Michigan Environmental Council

Michigan
Environmental Report

Volume 22 . Number 6
December 2004

PURPOSE
Founded in 1980, MEC is a coalition of over 60 environmental, public health, and faith-based organizations with nearly 200,000 individual members. For over 20 years, MEC has provided a voice at the State Capitol. In addition to serving as a clearinghouse of environmental information, MEC develops public policy, educates elected officials and the public, and provides training and support to member organizations.

SUBSCRIBE

OFFICERS

Chairperson
Chris Graham,
Michigan Natural Areas Council

Vice Chair
Vicki Levengood,
National Environmental Trust

Vice Chair
Terry Miller,
Lone Tree Council

Treasurer
Tom Leonard,
West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Secretary
Brian Imus,
PIRGIM

MEC STAFF

President
Lana Pollack

Policy Director
James Clift

Associate Director
Patrick Diehl

Land Programs Director
Conan Smith

Special Projects Coodinator
Brad Garmon

Office Manager
Judy Bearup

Member Services Director
Michele Scarborough

Policy Specialist
David Gard

Policy Advisor
Dave Dempsey

Environmental Campaign Coordinator
Wendi Tilden

ECCO Field Director
Stephanie Anderson

Land Programs Assistant
Ben Stupka

MER Design & Layout
Rose Homa

More than 200 diseases linked to pollution

Pollution has been linked to about 200 different diseases, ranging from cerebral palsy to testicular atrophy, as well as more than 37 kinds of cancer, new U.S. research shows.

The research was done by doctors at what was then the University of California and at the Boston Medical Center. It listed only effects that had been identified by several different studies.

More than 120 diseases have been definitively linked to pollution, and in another 33 evidence of a link is judged to be "good." For the rest, the evidence is "limited." Nine different pollutants have been verified to cause asthma-including four from car exhaust.

Testicular atrophy is caused by estrogen, increasingly found in surface water. Mercury poisoning can cause cerebral palsy, while more than 50 pollutants-ranging from dioxins to PCBs-have been shown to cause cancer. Other effects include kidney disease, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, dermatitis bronchitis, hyperactivity, deafness, sperm damage and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Said Dr. Ted Schettler of the Boston Medical Center: "The human body is in constant conversation with this chemical milieu, and some substances have turned out to be important contributors to disease." He said pollution often acted in concert with genetic predispositions to developing particular illnesses.

The European Commission has been trying to introduce a new directive requiring industry to provide safety information on the 30,000 most common chemicals, but this measure has been watered down because of pressure from the Bush Administration.