>The following was posted to the dioxin-listserve and I thought you may
>be interested. If you live in Canada, check with the press contacts to
>learn if this will be aired there.
>
>Bunny/Susan Snow
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>--------------PBS PRESS RELEASE----------------------
>
>FOOLING WITH NATURE
>PBS airdate: Tuesday, June 2, 9 P.M., 60 minutes
>Channel and time: check your local listings [in the U.S.]
>
>In recent years, lower IQ, reduced fertility, genital deformities, and
>abnormalities within the immune system have all been suspected of being
>linked to synthetic chemicals in the environment. Scientists have found
>growing evidence that these chemicals, stored in our bodies, could
>threaten human health. "You are now carrying at least 500 measurable
>chemicals in your body," says World Wildlife Fund scientist Theo
>Colborn. "They were never in anyone's body before the 1920s."
>
>In "Fooling with Nature," airing Tuesday, June 2, at 9 p.m., on PBS,
>FRONTLINE and the Center for Investigative Reporting explore an alarming
>new theory being debated within the scientific community that challenges
>governments and the multibillion dollar chemical industry. The program
>includes interviews with scientists, politicians, activists, and
>business officials, finding a variety of reactions to this theory. The
>theory, known as "the endocrine disruption hypothesis," was made
>prominent by the 1996 publication of Our Stolen Future, co-authored by
>Colborn.
>
>"Reaction to Theo Colborn's book was amazing," former industry insider
>Dawn Forsythe tells FRONTLINE. Forsythe believes that endocrine
>disruption has shaken chemical industry executives more than any event
>since the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. "Everything is
>at stake for the industry on this one," she claims. "It was a day of
>reckoning that they didn't want to see, and everything depends on what
>they find out."
>
>The day of reckoning for the chemical industry may soon arrive. In a
>controversial move, applauded by many proponents of the endocrine
>disruption hypothesis and prompted by an alliance between Senator
>Alfonse D'Amato and Long Island breast cancer activists, Congress took
>action. Despite the uncertain health threat, it mandated that the U.S.
>
>Environmental Protection Agency develop a battery of screens and tests
>to detect endocrine disrupting chemicals by August 1998. Over 75,000
>manmade chemicals, some of which have never been tested for safety, will
>be put through these screens.
>
> "This is the first time since the passage of the Toxic Substances
>Control Act more than twenty years ago that Congress has spoken on the
>issue of testing of chemicals," says Lynn Goldman, assistant
>administrator of the EPA Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic
>Substances. Goldman calls it a "fundamental change to the kind of
>legislation we've had in the past."
>
> Not all scientists agree that humans are in danger. Toxicologist
>Stephen Safe has dubbed the endocrine disruption hypothesis "paparazzi
>science" in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and wrote an
>editorial for the Wall Street Journal entitled "Another Enviro-Scare
>Debunked."
>
> "Fooling with Nature" brings Safe to Florida to discuss the importance
>and relevance of animal research to human health with scientist Lou
>Guillette, a leading proponent of the hypothesis. Guillette found that
>male alligators born in contaminated lakes have abnormally small
>phalluses and strikingly low levels of the male sex hormone
>testosterone.
>
>"Let's not look at alligators," Safe says. "We've got human data...I
>wouldn't say there's not a problem, but I think the evidence does not
>show a parallel between what's happening to the alligators [in this]
>contaminated lake and humans." FRONTLINE explores Safe's criticisms of
>the endocrine disruption hypothesis and the weakness in the human data,
>as well as the controversy over Safe's research funding from the
>chemical industry.
>
>"There has been so much hype about endocrine disruption that it makes
>it difficult to carry on reasonable scientific discourse on the topic,"
>says Linda Birnbaum, associate director for health at the EPA's labs in
>North Carolina. "With endocrine disruption, not only will different
>scientists interpret the same evidence differently, they will campaign
>for their point of view in the public arena," says producer Doug
>Hamilton.
>
>Great Lakes scientist Jim Ludwig disagrees with Safe. "We don't have to
>prove the general case that endocrine disruption is a health threat," he
>says. "DES did that for us absolutely clearly, cleanly, no questions
>asked. That was a really nasty experience." The synthetic hormone
>diethylstilbestrol (DES), prescribed to pregnant women from the 1940s to
>the 1970s, caused severe reproductive abnormalities in their exposed
>infants.
>
>Some scientists speculate that there is indeed "another DES" wreaking
>havoc in our environment. Hormone-related diseases like breast cancer,
>prostate cancer, and testicular cancer are on the rise. Controversial
>reports of a fifty percent drop in human sperm counts have grabbed
>headlines worldwide, and a condition called hypospadias (a malformation
>of the penis) appears to be increasing in baby boys.
>
>Of great concern are potential effects on the brain. "Fooling with
>Nature" explores the research of Joe and Sandra Jacobson, who found a
>permanent IQ deficit of up to six points in children exposed to
>environmental pollutants through their mothers' diet of fish from the
>Great Lakes, although they cannot say if endocrine disruption is the
>cause. But the threat remains. "Once the potential, the IQ potential,
>is shaved off a child, you can't put it back in," says Ludwig. "That's
>the key to this. That's why endocrine disruption is so important to
>understand."
>
>"Fooling with Nature" is a co-production of FRONTLINE and the Center For
>Investigative Reporting. The film is produced by Doug Hamilton and is
>directed and edited by Michael Chandler. The executive producer for the
>Center for Investigative Reporting is Dan Noyes. Sharon Tiller is the
>senior producer for FRONTLINE.
>
>FRONTLINE is produced by a consortium of public television stations:
>WGBH Boston, WTVS Detroit, WPBT Miami, WNET New York, KCTS Seattle.
>
>Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers.
>Additional funding for "Fooling with Nature" is provided by the
>Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Deer Creek Foundation, the Fred
>Gellert Family Foundation, the Streisand Foundation, and the Wallace
>Genetic Foundation.
>
>Access FRONTLINE ONLINE at www.pbs.org/frontline for :
>o special reports on breast cancer and the chemical link;
>chemicals in the environment; how hormones work;
>o an "Animal Gallery" with pictures and summaries of what's known
>about endocrine disruption in certain species;
>o the debate concerning the threat to humans;
>o an endocrine disruption quiz;
>o "pros and cons" on the controversy over industry-funded studies;
>
>o readings on the theory of endocrine disruption;
>o more of FRONTLINE's interviews with scientists and policy
>makers.
>
>Press contacts:
>Jim Bracciale [jim-bracciale@wgbh.org]
>Rick Byrne [rick_byrne@wgbh.org]
>Chris Kelly [chris_kelly@wgbh.org]
>
>Press and PBS station inquiries: (617) 783-3500
>Viewer comments and inquiries: (617) 492-2777 X5355
>
>FRONTLINE XVI/June 1998
>
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