ENVIROWATCH

HOW HUMANS TREAT
THEIR SURROUNDINGS,
EACH OTHER, THEMSELVES




Research on Causes of Gulf War Syndrome Squelched

Since the Gulf War, thousands of veterans have complained of symptoms now referred to as the "Gulf War Syndrome" - fatigue, diarrhea, memory loss, lymphoma and birth defects in children. While no official cause for the disease has been found, research by an entomologist for the USDA indicates that the anti-nerve gas chemical, pyridostigmine, given to soldiers to help protect them from the effects of Saddam Hussein's nerve gas, might be responsible for the illness.

As reported by Moon Magazine of Gainesville, Fla., Jim Moss' research indicated that the chemicals DEET and permethrin, used for insect control in the Gulf War, acted as synergists with pyridostigmine - amplifying the chemicals to toxic levels. While each chemical individually was used at safe levels, together they became five to 10 times as toxic, far exceeding safe levels.

Moss testified before the Senate Veteran's Affairs Committee, subsequently lost his job and has since filed a complaint against the agriculture department. Several associates at the Gainesville laboratory where Moss worked, including his supervisor, admitted that Moss was told not to discuss his work with anyone outside the lab. The reason given? To avoid public panic. Moss believes the department was worried about the kind of panic which would affect corporate profits on DEET, the active chemical in 90 percent of all insect repellents. Given that Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Espy, has just been forced to resign over charges that he accepted gifts from Tyson, Inc., Moss' charges of corporate influence in the agriculture department are not without precedent.

Tangentially, Moon reports that a May 5 staff report to West Virginia Senator John D. Rockefeller titled, "Is Military Research Hazardous to Veteran's Health?: Lessons from the Persian Gulf," harshly criticized the US Department of Defense's use of pyridostigmine. The report says that while research had shown pyridostigmine is effective against the nerve-gas Soman, it "may make individuals more vulnerable to other nerve agents, such as Sarin." According to the Senate report, the defense department knew Iraq possessed Sarin, but chose to ignore its own researchers' advice.

Moon also cites a report published in 1991 in the Journal of the American Medical Association which reported that about one percent of the soldiers who took pyridostigmine experienced side-effects serious enough for medical attention during Operation Desert Storm. The most severe of those effects included internal bleeding and incoherence. Since the war, more than 20,000 vets have complained of symptoms ranging from fatigue to birth defects in their children.

Despite Moss' evidence, a defense department spokesman told Moon that during the most recent Gulf War conflict pyridostigmine might be used again. In October, Lt. Col. Doug Hart said the anti-nerve-gas chemical had already been sent to the Gulf, although the operations commander there would make the decision whether soldiers take it.

Hart said the health concerns were "merely a theory" and that the Defense Department doesn't consider the results of Moss' studies enough evidence to even warn soldiers of possible health risks. "The benefits (of using pyridostigmine) far outweigh the risks," Hart said. (Moon Magazine 10/19/94)

-Holly Borba



"State of the Northwest" Tells a Painful, Crucial Story

It's the home of the largest Superfund site in the country.

It's the home of a major river stretch were DDT and its derivatives have been found in 99 percent of all aquatic life.

It's the home of two states where 80 percent of all native forests exists in patches smaller than 100 acres.

And, it's the home of a waterway where every female whelk - a type of snail - was found to have male genitalia due to chemical poisoning.

We're not talking about the Northeast - home of pollution-spewing chemical plants and poison-laced groundwater. Nor are we talking about the Midwest, with its manufacturing facilities and pesticide-dependent agriculture industry.

While those regions certainly have tremendous environmental problems of their own, the place described above is none other than our very own Northwest.

These and dozens of other depressing though enlightening facts are assembled in State of the Northwest , an 80-page report published by Northwest Environment Watch - NEW (a catchy acronym) - is a non-profit organization founded recently by former Worldwatch Institute researcher Alan Thein Durning . (Some may recognize Durning's byline from the pages of World Watch , In Context , Utne Reader , and other national magazines.)

State of the Northwest begins and ends on refreshingly optimistic notes. NEW research director John Ryan opens by saying, "Though the region's economy is badly out of balance with the ecosystems it draws upon, its environment is probably less degraded than any populated part of the industrialized world." Closes Ryan, "We have a chance - fleeting, but still better than perhaps anywhere in the world - to rebuild tattered ecosystems and to build a durable economy."

Between Ryan's cautiously hopeful introduction and epilogue lie a detailed chronicle of how the Northwest and its natural beauty have been ravaged since the arrival of George Vancouver in 1792. Ryan's offering goes far beyond oft-repeated descriptions of the region's depleted salmon runs, timber-marred forests, and smog-fouled air.

The report probes much deeper, presenting esoteric, often shocking facts about the loss of biodiversity, wetland destruction, wasteful energy use, the harmful introduction of non-native plants and animals, damage to the ocean and sea-bed, urban sprawl, the effects of irrigation, grazing and mining on ecosystems, and much more.

Most of what is remaining in the line of natural resources, Ryan reveals, is a shadow is its former self. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Bill Dietrich of The Seattle Times probably said it best: "We have downsized our vegetation and are living in a pygmy world."

From the environmental dabbler to the policymaker, State of the Northwest is a needed addition to the bookshelf. It is available from Northwest Environment Watch, 1402 Third Ave., Suite 1127, Seattle, 98101-2118. They can be reached by phone at (206) 447-1880, or by e-mail at nwwatch@igc.apc.org.

-Mark Worth



Legislature Must Jump Into Sinking Creek

The story of Sinking Creek in Lincoln County is the story of water in the West. First came the ranchers who used what water was available. Later, with the advent of federal water projects and the urge to maximize the use of the land, irrigators sucked water from the rivers and drilled deep for every last drop.

The ranchers, who water their cattle at Sinking Creek, have complained to the Department of Ecology and predecessor agencies for the last twenty years that irrigators pumping out of a nearby aquifer have diminished the creek's flow.

Ecology consistently ruled in favor of the ranchers in their dispute with the irrigating farmers and had previously decided that the ranchers had a superior claim to the water. But when Ecology issued a cease and desist order to the irrigators to leave enough water for the ranchers, the irrigators sought refuge in the county Superior Court. The court ruled that Ecology had no jurisdiction in adjudicating the matter since it was not clear what laws the irrigators had broken. In other words, the court saw no legislative guidance on the issue, so it decided to make its own rules.

The Superior Court retained for itself the power to decide water rights under the governing statute. The court decided Ecology could not determine priorities of water rights and enforce its rulings. That puts the ranchers in courts every time they have a water dispute, and that could put the ranchers out of business.

Unfortunately, (and not surprisingly) the Washington Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's power to settle water disputes.

That's the basic story of Rettowski v. Department of Ecology, a Washington Supreme Court case decided in September 1993. Not only has the Supreme Court sided with big agriculture, the court has restricted Ecology's power to ajudicate complex and longstanding water disputes.

So the courts are now the arbitors of complex water disputes when Ecology and other agencies like the Pollution Control Hearing Board are far more experienced and capable of handling such matters. What's more, it takes time and money to settle disputes in court. Time and money has run out for the users of Sinking Creek.

In a stirring dissent, Justice Richard Guy of the Supreme Court said that the Supreme Court has ignored and betrayed the public trust doctrine, a principle that natural resources are held in trust by the government for public use. This doctrine extends to protection of those resources by administrative agencies like the Department of Ecology.

Justice Guy argued, "The majority's decision lacks a sound legal basis, will seriously and improperly interfere with Ecology's ability to regulate water rights, and ignores the interest of the people in this state in the essential natural resource of water. The decision is bad law and bad policy."

Moreover, the state legislature has been asleep at the wheel, passing politically sexy tough-crime bills instead of boring-but-important environmental laws. The legislature needs to give Ecology the express authority necessary to do the job.

Justice Guy concluded, "The legislature must address itself to a comprehensive water policy (by) defining duties, assigning responsibility to perform those duties, and providing necessary funding to carry out those duties. The legislature must consider whether western water law meets today's societal needs, given the understanding that water is not an infinite resource."

So far, there is no sign of action in Olympia.

-Eric Nelson



[Home] [This Issue's Directory] [WFP Index] [WFP Back Issues] [E-Mail WFP]

Contents on this page were published in the December/January 1995 edition of the Washington Free Press.
WFP, 1463 E. Republican #178, Seattle, WA -USA, 98112. -- WAfreepress@gmail.com
Copyright © 1994 WFP Collective, Inc.