Dear Editor:
David Lamb's story (Oct 31) about the report from Hatfield Consultants, Inc. that dioxin is present in food stuffs in Vietnam is old news. Agent Orange was sprayed in Vietnam; Agent Orange always contained traces of dioxin; dioxin is very persistent; it's been measured in foods in Vietnam since the 1970s. It's also been measured in foods from everywhere else in the world. There are many sources for dioxin, including combustion of all kinds of materials, in addition to Agent Orange.
The issue is whether or not dioxin is causing any of the health effects. Although the World Health Oranization has issued reports from closed-door conferences that contend that dioxin has caused cancer and many other diseases, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been unable to convince its own Science Advisory Board--which meets in open, public session--that dioxin has caused any disease other than chloracne, a skin disease.
The suggestion that Vietnam's forests were somehow poisoned by Agent Orange is ridiculous. Sunlight destroyes the herbicidal ingredients in Agent Orange in a few days--they are long gone. The forests will come back at least as fast they would from having been logged.
Mr. Lamb is probably correct that Vietnam will seize on the Hatfield report to press its claims for United States funds to study health effects and reforestation. Certainly, his reporting old news as something new can help in that shakedown.
Michael Gough
Director of Science and Risk Studies, Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001
202/789-5247
Member, EPA Science Advisory Board Committee to review EPA's dioxin risk assessment, 1995.
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