ATSDR Great Lakes AOCs Report Held Up 7 Months

Feb 7: According to the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), "For more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially “alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates."

CPI says the 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was undertaken by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of the International Joint Commission (IJC), an independent bilateral organization that advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary waters between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for release in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

CPI has obtained the study, which it says "warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen 'areas of concern' [AOCs] -- including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee -- may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants."

Access a brief article on the report and link to the report which is marked throughout "do not quote or cite" (click here). Access links to various Internet citations to the report (click here). Access various Blog posts regarding the report (click here). Access various news media reports (click here). Access complete information on Great Lakes AOCs (click here).