Real Life's a Beach (cont'd)

[fixed some typos and missing words]

It appears then, that the decision to buy Times Beach was motivated in part by the Reagan administration's concern about the EPA's image of inaction. Furthermore, the action was in part necessitated by the need to aid utterly destitute flood victims. The question remains then of assessing the danger of dioxin exposure.

How dangerous is dioxin to humans? The answer seems to be that nobody really knows. The claim that dioxin is one of the deadliest substances known to man is based on its extreme toxicity in guinea pigs. [16] No human deaths have yet been reported. Other animal tests, particularly in rats, clearly show that dioxin is a potent "carcinogen," but scientific opinion is divided as to whether it can cause cancer by itself or whether its only action is to promote cancer in cells that are already cancerous. Evidence for cancer in humans is far from conclusive. The American Medical Association's Advisory panel on toxic substances summed up these findings in an October, 1981, report:

There is little substantive evidence for the many claims that have been made against dioxin and related compounds. While suggestive, the data from animal toxicity studies are not necessarily applicable to man. [17]

Yet the Times Beach exposure may represent the greatest long term exposure to dioxins in history and as such will be looked at closely. The government is trying to resolve the uncertainties with a wide variety of epidemiological studies that will cost more the $100 million. If dioxin is the hazard that some believe it is, the costs of moving entire towns probably are not greater than the risks of letting people continue to live there.
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[16] Rebecca L. Rawis, "Dioxin's Human toxicity is most difficult problem," Chemical and Engineering News, 6 June, 1983, p. 37.

[17] Robert Signor, "Dioxin effect on humans seems mild so far," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 Dec., 1982, sec A, p. 1.

Real Life's a Beach (cont'd)

This is a continuing series which began here

News of the dioxin contamination at Times Beach came at a tense time for the EPA. Administrator Burford was under intense pressure from Congress to yield any documents which would reveal whether the agency had been lax in enforcing hazardous waste and Superfund laws. Burford maintained that she was under instructions from President Reagan not to turn over certain documents to Congress because they might jeopardize on-going court cases against waste producers. [11]  In early February, 1983, EPA assistant administrator in charge of waste clean up and Superfund, Rita Lavelle, was fired by President Reagan amid allegations that she had used the Superfund for political leverage in favor of Republican candidates. Lavelle allegedly told Missouri officials not to push too hard for compensation on dioxin problems there because "that will be playing right into the hands of Ted Kennedy." [12] It was this aura of political scandal which led The New York Times to charge that the Missouri dioxin case "has been shaped at every turn by politics, not public health." [13] Pushed perhaps a little faster than she would have been otherwise, administrator Burford announced February 22, 1983 that the federal government would buy Times Beach "to ensure that that public health is protected." [14]

The buy-out decision was reached on Monday, February 20, in a telephone conference between Burford, Lee M. Thomas, head of a Presidential Task Force on Times Beach, and an official at CDC in Atalanta. The White House welcomed the decision on the part of the EPA, and Presidential aides said they expected the decision to be viewed as a positive example of how the agency can function. Prior to the decision, the White House received almost daily reports and President Reagan had been briefed weekly on the affair. This interest was credited with speeding the decision. [15]
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[11] Margaret W. Freivogel, "EPA denial of Dioxin File assailed," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3 Dec., 1982, sec A, p. 1.

[12] Maureen Dowd, "Shoring up a shaken EPA," Time, 7 Mar., 1983, vol. 121, p. 33.  At Lavelle's Senate hearing, which this article reports, Lavelle denied saying it. But Theodore Bernstein, a Missouri State official who was at the meeting, commented: "She said it. I was a little flabbergasted."

[13] One EPA Buy-out is not a Policy," an editorial, The New York Times, 25 Feb., 1983, sec A, p. 30.

[14] Environmental Protection Agency, Press release, 22 Feb., 1983 R30.

[15] Gerald Boyd, "White House pressed hard for decision," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 23 Feb., 1983, sec A, p. 1.

Real Life's A Beach (cont'd)

This is a continuing series which began here

Beginning around December 3, 1982, heavy rains caused the Meramec River, which flows by Times Beach, to flood. Waters crested at 22 feet. Times Beach was hardest hit and most of its 800 buildings were heavily damaged. But as the water receded most residents began to move back to rebuild what remained of their homes. Federal flood insurance was created to help homeowners and businesses to rebuild after such flood disasters. Two years previously, though, Times Beach had become one of the few communities in the nation to be suspended from the program because municipal ordinances had fallen short of new government specifications. A town meeting had been held to explain what changes were necessary including a raising of all buildings by 18 feet. [8] "It would have been economically and physically impossible to comply," said a town attorney. [8] This meant that no federal grants or loans would be available to repair damaged homes or businesses. Residents got this news the same night that they learned that private tests had shown potentially harmful levels of dioxin in Times Beach. Missouri's Governor Bond, who had been pressing EPA to approve a buy-out of six homes at the Minker/Stout site, now urged that if official test results showed high enough dioxin levels, Times Beach should be bought out as well. [9] An editorial which appear in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch summarized Times Beach resident's plight:

Grants for temporary housing and for replacing lost furnishings are available from the Federal Emergency Management Fund. Aid for rebuilding in the flood plain is not available. Loans for rebuilding in other areas may be available from the Small Business Administration (commercial structures only) and other federal programs. But the resident's chief concern - the loss of their homes - can only be met by some sort of buy-out. [10]

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[8] "2 Towns along Meramec lack U.S. Flood Insurance," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 December, 1982, sec A, p. 4.

[9] Janice Long, David J. Hanson, "Dioxin issue focuses on three major controversies in the U.S." Chemical and Engineering News, 6 June, 1983, p. 23.

[10] "Disaster at Times Beach," an editorial, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 28 Dec., 1982, sec A, p. 1.

Real Life's a Beach (cont'd)

This is a continuing series which began here

Scientist at CDC, with few clues to go, took until 1974 to identify dioxin as the toxin in the oil. By this time Bliss had sprayed oil over as many as 150 sites in eastern Missouri including over a quarter of a million gallons of tainted oil on the streets of Times Beach. The search for these contaminated sites, though, did not begin immediately. At the Verona plant, which had since changed hands, investigators found a storage tank containing waste oil 100 times more contaminated than Bliss's oil. This became the primary concern because its potential for human health injury was highest. At their own expense, the new owners had the wastes detoxified. [6] And with no further reports of serious illnesses, the dioxin issue faded.

It was believed in the 1970's that dioxin decomposed rapidly in soil. Acting on an anonymous tip in 1979, EPA investigators found a number of dioxin contaminated drums near a Verona plant which had lain buried for over six years. Waste leakage from the drums still had high concentrations of dioxin when almost all of it should have decomposed. This got officials to thinking about what had happened to the contaminated soil which had been removed from the horse arenas. After three years of record searching, EPA officials learned that some of the landfill had been used as fill dirt for residential construction. Analysts collected soil samples at the original sites, at the landfill and at the residential sites. Testing by CDC began in the spring of 1982, and the first data released in August showed that dioxin levels had not diminished. [7] These findings prompted more exhaustive sampling by the EPA of all areas known to have been sprayed by Bliss, including Times Beach.
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[6]  At this time no federal guidelines existed for the clean-up of such waste sites. Superfund, the abandoned waste site clean up law, didn't go into effect until 1981.

[7]  Janice Long, David J. Hanson, "Dioxin issue focuses on three major controversies in the U.S." Chemical and Engineering News, 6 June, 1983, p. 23. Up until this time, all attention and concern was focused on the original sites and the residential sites, the so-called Minker/Stout sites named after two families owning homes there.

Real Life's a Beach (cont'd)

This is a continuing series which began here

The compound dioxin is one of a family of related compounds which results as an unwanted by-product in the making of several widely used chemicals. While the compound can result naturally, [2] Missouri's dioxin, and thus Times Beach's, have been traced back to the production of the herbicide 2,4,5-T, the defoliant used in Agent Orange, and to the chemical hexachlorophene, once used in the antibacterial PhisoHex. [3]  In November of 1969, the North Eastern Pharmaceutical Chemical Company of Verona, Missouri, began producing hexachlorophene. Dioxin containing wastes were properly disposed of until 1971 when, allegedly to save money, the company hired Independent Petrochemical Company to haul away its waste oil. Independent, in turn subcontracted the job to Russell M. Bliss, a waste oil hauler from Frontenac, Missouri. Bliss transported 18,500 gallons of oil containing dioxin from the plant, which he then mixed with oil from other sources. [4] He sprayed half of the tainted oil to control dust on his own farm and three horse arenas in eastern Missouri. The consequences were severe. Over the next few days and weeks at least 65 horses, a number of smaller animals and uncounted wild birds died at the three stables an on Bliss's farm. The six-year old daughter of one of the stable owners developed an inflamed and bleeding bladder after playing in the arena and an adult complained of skin lesions after exposure to the stables. Investigators from the State of Missouri, reasoning that something must have been in the oil, obtained samples and sent them to CDC in Atlanta for analysis. Bliss was asked if anything had been in the oil - "We were told only that it was used oil. They (Independent) sent me a sample in the mail. I hope my soul rots in Hell if I'm lying." [5]
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[2] Scientists at Dow Chemical Co. argue that many naturally occurring combustion processes produce small but measurable amounts of dioxin.

[3] This product was taken off the market, then reintroduced without hexachlorophene under the name pHisoderm.

[4] Janice Long, David J. Hanson, "Dioxin issue focuses on three major controversies in the U.S." Chemical and Engineering News, 6 June, 1983, p. 23.

[5] Laszio K. Domjan, "Handler of dioxin oil is leaving business," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2 Dec., 1982, sec A, p. 1, quoted therein.

Real Life's a Beach*

On February 22, 1983, in an unprecedented move, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the United States Government would buy the entire town of Times Beach, Missouri. The EPA decided that the action was necessary after the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released completed analyses of extensive soil sampling in the area and warned that the hazard posed by dioxin contamination was "a continuing threat to the health of citizens of the community." [1] An examination of the Times Beach incident, however, shows that the action resulted from a more complex sequence of events of which dioxin was but a part. The presence of dioxin at Times Beach though, points out problems our scientific and regulatory system have in handling the undefined hazards of potentially dangerous substances like dioxin.
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[1] Environmental Protection Agency, Press Release, 22 Feb. 1983, R30.

* I dedicate this and the subsequent multi part continuations to the generation of men and women chemists who lost their jobs or never had jobs, in part to overzealous and fear based tactics. I originally wrote this series as a single unpublished piece of journalism. I consider the story well sourced and it was vetted by a University professor at the time. I don't have electronic links to many of the original sources, but they are there, if need be.