Mossville

by George Claxton
A few weeks ago Dr. Sanjay Gupta presented a program on CNN about the toxic pollution in Mossville, Louisiana. This program exposed the fact that there was a lot of dioxin contamination in Mossville and that there was a distinct possibility that the dioxin was from the chemical companies in the area. A spokesman for the chemical industry stated that dioxin is not related to any human health effects.

Perhaps the chemical industry could explain why the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) stated in 1997 that dioxin was a "human Carcinogen". This was published in volume 69 of the IARCs publications. IARC is part of the World Health Organization (WHO). This decision was followed by a ruling by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) that dioxin was a "human carcinogen" in January, 2001. This ruling can be obtained on the Internet in the United States (NTP-9th Report on Carcinogens).

There is plenty more reason why the people in Mossville should be worried. In December, 2009, IARC declared that two more dioxin like chemicals were considered "human carcinogens". These poisons are 2,3,4,7,8-Pentachlorodibenzofuran and 3,3,4,45-Pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB-126). These two toxins along with dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) account for 75% of these type of toxins in humans. I got this info from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). This is called the "total dioxin toxic equivalency". I find it difficult to believe that 2,3,4,7,8-PeDF and PCB 126 are not contaminants in Mossville.

George Claxton served as Chair of Vietnam Veterans of America National Agent Orange Committee for 12 years, and was a Plaintiff in what became the Agent Orange Class Action lawsuit, and Nehmer v. Veterans Administration.