Today I stray from my usual method of commenting about the DEQ/dioxin news. Below is a copy of the Saginaw News article published yesterday. My comments - in color and bold - are interspersed with the article - for reasons that are obvious as you read it.
Eating fish from river not healthy, DEQ says
Friday, March 10, 2006
JEREMIAH STETTLER
THE SAGINAW NEWS
State health officials say living and dining along the Tittabawassee River may increase a person's dioxin exposure up to 3,900 percent, a brochure mailed to about 500 riverside resident suggests. Wow! Talk about scare tactics… the MDEQ is now using the same type of exaggeration as their buddies in the eviro-extremist organizations!!!
The Department of Environmental Quality brochure, sent to property owners eligible for landscaping and house cleaning because of dioxin, paints a startling picture of what contamination a riverside resident might consume by eating sport fish and wild game from the floodplain.
By eating walleye for dinner one night and deer the next one time a month, a riverside resident would increase dioxin exposure 320 percent over what the average adult experiences, even if the person abided by every state precaution for avoiding contact with the soil, the brochure says.
Change that diet to one meal of catfish and another of deer, deer liver or wild turkey and the exposure rises 1,000 percent higher than that of the average adult, the document says.
The worse-case scenario is a person who eats seven meals of sport fish from the Tittabawassee River a month -- a diet that also would include bottom-feeders such catfish and carp -- and ignores all recommendations for avoiding dioxin. That person would increase exposure to the contaminant 3,900 percent. Oh yeah… us'ns livin' along the Tipadawas floodplain are all livin’ off the land… killin’ and eatin’ off the land – all the deer meat and fish we can kill – the big delicacies bein’ them thar carps ‘n catfish!!! The deer meats we like the best is livers ‘n all them inner organs… and ya know what? The specialty on our dinner plates is a good ol’ mess a’ squirrel brains ‘n eggs! …and a’course thet tar wild turkey is a reg’lar feature on our Sunday supper tables!
State officials say they are trying to spread facts, not fear, about a persistent pollutant that Dow Chemical Co. historically released.
"This isn't a scare tactic," said Robert McCann, spokesman for the DEQ. "What this is doing is presenting some scientific data in a real-world scenario so people can understand it."
Dow officials call the advisory a distortion of the facts -- an objection they raised before state regulators approved the document.
"We don't agree with everything in that brochure, least of all that graph as being a true depiction of the risks of living on the floodplain," said Dow spokesman John C. Musser.
Nevertheless, the chemical giant's operating license requires the company to distribute the brochure to properties with elevated dioxin levels.
Dow officials contend that riverside residents face no "imminent health threat." They argue further that the state's assumptions in developing its advisory -- such as the amount of dioxin absorbed into the blood when a person swallows soil -- are extreme. Man, yer right there, Dow-guys!!! We-uns eats thet dirt a lots ‘n we be's jist fine anyhow! We washes our hands in the river water whilst we’re out there catchin’ supper! Thirsty and we run outa beer er moonshine? We jist dip our jugs er bottles into the river and drink up a slug a that good ol’ fresh runnin’ water!
State officials stand behind the data. Toxicologists such as Linda Dykema, manager of the Toxicology and Response Section of the state Department of Community Health, say the numbers are based on hard science. While the brochure does not speak to health effects, Dykema said it is reasonable to assume that people with higher exposure have a greater likelihood of developing health problems. Hey Ms. Community Health lady!!! Have ya ever looked at health statistics fer us’ns along the Tipadawas???? ‘ceptin fer a few strangers who done moved in, bringin’ their sicknesses with ‘em, we ain’t as sickly as most city folk!
Studies have linked dioxin to reproduction problems, birth defects, diabetes and some forms of cancer in laboratory animals. Studies also link drugs ordered by are docters to some'a this here stuff too! Ya know... feed a rat er a mouse enough a anythin' an' he's gonna get some kinda sick! Same thing prob'ly happen ta us'ns if ya feed us enough a it... 'ceptin the Russian guy done got lotsa dioxin an' a bad dose a pimples! Does thet mean folks ain't reactin' the same way as rats 'n mice?
"We're trying to drive home the point that people should adhere to the fish advisory," Dykema said. "We hope to reach those people who are taking their catch home for dinner."
The state has advised anglers not to eat carp or catfish out of the Tittabawassee River and to limit their consumption of smallmouth bass, white bass and several other species because of dioxin contamination.
The brochure also encourages residents to abide by the state's recommendations for reducing dioxin exposure at home -- such as removing shoes before coming indoors, vacuuming frequently and washing hands and clothes after working outside.
Copies of document are available online at www.michigan.gov/deqdioxin. I dun went ta the link here and had a hecka ‘a time tryin’ ta find thet document yer talkin’ ‘bout. Thet deq website makes ya read all kindsa stuff in order ta find what yer really lookin’ fer!
Saginaw News: http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-18/1142000532175010.xml&coll=9
Well, taday the weather is jacket-y instead of many layers-y and I dun got a river in my backyard again. Guess I'll go fishin' & catch supper. Don't gotta go as far taday!
No comments:
Post a Comment