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Healthy Communities
Reducing Toxic Hazards in Michigan’s Soil, Air, and Water
Everyone deserves the right to a healthy community. Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education Fund is working to ensure that communities around Michigan are free of toxic hazards. This past year, Michigan saw the largest contamination of dioxin ever recorded in the US in the Saginaw River.
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Background & Resources
Dioxin Contamination
The Saginaw River has been making national headlines recently as home to the highest concentrations of dioxin ever recorded, due to industrial pollution by Dow Chemical Company’s Midland plant. Dioxins are a class of chemicals that are highly carcinogenic and act as endocrine disruptors. According to EPA, “Dioxins are highly toxic compounds that pose serious risks to human health and the environment.” Eating fish contaminated with dioxins can pose serious health threats, especially in pregnant women. And, dioxins have been shown to cause reproductive failures in birds and other wildlife. Early this month, Dow notified EPA and Michigan DEQ of measurements of over 1.6 million parts per trillion (ppt) of dioxin in one sample of sediment taken from the Saginaw River. This concentration is 50 times higher than the previous 32,000 ppt level. According to the AP story, that level is also about 20 times higher than any other level recorded in the EPA archives.
Deca-PBDE
PBDEs are a class of chemicals known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers. They are widely used as flame retardants in furniture, industrial textiles, and consumer electronics. Deca-PBDE is the most widely used form of PBDE. Found in mattresses, televisions, computers, and residential upholstered furniture, it permeates our houses and our communities. In 1998, Swedish scientists discovered that PBDEs may pose significant risks to human and environmental health. As a result, the European Union and the states of California, Hawaii, Maine, New York and Washington State have taken action to reduce, or ban, the use of PBDEs. Now, it is time for Michigan to take a stand against these toxic chemicals.
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