Cold, Clear and Deadly, pt. 2

It's not often that a book comes along that can make some Great Lakes industries and environmentalists both uncomfortable. But it's good when one does! Michigan author Mel Visser, a longtime environmental manager at what used to be known as the Upjohn Company, has written a powerful book about the threat posed by global use of persistent organic chemicals. This week we'll interview him about the reception his book has received from interest groups and policymakers.

The book is a fascinating journey through one Great Lakes Basin resident's life, career and conscience. To read more on the book or order a copy: http://msupress.msu.edu/bookTemplate.php?bookID=3156

How serious is the Great Lakes regional health impact of global POPs [persistent organic pollutants]? How does it compare to inhabitants closer to the Arctic Circle?

The Inuit of the Canadian High Arctic obtain 15 times a tolerable daily intake of PCBs and pesticides from their marine mammal diet. Half this amount comes from chlordane and a quarter from toxaphene. They suffer infertility, stillbirths, birth defects and immune system suppression. A quarter of their children have hearing problems emanating from near constant flu and colds. In the Great Lakes, studies done in the late 1970s of children born to consumers of Lake Michigan fish showed a certain correlation with diminished mental and motor skills.

I'm not a toxicologist, but in the reading of research findings that correlate disease such as cancer, asthma, and diabetes with POPs in the blood, I’m more than concerned. I find our increasing rate of cancer incidence shocking while the rate of death decreases with improved detection and treatment technology. Doesn’t it make more sense to place our priority on prevention and getting rid of the hundreds of millions molecules per breathful of cancer causing and chemicals that were designed to kill living organisms?