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Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Report: Toxins could be sickening some Wisconsin residents

By The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee County residents may have a greater risk of health problems such as low birth weight, stroke and coronary heart disease as a result of environmental toxins, according to a new federal report.

A watch dog group leaked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report last week after the agency delayed its release. It had been expected to come out in July.

The International Joint Commission, an independent panel that advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on Great Lakes issues, requested the study in 2001.

The report showed that pollution created by several active and abandoned Milwaukee County industries may be contributing to the county’s higher-than-average rates of infant mortality, low birth weight, premature births and deaths from colon cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke.

The study does not say environmental toxins definitely caused these health problems, but it should be viewed as a red flag, said Frank Bevacqua, a spokesman for the Joint Commission.

“It shows where additional research should be focused,” he said.

The report’s release over the summer was blocked because of concerns about some methods used, a CDC spokesman said.

The report used information gathered from government databases on abandoned waste sites and current industrial toxic releases. It examined the health risks of 9 million people living near 26 areas cited by the Environmental Protection Agency as “areas of concern.”

The Great Lakes areas examined by the CDC are known to be polluted with toxins such as mercury, PCBs and dioxins. Many also are home to industries that release other chemicals, such as lead and arsenic, into the air, water and soil.

Several “hot spots” identified in the report are in Wisconsin, including the Milwaukee River estuary, the Menominee and Sheboygan rivers, Lower Green Bay and the Fox River, and the St. Louis River and Bay, on Lake Superior.

In 2001, the year the report was commissioned, more than 2 million pounds of chemicals were released into Milwaukee County’s environment, most of them into the air. The Joint Commission identified 1 percent of those chemicals, or 10,000 pounds, as worthy of concern. They included dioxins, lead and mercury.

“I think the report raises really interesting questions about chronic long-term health effects to environmental exposure,” said Paul Biedrzycki, the Milwaukee Health Department’s manager of disease control and prevention.