state has also been negotiating with GE over the cleanup of the Hudson. The release of the study comes just five months after GE struck a deal with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to remove PCB contaminants from the Housatonic River and polluted areas of Pittsfield, Mass., at an estimated cost of $150 million. General Electric used PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, for nearly 50 years as insulation in electrical capacitors and transformers. Environmental advocacy groups questioned whether the report could be trusted, since it was paid for by GE, which faces potentially huge financial liability for cleanup of PCBs. "What I think is important is the fact that this is GE's data and GE funded the report," said Kara Lee of Scenic Hudson, a conservation group in Poughkeepsie. Kimbrough defended the report, saying it was compiled largely from government statistics and reviewed by a committee of independent scientists. Mortality rates can't be manipulated, she said. "It's like counting beans,"she said. GE has already spent about $165 million cleaning up pollution at its facilities in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls and in the Hudson River, GE spokesman Mark Behan said. He was unable to say how much the company paid to finance the study. Based on scientific evidence linking PCBs to cancer in laboratory rats, EPA Administrator Carol Browner attacked GE last summer for dragging its feet on cleanup of the Hudson. She also said in testimony before the state Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee that GE was misleading people in the Hudson Valley by touting reports saying PCBs are safe. It was Kimbrough's study done in 1975 when she worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta that first linked PCBs to liver cancer in laboratory rats. That led the government to label the chemicals a probable cause for cancer in humans. Kimbrough said that there is an ongoing debate in the scientific community over how applicable research on rats is to humans. The bodies of rats may simply respond differently to the PCBs, she said. Also, the rats in her earlier studies may have been exposed to such a high amount of PCBs that their livers were damaged, causing the cancer, she said. She's happy to learn the results of the new study, even though it didn't support her earlier work. "It's really good news for the workers,"she said. LANGUAGE: English LOAD-DATE: March 11, 1999 6 DSW 138670 STLCOPCB4038625 The Associated Press State & Local Wire The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press. March 10, 1999, Wednesday, AM cycle SECTION: State and Regional LENGTH: 731 words HEADLINE: No link found between PCB exposure and cancer in humans BYLINE: By MARCO LEAVITT, Associated Press Writer DATELINE: ALBANY, N.Y. BODY: A biologist whose research over 20 years ago found the first link between PCBs and liver cancer in .. . laboratory rats has published a new study finding no evidence that work exposure to the toxins causes cancer in humans. The General Electric-funded study of more than 7,000 former employees of two GE plants appears in the March issue of The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "The bottom line is that we didn't find anything," said researcher Renate Kimbrough. Kimbrough and Martha Doemland conducted the study, which is the largest ever to focus on human exposure, at the Institute for Evaluating Health Risks in Washington. The study tracked the medical histories of employees for an average of 31 years and compared causes of deaths to national and regional averages. To their surprise, researchers found that workers who were exposed to PCBs had a lower rate of cancer deaths than the national average, despite having high levels of the chemical in their blood, according to Kimbrough. While 353 workers died of cancer over the period of the study, a statistically similar sample of people would have 400 deaths due to cancer. The employees had worked at two GE plants north of Albany. Richard Caspe, the director of the EPA's superfund program, said the agency was still reviewing the study and didn't know how it would affect their negotiations with GE over cleanup of the Hudson River. The company legally dumped more than one million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson from the late 1940s to 1977. Caspe pointed out that the study only concerned itself with death rates, and didn't take into account the health of survivors. He said that other studies have found that PCBs cause reduced birth weights in children and can disrupt a person's immune system. Studies have also found a link between PCBs and death rates, he said. State Health Department officials said they were in the midst of reviewing the study and were unable to comment on it. The state has also been negotiating with GE over the cleanup of the Hudson. 9 0SW 1386 71 STLCOPCB4038626 The release of the study comes just five months after GE struck a deal with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to remove PCB contaminants from the Housatonic River and polluted areas of Pittsfield, Mass., at an estimated cost of $150 million. General Electric used PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, for nearly 50 years as insulation in electrical capacitors and transformers. Environmental advocacy groups questioned whether the report could be trusted, since it was paid for by GE, which faces potentially huge financial liability for cleanup of PCBs. "What I think is important is the fact that this is GE's data and GE funded the report," said Kara Lee, of Scenic Hudson, a conservation group in Poughkeepsie. Kimbrough defended the report, saying it was compiled largely from government statistics and reviewed by a committee of independent scientists. Mortality rates can't be manipulated, she said. "It's like counting beans," she said. GE has already spent about $165 million cleaning up pollution at its facilities in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls and in the Hudson River, GE spokesman Mark Behan said. He was unable to say how much the...... company paid to finance the study. Based on scientific evidence linking PCBs to cancer in laboratory rats, EPA Administrator Carol Browner attacked GE last summer for dragging its feet on cleanup of the Hudson. She also said in testimony before the state Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee that GE was misleading people in the Hudson Valley by touting reports saying PCBs are safe. It was Kimbrough's study done in 1975 when she worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta that first linked PCBs to liver cancer in laboratory rats. That led the government to label the chemicals a probable cause for cancer in humans. Kimbrough said that there is an ongoing debate in the scientific community over how applicable research on rats is to humans. The bodies of rats may simply respond differently to the PCBs, she said. Also, the rats in her earlier studies may have been exposed to such a high amount of toxins that their livers were damaged, causing the cancer, she said. She's happy to learn the results of the new study, even though it didn't support her earlier work. "It's really good news for the workers," she said. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: March 10, 1999 10 DSW 138672 STLCOPCB4038627 Copyright 1999 The National Journal Group, Inc. Greenwire March 10, 1999 SECTION: WASTES AND HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES LENGTH: 172 words HEADLINE: PCBS: GE-FUNDED STUDY FINDS NO OCCUPATIONAL CANCER RISK BODY: The largest study ever of occupational exposure to PCBs has found no significant increase in cancer deaths among workers exposed on the job, the New York Times reports. The 31-year study, published today in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, followed the medical histories of 7,000 workers employed at two General Electric Co. factories in upstate New York between 1946 and 1976. Unlike previous studies, the new study found no increase in cancer __ _ deaths among people exposed to PCBs. Dr. John Moore, president of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Evaluating Health Risks, which conducted the study: "The findings ... are consistent with a belief that cancer risks from exposure to PCBs have been overstated." GE, which funded the study, faces potential liability for "hundreds of millions of dollars" in cleanup costs for PCB- contaminated sites like the Hudson River (Greenwire, 2/23) (John Cushman, New York Times, 3/10). LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: March 10, 1999 11 DSW 138673 STLCOPCB4038628 Copyright 1999 National Broadcasting Co. Inc. NBC News Transcripts SHOW: NBC NIGHTLY NEWS (6:30 PM ET) March 10, 1999, Wednesday LENGTH: 62 words HEADLINE: GE STUDY FINDS PCBS NOT CANCER CAUSING ANCHORS: BRIAN WILLIAMS BODY: BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: And a new report tonight challenging a long-held belief that chemical PCBs are linked to an increased risk of getting cancer. The study, paid for by General Electric, the parent company of NBC, found no link. While GE has come under fire for PCB pollution, the report found that more than 7,000 former employees of GE plants in upstate New York who had high levels of PCBs found in their blood did not have a high rate of death from cancer. We'll be right back with THE FLEECING OF AMERICA. LANGUAGE: English LOAD-DATE: March 11, 1999 12 DSW 138674 STLCOPCB4038629 Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company The New York Times March 10, 1999, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 14; Column 3; National Desk LENGTH: 518 words HEADLINE: Study Finds Little Risks From PCB's BYLINE: By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr. DATELINE: WASHINGTON, March 9 BODY: The largest ever study of occupational exposure to toxic PCB chemicals has found no significant increase in cancer deaths among workers who were exposed on the job. The study was financed by the General Electric Company, which faces potential liabilities of hundreds of millions of dollars for cleaning up waters, including the Hudson River, that are contaminated by PCB's. It is being published on Wednesday in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, a peerreviewed journal. The chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls, are complex mixtures that were widely used by industry as insulation in electrical capacitors and transformers from the 1930's to 1977, when their production was banned because of a suspected link to cancer. PCB's persist for decades in the environment and can be taken up by fish and other organisms. They are also suspected of causing other health problems, but the study did not address them. Even though the exposed workers in this study had high levels of the chemicals in their blood, their rate of cancer deaths was not high. Previous studies had found extra cancer deaths after PCB exposure. "This is the largest cohort of male and female workers exposed to PCB's," the study says. "The lack of any significant elevations in the site-specific cancer mortality of the production workers adds important information about human health effects of PCB's." The science of assessing the risks of PCB's and other toxic chemicals is among the trickiest tasks for regulators. This was not the first time that the cancer risks of PCB's, the focus of intense regulatory review over the years, have been played down by scientific studies. The Environmental Protection Agency has previously reduced the factors it uses to estimate PCB cancer risks. The study focused on more than 7,000 men and women who worked from 1946 to 1976 in two General Electric factories in upstate New York, following their medical histories for an average of 31 years and comparing the causes of death of the 1,195 who have died to national and regional averages. The study found that 353 workers died of cancer, while 400 people would be expected to die of cancer in a statistically similar sample. The study's lead author was Dr. Renate D. Kimbrough, of the Institute for Evaluating Health Risks, a nonprofit research organization in Washington. ij DSW 138675 STLCOPCB4038630 "The findings of this study are consistent with a belief that cancer risks from exposure to PCB's have been overstated," said Dr. John A. Moore, president of the institute. He is a former official of the E.P.A. and the National Institutes of Health. General Electric has fought a vigorous campaign to prevent the Federal Government from requiring it to dredge sediments in waters contaminated by PCB's. It has frequently cited scientific studies that it says show no link between exposure to the chemicals and cancer in humans. An E.P.A. study on the possible risks of the chemicals' presence in the river is to dictate whether General Electric must clean up contamination from its industrial sites along the Hudson. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: March 10, 1999 14 DSW 138676 STLCOPCB4038631