
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994                   TAG: 9405120173
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

EPA STUDY FINDS NEW HEALTH RISKS FROM DIOXIN EXPOSURE

Exposure to even minute traces of dioxin, much of it through the food chain, poses wider health risks than had been suspected and may harm the human immune system and fetal development, according to preliminary results of a government study.

The study by Environmental Protection Agency scientists suggests for the first time that cancer may not be the most troubling health concern posed by dioxin, a chlorine-based toxic compound present in the environment.

= r Instead, the reassessment suggests, dioxin even at very common levels of exposure through the natural food chain may cause reproductive and developmental problems and suppress human immune systems. The scientists emphasized the conclusions are based largely on animal studies.

The findings are likely to provoke controversy within the scientific community, as some scientists have argued in recent years that the health hazards from exposure to small amounts of dioxin already are being overstated.

The 2,000-page EPA report, which is subject to interagency and outside scientific review, is expected to be released this summer. EPA officials emphasized the document is preliminary and could change.

``It would be inappropriate to draw conclusions from it at this point.'' Lynn Goldman, assistant EPA administrator for prevention, pesticides and toxic substances, said in a statement.

Nevertheless, another EPA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the key findings in the draft are not expected to change substantially and the report demonstrates ``we have to continue working to bring levels of dioxin down.''

The study represent a blow to the incinerator, chemical and paper industries, which have argued since 1991 that the health impact of very small amounts of dioxin has been overstated. The complaints, including calls for less stringent regulation of dioxin, prompted the formal EPA reassessment.

Several scientists who have reviewed a summary of the EPA draft document for the chemical industry characterized the study Wednesday as flawed, with numerous inconsistencies.

``EPA has relied on very inconclusive data from animal studies,'' said Sue Ellen Pirages, vice president of Risk Communications International, a consulting firm hired by the Chemical Manufacturers Association to review the EPA findings.

She said despite 15 years of data measuring dioxin in humans, none of the adverse effects alluded to by the EPA scientists has surfaced. ``We haven't seen birth defects, and we haven't seen unexpected decreases in reproductive capabilities,'' she said in an interview. ``We should be seeing these major health effects'' if the EPA findings were valid.

The study also has been the subject of heated debate among scientists at the EPA, Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture, all agencies involved in assuring the safety of the country's food supply.

Many environmentalists have long argued that no level of dioxin, a compound that is a byproduct of burning chlorine-based chemicals, should be released because it tends to accumulate in the human body and clearly has been linked to cancer.

by CNB