Citizens affected by dioxin contamination in Saginaw County, joined by environmental organizations, have rejected a study of health impacts proposed by Dow Chemical Company and have proposed an alternative, independent review and immediate public health protection.

In a letter to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the Michigan Departments of Community Health and Environmental Quality, the citizens argued that the study is premature, since the government agencies are in the middle of a process initiated by citizen petition to determine the extent and severity of the contamination. Further, they argued, the chemical company was not an appropriate initiator of a health study into contamination it likely caused.

Signing the letter were citizens living in the contaminated floodplain of the Saginaw River as well as representatives of the Lone Tree Council, Ecology Center and MEC.

"Dow Chemical is not a neutral party in any health study occasioned by their dioxin-discharging practices over the years," the citizens wrote. "If history is any guide, the company can be expected to take every step possible to reduce or eliminate their liability, to downplay the threat, to delay action and to influence politicians and agency heads towards that agenda."

Instead of a polluter-sponsored study, citizens called for government agencies to take the lead in helping citizens avoid further exposure to dioxin in the area. If necessary, a study should only follow a full characterization of dioxin contamination, helping determine who and what should be studied, they said.

First discovered in the spring of 2000, dioxin contamination along the Tittabawassee River in Shiawassee County downstream of Dow Chemical has ranged as high as 80 times the state cleanup standard. Soils on at least one residential property and in public parks have yielded high levels of dioxin, one of the most toxic substances known to science. In addition to causing cancer, dioxin has been linked to neurological, immunological and reproductive health effects as well as birth defects and diabetes.

Despite the finding of dioxin more than two and a half years ago not far from residential areas, the first government advice about limiting dioxin exposure was not issued until late summer of 2002, angering residents who believe the state has been protecting Dow rather than their health.

"The government dioxin investigation and response has lost all credibility with the affected community," said Mary Whitney, a local resident. "It's time to end the cover-up and stalling and listen to what the people most affected want and are asking for."

Citizens said the ATSDR and state health agency should immediately convene citizens to review sampling thus far and recommend further sampling, review data on other exposure pathways and recommend further work, help develop recommendations to reduce exposures, both in the near and long term, explore the merits of an exposure study for local residents, and explore the merits of developing a health registry for local residents.