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* 7 - m WW71AUJH TastNy 27J ? W ; 7 case papers demanded By SrrUATTT RTNTOUt THE Jecteral Gov- It castooiars for ns*riy 90 the jury's finding tut r im i. mvpt h itf*nls as sxkM rotated for nil docttto. a UnfUd y a ty . . . T h e y alleged -lat xvjsxrca w tha ere t frouduprepared them "firsh tf-mt thw royal oammleeim\ .will .be dtscredUsiL > - States eottrt case that ap a cd reports wear* <xruoU*d by , Veteran in Arurtraiia, .the pears to raise doubt* about M on n to to now that zA jyT U8 and New Zealand-shared evidence accepted ,by the KValt R oyrd'. CorjimJ^fEtl -J.-qn* a t th e lnarodiant of A#*tit Ocfcage --<$d n ot m s* can can w hin th s opposite more than 830o m illion Mr in . otrt-of-court settlem strt by the sren cbeadm l companies Jn-i Into the effects of chemical* .was tn ift rolrad In euppirlag'cbem ioalir used war. during th e ' Vietnam , ..-,.j .'Xflaof tboe riporta w trs for Vietnam In. lPMLhnthave several by D t aartoond &n*^ . iormd that the reywfa commi* rind, 12, of fcba Tjntrntnfty at sine is nasd by gnretnxnervtn T t o n a 'o o c rt docum ents Ct&dtnreti. whose ridane* to wffl in th* fijcwt ihataxjos bg rrr~ the rnyiii com mission was de to deny veterans, widown and thir ohiWran psmrfoni beeM. scribed by Jo stles Bvatt m on SiqjOimrs to cbsm fcair. .*. * Offlca at tb s Dwgartmant at peet?tfre`l A MM boutnt iawyer* who Vetecgns Atfkha. -which has. . M nofonto ha apiwaJed ttna b eta fighttuf. to niT e th? rwpanaibtttfcy for d aaltof w ith against fchw f e r y t award and royal cornmlsslir's^flDdtngr OODtlnulOff of . bar A*aid *fl alsima th at it thrown oaft. MSr BCrtntyHollow, J astio * Hrrmtt* re p o r t- ' pnodoowd brafadplmi rypdct v . said yesterday th/r-anW had' T bs AutrM xn reported do owfaxrdftj th a t gravs doubt* A fter two yem* of heortnjpi J ukHUx rtvatt r*p<fc tod fa 1M8 th a t Agent O n w gt w*s "not teo tolntwd Mno*%ntcf aredt*. Witty that it dlscaredited the co: mnisaind'* ftndingf".' hod <rn*t*rwl aboqt;evid*ae gnEtty" of causing a rango of "At tiX* roysi cmrrrntelc(n, aooeptml by slou after .th e a rojrdl 110.29 commi*m illion . ReaJtbnam ve problems among terani, todndlng y*tcane* Mtoniauro was iaoostrtod- -S-t bring with the ."sngrlx. t jam lttve dnmArt award Or. and hefitih problems and dijanaWn," Mr JToiiow sain. agjripat tb s Mccwifcto.Cbrad-- ftfrtb terfbrmfjles among their cal emapaby- D T-.ia TTItnrM iti*^*'*t *V x u e .a ir m c r ot the jpec&l m ij^ aw gttln gw n ttyoiJ-" . . . 7t% e dafdliii m a i ' after * 3 fy sa r trial.'--.the Jongfcat civil p tnioett. afflo*, Mr Micbari amixb, said yesterday that tha Tn Nbw ZralanxL. Vietnam vMdtfth Mr "Vlo JhhnKin, ; a jury trial In TT8 history - a t e * a Of chem icals h ath * town at fiforgsn, M issouri. h i Jam iary lTp, .. material-, wooM be Locked at SrtJA report grtan to th* Min ister for Veterans Affairs. Mr Htamphroya; member of the New Zsalanxl A gent Orange T'ntft B oatti raid: "The im portant thing Is .th a t paople who wart L aw ytro/or to * gSplrinfcttt* : B ut h e warned that Dr 8 us- riatly tnvolvwd tn falsification In thr owpb a llie d that their* .Idod* . ridono* may hare (of report) 1tat afto-` thoe wen*! "11te ta n y .-Umadcyals o f 'represented "only cm paper wbri gavs (JVWbCm to the-An- adfBissiOhs. .that . MdOancOto ffKWf nzaptsesi hundred" traJian roypJl oomhilassiiitet, was M llb if dJoaft^oOntataritv. looired.arbyJ'twtlc EVtftt. who gave great--w eight to ated rJ*larpfca^prodiK* to . .Vlsqiaofl V<rnml havf said their eTtdenoe," ' fa A T l A W T A C O Ws t >T U T l A; 3 Duke 90, UCLA 3 1 Arkansas 96, North Carolina 73 Texas 102, Xavier 8 9 TONIGHT'S M ATCHUPS I T V Syracuse-Minnesota 8:00 Georgia TecWVKch. St. 1 0 :30 Aiabama-Loyola g .05 UNLV-Ball State .. 10:55 -- Details in Sports, starting on G1 Staff Dioxin research altered, EPA says Internal federal memo accuses Monsanto of manipulating results By Jeff Nesmith and Charles Seabrook Staff writers WASHINGTON -- Chemists at Monsanto Chemical Co. fraudulently manipulated a key study that has helped convince other'scien tists that toxic chemicals known as dioxins do not cause high rates of cancer in humans, ac cording to an internal Environmental Protec tion Agency memorandum. The memorandum may spell bad news for five Georgia paper mills, which are trying to persuade the state Department of Natural Re sources board to adopt a weakened dioxin standard when it meets next Wednesday. The paper mills say they will have to spend hun dreds of millions of dollars to comply with the stricter standard -- equal to EPA's recom mended lim it--originally set by the board last summer. If Georgia adopts the standard urged by the paper companies, it will be 500 times weaker than the EPA's recommended limit, and up to 18,000 times weaker than that pro posed in other states. Attorneys and consultants for the mills say that even at that level, there is no scientific ev idence that dioxin causes health problems. But because of evidence in an Illinois state court case that Monsanto altered the results of a study of cancer among workers exposed to dioxins, EPA should re-examine its own posi tion regarding the chemicals, an agency chem ist said. `T his study by Monsanto apparently has Please see DIOXIN, A 4 Richard B. Lankford leads family members irto the federal courthouse, fied Thursday that extortion charges against him are " ridiculous." Sheriff denies extortion charge he had other sources of tax-ire By M ichelle Hiskey Staff writer Suspended Fulton County Sheriff Richard B. Lankford emphatically de nied each of the extortion charges against him Thursday, calling some of them "ridiculous" and "absolutely untrue." As his attorney, Thomas L. Wash burn III, read each of the 23 counts in federal court, the sheriff denied taking any of the alleged $20,000 in payoffs from caterer Jack T. LeCroy, or trying to extort another $7,000. "No sir, I did not," the sheriff re plied to most of Mr. Washburn's queries. "That's my testimony, and that's the truth," he later repeated several times. The sheriff said he had other sources oftax-free income he could turn to instead of asking Mr ey. Deputies chipped each Christmas in a ti tion, and slightly less birthday. He said he di< that money--or on tho in "love offerings" church where he is pas considered it a gift. Mr. LeCroy testifie for fear of losing the j. contract held by his c( the sheriff white enveh mostly when the two r and passed one to tl marked car. The sheriff, howevt at the time of the allegi had a bodyguard accom Please see LAN Lawmakers vote to make Idaho PH T T H T T M I i battle against broccoli. He ap peared to be fulfilling a child hood fantasy as he pronounced his emancipation from the vege table. America are up in arms against me," Mr. Bush told visiting Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowieeki at a White House state dinner Wednesday night. u .) J U S u e n o m u U i m a s J o n 01 a 0 1 U C - coli bias. Asked about the example he was setting, the first lady replied crisply, "I'm eating his broccoli. Don't worry about it." unanes hiver Port Washingtzleton Researc Reston, Va..wl first surfaced. In a related Dioxin: Study altered, memo says Continued from A 1 now been shown to be a fraud," said Dr. Cate Jenkins, the EPA chemist A spokesman for Monsanto said Thursday he was aware of the EPA memo and the assertion that his company's 1979 study of cancer among workers exposed to dioxin had been manipulated. "That is totally, outrageously false beyond belief," said Dan Bishop, Monsanto director of cor porate communications. He said evidence in the court case was be ing m isrepresented to impugn the Monsanto studies. He noted that results of one of the studies were reviewed by in dependent scientists and pub lished in the Journal of the Amer ican Medical Association, one of the country's best-known scientif ic journals. Dioxins are a class of chemi cals that appear in many pesti cides and occur as byproducts of chemical and manufacturing processes, especially in the proc ess that paper mills use to whiten paper. Traces of dioxin have also been reported in a wide variety of paper products, including food packaging, disposable diapers, tampons and paper tissue. One type of dioxin produced by the paper mills is one of the most potent cancer agents ever tested in animals. Other tests have shown that dioxins can cause birth defects, liver damage and acute toxicity in fish and an imals. In addition, dioxins were con taminants of a powerful herbi cide known as Agent Orange, to which thousands of American servicemen were exposed during the Vietnam War. Because animal studies indi- cate that dioxins are extremely potent carcinogens, EPA has adopted stringent regulations of industrial and municipal re leases of the chemicals. However, industries and some scientists have argued that corre spondingly high rates of cancer in humans do not appear to occur. Last November, an EPA scien tific advisory board of outside sci entists concluded that existing studies do not provide clearcut evidence of human health effects of dioxins. In a Feb. 23 memorandum to other EPA officials, Dr. Jenkins urged that the scientific advisory board reconsider its position. "A key epidemiological study leading to this conclusion was performed by Monsanto corpora tion," she wrote. "It is a common ly bandied adage that dioxins have not been demonstrated to have caused cancer in humans, despite documented exposures. "Perhaps this may now have been seen as yet another `old in dustry tale'in light of the fraud al legedly committed by Monsanto in conducting its `research' on its workers exposed to dioxins. "It could be that other studies on exposed populations are simi larly flawed and subject to fraud." She noted that the Monsanto study often is used to discredit other studies that have indicated that exposure to dioxins does cause cancer in humans. The court case in which evi dence purportedly showed Mon santo scientists had falsified the workers study has been going on in East S t Louis, 111., for several years. It grew out of a train acci dent in which residents of Madi son County, 111., charged they were exposed to dioxin. A jui7 awarded plaintiffs in the case'Sl in actual damages -- but assessed an additional $16.2 million in punitive damages against Monsanto. The company has appealed the ruling. In connection with the appeal, an attorney for the plain tiffs prepared a b rief in which he characterized evidence inthe.trial as showing that Monsanto sci entists had knowingly changed the outcome of their cancer study to conceal that cancer death rates among exposed employees were 65 percent higher than expected. "Monsanto presented these studies to the world claiming few er dioxin-caused cancers, deaths and health problems than actual ly existed," the brief states. Dr. Jenkins, whose memoran dum has circulated for several days among some environmental groups in Washington, said she relied on the brief to write her memorandum, but has since re viewed actual testimony and found that it supports her conclu sions from the brief. Eric Jansson, national coordi nator of the National Network to Prevent Birth Defects, charged that despite its stringent regula tion of dioxins, EPA has been in volved in trying to minimize the dangers of the chemicals in the environment. "They have tried to make di oxin look less dangerous than it really is and they have relied on the Monsanto study and a study in West Germany by BSAF Corp. to do so," Mr. Jansson said. "Both of these industries' studies now appear to have been fraudulent and it is time to go back and look at all of these diox in questions again." Here PENN H Pine Cc Mahogt Cherry i Cherry I Solid Bi DREXI Square Pine Br< Pine Dir Pine Ch Etha (Not an Ethan i Mahog, Cherry Cherry Circa M Abrupt stopping of beta blocker medicine called a heart attack risk The Associated Press CHICAGO -- People with high blood pressure who abruptly stop using medication known as beta blockers temporarily increase their risk of having hpprt niliri pr Vwsnr* rocoTrphort cin' overstimulated nerves supplying those tissues. The medications are prescribed for a wide range of problems. They are adm inistered to relieve high blood pressure in |TV 'W'W* j Intern i i~A S / J . y f ^ O m em o accu ses M onsanto of manipulating key study on dioxin By Jeff Nesmith and Charles Seabrook lisbed in the Journal of the Amer larly flawed and subject to ican Medical Association, one of fraud." Staff writers WASHINGTON --Chemists at Monsanto Chemical Co. fraudu lently manipulated a key study that has helped convince other scientists that toxic chemicals known as dioxins do not cause high rates of cancer in humans, according to an internal Environ mental Protection Agency memo randum. The memorandum may spell bad news for five Georgia paper mills, which are trying to per the country's best-known scientif ic journals. Dioxins are a class of chemi cals that appear in many pesti cides and occur as byproducts of chemical and manufacturing processes, especially in the proc ess that paper mills use to whiten paper. Traces of dioxin have also been reported in a wide variety of paper products, including food packaging, disposable diapers, tampons and paper tissue. One type of dioxin produced She noted that the Monsanto study often is used to discredit other studies that have indicated that exposure to dioxins does cause cancer in humans. The court case in which evi dence purportedly showed Mon santo scientists had falsified the workers study has been going on in East S t Louis, 111., for several years. It grew out of a train acci dent in which residents of Madi son County, 111., charged they were exposed to dioxin. suade the state Department of by the paper mills is one of the A jury awarded plaintiffs in Natural Resources board to most potent cancer agents ever the case SI in actual damages -- adopt a weakened dioxin stan tested in animals. Other tests but assessed an additional S16.2 dard when it meets Wednesday. have shown that dioxins can million in punitive damages The paper mills say they will have cause birth defects, liver damage against Monsanto. to spend hundreds of millions of and acute toxicity in fish and an The company has appealed dollars to comply with the stricter imals. the ruling. In connection with the standard--equal to EPA's recom In addition, dioxins were con appeal, an attorney for the plain mended limit -- originally set by taminants of a powerful herbi tiffs prepared a brief in which he the board last summer. cide known as Agent Orange, to characterized evidence in the tri If Georgia adopts the standard which thousands of American al as showing that Monsanto sci urged by the paper companies, it servicemen were exposed during entists had knowingly changed will be 500 times weaker than the the Vietnam War. the outcome of their cancer study EPA's recommended limit, and Because animal studies indi to conceal that cancer death rates up to 18,000 times weaker than cate that dioxins are extremely among exposed employees were that proposed in other states. potent carcinogens. EPA has 65 percent higher than expected. Attorneys and consultants for adopted stringent regulations of "Monsanto presented these the mills say that even at that lev industrial and municipal re studies to the world claiming few el, there is no scientific evidence leases of the chemicals. er dioxin-caused cancers, deaths that dioxin causes health However, industries and some and health problems than actual problems. scientists have argued that corre ly existed," the brief states. But because of evidence in an spondingly high rates of cancer in Dr. Jenkins, whose memoran Illinois state court case that Mon humans do not appear to occur. dum has circulated for several santo altered the results of a Last November, an EPA scien days among some environmental study of cancer among workers tific advisory board of outside sci groups in Washington, said she exposed to dioxins, EPA should entists concluded that existing relied on the brief to write her re-examine its own position re studies do not provide clearcut memorandum, but has since re garding the chemicals, an agency evidence of human health effects viewed actual testimony and chemist said. of dioxins. found that it supports her conclu "This study by Monsanto ap In a Feb. 23 memorandum to sions from the brief. parently has now been shown to other EPA officials, Dr. Jenkins Eric Jansson, national coordi be a fraud," said Dr. Cate Jenkins, urged that the scientific advisory nator of the National Network to the EPA chemist board reconsider its position. Prevent Birth Defects, charged A spokesman for Monsanto "A key epidemiological study that despite its stringent regula said Thursday he was aware of leading to this conclusion was tion of dioxins, EPA has been in the EPA memo and the assertion performed by Monsanto corpora volved in trying to minimize the that his company's 1979 study of tion," she wrote. "It is a common dangers of the chemicals in the cancer among workers exposed to ly bandied adage that dioxins environment dioxin had been manipulated. have not been demonstrated to "They have tried to make di "That is totally, outrageously have caused cancer in humans, oxin look less dangerous than it false beyond belief," said Dan despite documented exposures. really is and they have relied on Bishop, Monsanto director of cor "Perhaps this may now have the Monsanto study and a study in porate communications. He said been seen as yet another 'old in West Germany by BSAF Corp.to evidence in the court case was be dustry tale'in light of the fraud al do so," Mr. Jansson said. ing misrepresented to impugn the legedly committed by Monsanto "Both of these industries' Monsanto studies. in conducting its `research' on its studies now appear to have been He noted that results of one of workers exposed to dioxins. fraudulent and it is time to go the studies were reviewed by in "It could be that other studies back and look at all of these diox dependent scientists and pub- on exposed populations are simi- in questions again." CO CL CL CL P H U U U I F C c s : i p h I* M etro&State SECTION B - THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION Ca. set to make dioxin rule weakest in U.S. By Charles Seabroofc Stiffwriter State officials this week are expected to adopt the nation's most permissive limits on cancer-caus ing dioxin --setting the stage Tor a showdown with the federal government, which soys the action could Jeopardize human health. At the request or five Georgia paper mill;, the governing board of the Department of Natural Re sources (DNR) is expected to adopt a dioxin limit 600 times weaker than the one recommended for rivers and streams by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA, armed with new information that dioxin may pose human health risks even at barely detect able levels, has indicated it will impose tighter lim its of its own If the board adopts a watered-down standard: EPA has pre-empted state regulations on dioxin once before, when it imposed federal limits oh dis charges lYom the Champion paper plant at Canton, N.C., into the Pigeon River Georgia paper companies contend that the stricter limits would be economically devastating, despite evidence that many paper plants in at least 14 states already are meeting EPA-approved limits. "Most paper mills in those states are working to meet those standards without plant closures and without loss of jobs," says Robert W. Adler, senior attorney with the Washington-based Natural Re sources Defense Council. "In some cases, the stan dards already are being met by mills." In Wisconsin, for instance, two paper mills are installing new anti-pollution equipment to comply with the state's dioxin standard, and state officials soy they are so sure they will be able to comply with the federally approved limit that they are planning to expand their operations. "We have heard the old song from Industry that Pleasesee DIOXIN, B3 Readers think column on Georgia Peaches was the absolute pits Acouple of weeks ago in this space, I attempted to be humorous in re gin) to those delicious darlings known i s Georgia Peaches. Donald Trump has gotten hooked up with one, and, because of my experi ences with a number of GPs myself, I decided to give The Donald some advice. I'm not certain Jf I helped Mr. Trump, but my mall indicates 1stirred up l hornet's nest judging by the Peaehetles who took the time to write me and suggest I'm not worth shooting. This column has always stood for giving the other side their say. It's only Ihlr. So, have your way with me, ladles: LOTTA PEEI,. Fort Pierce. Fla: * MONDAY. MARCH 2 6 . 1990 S ta ff East Point area wary after rapes By Cary Abramson Staff writer Residents ofa small and quiet East Point neighborhood where a rapist has attacked at least four women in the past six weeks said Sunday they have been Jolted Into a state of nervous alert and, In at least one case, plan to take up arms. "I'm licensed to carry a weap on, and I'm going to start carry ing," said Martle Shank, who lives across Jones Street from an 80year-old woman who was at tacked in her home early Satur day morning by a man police sus pect of committing the series of crimes. "We've never had inythlng like this In this neigh borhood." 'T h e whole neighborhood is overnor T a Peplence, I % "tenant * official' in the state," according to Gerry Tyson, a political consultant based in Fort Worth. ity in the chamber, where there will be at least 10 new members next year. He also pledges to use the office to seek economic devel- should be a "bully pulpit" to mar shal public opinion on issues that might not have the support of leg islators or the governor. Dioxin: State set for NickArroyo/Staff rest resident for 16 years, blames misconirhoods for the dearth of new business. re business upscale housing developments along Cascade and Fairbum roads and in the West End area is encouraging. "Sure, there is a greater in terest among middle- and high- income blacks to move to south west," developer Bill Strong said. "But once they get there they still have to go to the North- side for entertainm ent The thing is, those people have the money to start th eir own busi nesses and not wait on people to bring things to them," Mr. Strong, putting his own money on the line, has built two retail plazas, a Texaco gas1sta tion and a convenience store on Sylvan Hoad and Stanton Road, o/Stafl and has another retail plaza un s der construction on Campbell- eto tan Road. "A lot of the places on Camp- briar 1965 store bellton only need a facelift," he said. "Some are too close to the road and others just need to be torn H nw n." showdown with EPA Continued from B1 standard, but they have said the cleanup would cost them hun the strict standards would force job layoffs and plant closings, but, frankly, we don't buy it," said the Wisconsin DNR's John Sullivan. Recent developments have given EPA new reasons for insist ing that states develop strict diox in standards. In February, an in dreds of millions of dollars and force them to lay off workers. The DNR board's concur rence last year prompted it to re peal EPA-recommended limits and impose less-restrictive limits that it is now expected to make permanent when it meets ternal EPA memorandum con Wednesday. cluded that a key study used by Seven environmental groups industry to support its claims on have accused the board o f"caving dioxin was fraudulent The study has been used by industry in G eorgia and e lse w h e re to show that dioxin at low levels is not hazardous to human health. in" to the paper industry at the expense of public health. Dioxin is a byproduct'of the Kraft bleaching process, which is used in more than 100 paper This month, an EPA advisory plants nationwide to bleach pulps committee said its review of sci and make paper products whiter. entific studies on dioxin's health It is also one of the most potent effects indicate that the federal poisons known to man -- a poten limit is appropriate for protec tial cause of cancer, birth defects tion of human health and should and other health problems. not be changed. It is also poisonous to aquatic But Charles H. Tisdale Jr., an life. Atlanta attorney representing Georgia paper mills that use five of Georgia's largest paper the Kraft process include the Gil mills, said EPA relied on "seri man Paper Co. near S t Marys; ously outdated" scientific studies ITT Rayonier in Wayne County; and animal experiments to pre Procter & Gamble Cellulose in dict dioxin's effects on humans Macon County; Federal Paper and develop its standard. Board Co. in Augusta; and Bruns Georgia's paper mills have wick Pulp and Paper in Bruns never contended that they would wick. The plants employ 5,000 be unable to comply with the EPA people. cgs ts concern :in such Lifornia, f states items in lave the U.S.for for drug isedlast ' ra thaq alcoirgia i unrime Fling _.with mesand Kites its ilace for nsusBu* Lais who question hetop of ns. .uses on aybe we hat have s / 'cany of public ate Alco- gureson Linall of 1 extent iw it has in e d in a veek ig a Local State Editorial/Fonim,6-7B Daily News, Monday, March26,1990 Georgia DNR mayease dioxin restrictions ByMattKempner_________ DcdiyNewsstaffvrter " Dioxin kills. A number ofresearchers were con vinced ofthat after seeing laboratory animals die from minute doses of the chemical. It didn't take much to sus pect that one of the most potent car cinogens ever tested also would be le thal to humans. A number of Vietnam veterans have claimed they contracted skin cancer from dioxin contamination in Agent Orange* a defoliant used to clear the Jungles in which they fought*. But even as the federal govern ment sues to force the $118.2 million cleanup of the deserted Times Beach community and 27 other dioxin-taint ed sites in Missouri, some well- placed scientists contend that dioxin isn't so bad after a ll Now, the toxicological debate has swept into Georgia, where the state Department of Natural Resources is expected to decide W ednesday whether to adopt the nation's weak est standards for dioxin In rivers. The eased restrictions are support ed by five Georgia paper mills that produce dioxin as an unwanted by produet in a sp ecial bleaching process. The Georgia mills that produce Jinvin ftortralti Paoifir* in vannah River; ITT Rayonier of Jes* up, which discharges into the Altamaha River; Proctor and Gamble's mill in Oglethorpe, which pours into the Flint River; and Gilman Paper, which discharges into the North Riv er in S t Marys. None of the paper mills are located in the Atlanta area, but an EPA re port released last year found dioxin levels in fish collected from the Chat tahoochee River north of West Point Lake. In a DNR hearing earlier this month, mill operators claimed diox in's strongest effect on people may only be a potentially disfiguring skin disease notmuchworsethana severe case of acne. The lynchpln of their arguments are statements from a top official of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Dr. Vernon Houk, director of the CDC's Center for Environmental Health and Injury Control, has sug gested that the weakened standards for dioxin are sufficient to protect hu man health, even though the U.S. En vironmental Protection Agency has recommended limitations 500 times stricter. EPA have been quick to criticize Houk, who has said he was speaking for himself and not the CDC, which has published recom mendations for stronger dioxin regu- tryanty o j tfujorti, drowned while swimming Sunday. _ re le a se d from Gwinnett Medical Center. Snyder suffered a fracture of a --- -- ----- i/uhCU UlC ui CdUking difficulty to the temperature of Please see BODY, page 4B Youngster's illness difficult for family NEWSPAPER At the young age of two, red-headed PatrickMcKen zie of Lawrenceville doesn't understand what has hap pened to him. The young ster is suffering from a type of cancer that attacks the muscles, soft tissues and bone andmust undergo che motherapy treatment. M edical b ills for the youngster's family, coupled ih the necessity of spending time at the hospital rather in at work, have created a severe financial problem for McKenzie family, lut you can help. lie GwinnettDaily News has established a new charity-- wspaper Witha Heart--for addressing problems such as se faced by the McKenzie family. Donations to the News ier with a Heart fundwill be used to helplocal residents in icult circumstances. tfficers ofthe GwinnettDaily News determine which woi> causes will be supported by the Newspaper WithAHeart d. An advisory board, which includes representatives of PHJUP BARR / DAILY NEWS Charles M cKenzie holds 2-year-otd P atrick, who is undergoing chem otherapy a t Egleston H ospital. social service and charitable organizations, helps to select possible projects. To contribute to a fund to help Patrick McKenzie or future projects supported by the Newspaper with a Heart fund, send your tax-deductible donation to: Newspaper with a Heart, c/o Gwinnett Daily News, 200 Hampton Green, Du luth, Ga., 30136. EPA keeping dioxin proposal By M att Kempner Daily News staffwriter Georgia's proposal to weaken its standards for dioxins, oneofthe most lethal chemicals evertested onanimals, is being watched at the highest levels of the U.S. Environ mental Protection Agency, The state's Department of Natural Resources appears to have put itself on a collision course with the federal government over how to best protect Georgians* health from the chemical releases into rivers. The outcome in Georgia could have affect dioxin stan dards nationwide, as the country continues to grapple with one of its longest-running chemical debates, accord ing to William Diamond, director of the EPA's water cri teria and standards division in Washington, D.C. Under intense pressure from paper mills and against the backdrop of unsettled scientific deliberation over dioxin's effects on humans, Georgia's DNR board will Please see DIOXIN, page 5B DATELINE GWINNETT low er Will seek funding yr multipurpose building ItiV U lE A civic center soon may be in the works for the city of munity Affairs banquet scheduled in late April. Iville. The city will also apply for a $25,000 fed ty Council members granted permis- eral Community Development Block at their Monday night meeting for Grant to help cover the cost of the build or nvmmott dower to aoolv for two ing Ttose crranti ----- -'-i-*-- GETTING THERE GWINNETTTRAFFICEYE Call 381 -3989 or write Keith Kalland d o Gwinnett Daily News P.O. Box 956739 Duluth, Georgia, 30136 Take time going to Hartsfeld The first order of business is to help some of you negotiate your way to Hartsfield International Airport. During midday, the direct route via In terstate 85 southbound through the city is mniallu AV --- * ' ' * Daily News, Tuesday, March 27,1990 f 5B is being watched by federal agency ASSOCIATED PRESS ? an endangered 19th century plantation house in `se o fhistoric structures in rural areas, fears history i in rural areas James i Ogle- e abani centuinsof a vil War c builde of the Iding, a historic I. inGeorotecting often is said, becrawling Ipreser- Most smaller communities find it difficult even to pay for maintenance of historic structures,, much less the climbing costs of restoration, he said. Compounding the problem is the difficulty in rural ar eas of finding individuals or businesses who can put re stored buildings to use. "What's the point ofrestoring a church if there's no one to attend it?" Spalding asked. "Alternative functions for such buildings must beuncovered. As long as there are no uses for these structures, restoration would be either the act ofa roadman or a preservationist with a billion dollars to spend." Virtually every rural county has examples of the prob lem, he said. In Boneville in eastern McDuffie County, a cotton mill and gin has lain vacant since the 1940s, open to weather and vandalism. In Sylvania, a century-old church with a unique mix ofarchitectural styles is gradu ally decaying. Spalding said these "exemplars of the past" should be valued for their design and the way they were once used. But property owners often choose to sacrifice the past for t w nun be sold as oulpwood, he said. From page IB decide Wednesday whether to adopt the nation's weakest standards for dioxin. "The whole issue of dioxin is caus-. ing EPA at the national level to strug gle with what is a bottom line, if there is a bottom line, on what we can ac cept for a state," Phil Vorsatz, EPA's southeast regional chief of water quality standards, said. Vorsatz said he believes many states are watching what happens in Georgia to determine how to fashion their own regulations. South Caroli na, Tennessee and Florida are among those currently considering dioxin restrictions or expected to soon. If the EPA fails to ward off the challenges in Georgia, Florida and other states may find it difficult to impose tougher regulations, accord ing to Roxane Dow, chief of Florida's Bureau Surface Water Management. The EPA has yet to take an official position on the proposal, but it is ex pected to fight it, perhaps even'taking the unusual step of forcing its own dioxin limits on the state. Diamond said Monday the EPA probably will not approve of some of the factors that went into calculating Georgia's proposed limits. EPA administrator William Reilly already has been briefed on the con troversy. And in the last month both of Georgia's senators and seven of its 10 congressmen have written Reilly, asking the EPA to carefully consider the DNR's case and stating that they believe Georgia has tried to take a scientifically defensible position, ac cording to Diamond. Representatives for both of Geor gia's U.S. senators, Sam Nunn and Wyche Fowler, declined Monday to release copies of the letters they sent. The chemical and paper mill indus tries have created a strong lobbying arm to fight stricter lim its on dioxin in rivers and are attempting to ease tighter standards already in place in about 20 states. Environmentalist or ganizations are equally aggressive in lobbying to keep strong regulations in place. Dioxin, a class of about 75 chemi cals shown to cause cancer, birth de fects and immune system problems. in lab animals, is an unwanted by product in the bleaching processes of some paper mills, including five in Georgia. It also was formed in past produc tion of some pesticides and was a con taminant blamed for poisoning con nected to Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War. Dioxin pollution also led to the desertion of Times Beach, a community in Missouri, in the 1980s. The five affected mills in Georgia -- ITT Rayonier in Jesup, Georgia Pacific in Brunswick) Gilman Paper in St. Mary's, Federal Paper Board in Augusta, Proctor and Gamble in Oglethorpe --have fought the tough er standards, contending they have not been scientifically proven to be necessary. The operators also contend that the stricter limits could force them to fund $100million in improvements at each mill. In addition, Vernon Houk, an administrator at the Centers Iof Disease Control in Atlanta, has sug gested that allowing higher dioxin levels in rivers would not adversely affect public health. In an emergency action last De cember the state agency board sharply cutback its dioxin restric tions, setting limits 500 times weaker than what the EPA recommends. The DNR board is scheduled to decide Wednesday morning whether to make those changes permanent. The DNR has 30days from the time it approves new standards to submit them to the EPA for approval. The iagency has up to 90days to review the plan. ' " i* -' I I M4 I IUi > /^ S ( 7 V EPA: Scientist who sought investigation of dioxin study wasn't speaking for agency By Jeff Nesmith Journal-Constitution Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- An Envi ronm ental Protection Agency chemist "was acting as a private citizen" when she called for an in vestigation of charges that the Monsanto Co. m anipulated a study of the cancer-causing effectsofdioxins, EPAofficials said Tuesday. The allegations that Monsanto chemists had "fraudulently" al tered the research are contained in court documents filed in con nection with a lawsuit against Monsanto in Illinois. Citing the court records, EPA chemist Cate Jenkins called last month for a review of the agency's official position about dioxins. "Ms. Jenkins transm itted this document on her own initiative, not under direction from EPA management," said EPA Assis tant Administrator Don Clay."She was not acting in an official ca pacity, and the views she ex presses do not necessarily reflect those of EPA." Sylvia Lowrance, director of the EPA Office of Solid Waste, said, "She was acting, in effect, as a private citizen when she wrote this memorandum. It was not written as a part of her official duties." Dr. Jenkins, a chemist, re sponded that relaying informa tion to other EPA officials is "part of my job." "The public would not like it if somebody at EPA got some really damaging information about a substance and decided to take it on themselves to ignore it," she said. Although EPA recommends that states establish strict limits on the discharge of dioxin-con taining waste, the agency's offi cial position is that existing stud ies do not provide definitive data on human health effects. The Monsanto study has been used to convince other scientists that dioxins do not cause high rates of cancer in humans, even though they are an extremely tox ic group of chemicals. Dr. Jenkins said in the memo randum that the study "apparent ly has now been shown to be a fraud." "It is a commonly bandied ad age that dioxins have not been demonstrated to have caused can cer in humans, despite document ed exposures," Dr. Jenkins wrote in a memorandum to the EPA Sci entific Advisory Board. "Perhaps this may now be seen as yet anoth e r `old industry tale' in light of the fraud allegedly committed by Monsanto in conducting its `re search' on its workers exposed to dioxins." TRUST Treasury Drug PRICES GOOD THROUGH 3 /31 /9 0