[CPEO-MEF] PCB report kicks off controversy

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Alaska
PCB report kicks off controversy
St. Lawrence Island study splits scientists, health officials
PCB treaty awaits agreement on future additions to ban list
By Tom Kizzia
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: February 21, 2003)

An unusual public dispute has broken out among scientists and health
officials over an environmental group's study of cancer-causing PCBs in
the blood of Yupik villagers on Alaska's St. Lawrence Island.

Last week the state Division of Public Health issued a bulletin
rebutting the group's conclusion that low-level PCBs measured in
residents of the Bering Sea island appeared to come from an abandoned
military site. The state said the study was flawed and failed to prove
that PCB pollution is any worse on St. Lawrence than in other coastal
subsistence communities, where PCBs are picked up through the marine
food chain.

"There are advocacy groups out there who are trying to move science into
a political arena," said Larry Duffy, a biochemist and toxics expert at
the University of Alaska Fairbanks who endorsed the state's bulletin.
"Their analytical chemistry was perfectly fine, but if you look at their
statistics about the source of the contaminants, that case is very
weak."

The state was joined by several Native health organizations in stressing
that traditional subsistence foods are safe to eat.

"The known benefits of fish and marine mammal consumption far outweigh
the controversial potential adverse health effects from contaminants
found in those foods," the state said.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.adn.com/front/story/2655041p-2697397c.html

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