Public Health and Corporate Responsibility

By Eric on November 27, 2007

A few days ago, a crew of scientists testing Michigan’s Saginaw River encountered a high concentration of the chemical dioxin. Upon further study, they confirmed that this find is the highest concentration of dioxin ever recorded in the EPA’s archives. State law requires cleanup of chemical finds if the concentration is greater than 1000 parts of chemical per trillion of water. This sample of dioxin measured 1.6 million parts per trillion–1600 times greater than the state’s standard. The polluter, Dow Chemical Co., has promised to add this spill to its ongoing cleanup efforts in the Saginaw River. I think that’s great, since it should be their responsibility to clean up their mess, but something in the company’s response shocked me:

“We don’t believe there’s any imminent or significant human health or environmental threat,” [Dow spokesman John C.] Musser said.

No significant health threat? Great! I, an average Joe, don’t have any idea what dioxin is, but the fine folks at Dow have reassured me (and their stockholders and my fellow voters) that there is no risk to me, my friends, or my family.

If we rely on Musser’s assessment of the public health risk, I think that’s a response that the average person might have. Unfortunately, the experts at Michigan Department of Community Health have a slightly different opinion:

Dioxins are a group of chemicals that have similar structures and chemical properties, and are usually found together in the environment. The health effects associated with dioxins may include cancer, reproductive or developmental effects, and effects on the immune system.

New information about dioxin concentrations in fish samples taken from the Saginaw River will be available in the next few weeks. Until then, the MDCH recommends that people follow these advisories for eating fish caught in the Saginaw River:

• No one should eat carp, catfish, or white bass.
• Women of childbearing age and children under the age of 15 should not eat smallmouth bass.
• All other people are advised to eat no more than one meal of smallmouth bass per week.
• Women of childbearing age and children under the age of 15 should eat no more than one meal per month of walleye less than 22 inches in length and 6 meals per year of larger walleye.
• All other people are advised that walleye smaller than 22 inches may be eaten in unlimited quantities, but larger walleye should be eaten no more often than once per week.
• For all other species of fish caught in the Saginaw River, women of childbearing age and children under the age of 15 should eat no more than one meal per month and all other people may eat these fish as often as they wish.

Cancer, reproductive and developmental issues, damage to the immune system, and a list of food not to eat. This is the Dow Chemical Company’s idea of “no significant health risk?” Cleaning up their mess is the right thing to do–that’s something we’ve all known since preschool–but how can they get away with lying to people about the effects of their mess? True corporate responsibility demands not just an admission of guilt, but a sense of responsibility towards one’s fellow human beings.

If you’d like to ask Dow to show some real corporate responsibility, you can contact their Office of Global Ethics and Compliance at 1-800-803-6862 or via email at Ethics@Dow.com.

Tags: dioxin, Dow Chemical Co., Michigan, pollution

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