A federal study on environmental health hazards in the Great Lakes Region was finally released last week after months of stalling from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report -- titled "Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern" -- was obtained last month by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), a nonprofit watchdog group, more than half-a-year after its original release date. According to CPI, the report warns that:
More than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen "areas of concern"—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.
In many of the geographic areas studied, researchers found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and premature births, and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.
CDC's refusal to release the study recently gained the attention of journalists and lawmakers. A report by the Washington Independent found the CDC was possibly blocking the findings for political reasons:
Scientists at the agency told The Washington Independent that political appointees interfere with science that could benefit public health. The Washington Independent looked into this and found evidence of negligence and a lack of scientific approach in four ATSDR public health consultations it investigated. By suppressing health studies, downplaying or avoiding links between industry and environmental hazards and threatening agency whistleblowers’ careers, the agency may be failing to put science first in public health investigations.
To add to the controversy, one co-author of the report, Dr. Christopher T. De Rosa, says he was demoted after he pushed for the report to be made public.
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