86 CastlegarNews July 28,

1990

ACTION ADS/LOCAL/PROVINCIAL NEWS

PERSONAL

workshop — teaches how
to release the powers of the subcon
scious through relaxation techniques
‘and self hypnos August 11, For more
information 365-703: 3/60

LS
SHARE A RIDE

Survivors recall crash

GOLDEN (CP) — A_ weeping
mother clung to her child while two
young girls hugged each other as the
survivors recalled a collision Wed-
nesday between a tour bus and a truck
carrying bundles of steel pipe that
killed two teenaged girls and injured

Work, school trips, weekly shopping
Cut expenses and save money. Get
together with a neighbor in our FREE
Share-A-Ride column, We'll run your ad
3 issues tree of charge. Phone our Ac
tion Ad no., 365-2212 18n/59

NOTICES

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eat the foods you love. Doctor recom:
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For appointment call 365-5636 or 365
8144. 3/60

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Castlegar News

ZUCKERBURG ISLAND HERITAGE PARK
— Open daily dawn to dusk. Chapel
House open

Al

II Heritage Office. 365-6440. ttn/45

ENGAGEMENTS

Fred and Diane Merriman of Nelson ore
pleased to announce the engagement of
their daughter Cheryl-Anne North to
Adrian Burt, son of Joan and Ernest
Dalwood of Edmonton, Alberta. The
wedding wil] take place Oct. 6, 1990 at
St. Paul's Nelson. Cheryl-Ann
recently graduated trom the University
of Alberta with a Masters in Library
Science and is currently working in Win
nipeg

William and Nellie Harshenin of
Castlegar are proud to announce the
engagement of their daughter Karen to
Lawrence son of Mike and Nettie Makor
toff of Castlegar. Wedding to take place
on September, 1, 1990 in Castlegar

IN MEMORIAM

CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY. In
memoriam donations information: Box
3292, Castlegar, B.C. 365-5167. 104/24

CANADIAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION In
Memoriam Donations, Box 1228
Rossland, B.C. VOG 1Y0 10.

COMINCO & CELGAR

MOST CREDIT CARDS,
ACCEPTED

PRIME RIB * SEAFOOD © STEAKS * CAESAR SALAD © SPECIALTIES
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646 BAKER ST., NELSON — ACROSS FROM PHARMASAVE

27 of a dance.troupe.

One girl, whose name has not been
released, died in the crash. Another,
Tammy Lynn Powers, 16, died over-
night in a hospital in Calgary.

feel drained, just kind of
dazed,"’ said a drawn-looking Paul de
Boer, 18.
It’s hard to believe it happened.””

De Boer, a member of Calgary's
Artistique Performing Arts *Com-
pany, was one of 28 people, mostly
children, who watched as the pipe-
laden semi-trailer truck swung around
a corner and swooped east-bound
down a hill into their bus

“*It was going pretty fast,’’ said de
Boer, recalling the morning’s horror.

“He (the truck driver) was going
outside the yellow line. You could see
he was trying to steer in. Then the
trailer started tipping and there was a

Safety is no
so PLAYSAFE!

accident

IN MEMORIAM

big crash.”’

The force of the impact threw de
Boer to the floor and catapulted the
bus driver through the window. The
driver was able to help in the rescue of
passengers despite his injuries.

“‘Everythingyproke loose. | turned
around and went right to the back and
tried to help as much as I could,"’ said
de Boer.

The truck was hauling 25 bundles
of 12-metre-long steel gas pipes,
about the diameter of a softball. It
was inspected Tuesday before leaving
on its Vancouver-Calgary trip, said
Robert Wylie of M H Transport Ltd.,
owner of the vehicle.

Wylie said the 25-year-old driver of
the truck told him he was doing about
40 kilometres an hour when the ac-
cident occurred. The collision hap-
pened at ‘10:40 p.m. MDT, about
seven kilometres west of Golden on
the Trans-Canada Highway

Sheila Bjarnasom, director of
patient care at the Golden and District

General Hospital, said 22 of the
passengers on the bus bound for a
festival in Penticton, were children
aged nine to 18

Anytime

is

2816 Columbia Ave. * 365-5304

Nine one
adult, Wore wanaported to Calgary for
treatment, ‘Four were flown, ‘‘which
indicated critical injuries,'’ said Bjar-
nasom.

Two children were kept in hospital
in Golden overnight for observation
but were listed in satisfactory con-
dition. Another 16 people from the
bus and the truck driver were treated
and released

An RCMP spokesman said the
truck jack-knifed and hit the bus
along the rugged Kicking Horse
Canyon on a two-lane stretch of
highway with mountain on one side
and canyon on the other.

Wylie says the load of steel pipes
was secured to the flatbed trailer with
at least 14 nylon straps. Four of the
straps were new and the others were
about six-months old.

IN MEMORY

Frank Oddie
B.c.

and i

“Your Charity of Choice’’

ch and ods
8. C. AND YUKON
HEART FOUNDATION
Box 3023,
Costlegor, 8.
VIN 34

Your Donation is Tax Deductible

WANTED

JOURKNEYMAN
MECHANIC

We require a fully qualitied licenced
General Motors technician to work in
our modern se:

department

ve GM training. We offer
full company benefits and a busy and
pleasant working environment. Con
tact Ernie Rello, Service Manager, at
365-2155 for further details

Bi kacawsky

PONTIAC BUICK GMC (1989) LTD
1700 Col. Ave., Castlegar D-8917

Kate of Ottawa.

son Don.

Frank C. Oddie, a former Castlegar resident and Cominco em-
ployee, died in an automobile accident June 26, 1990, in Maple Ridge,

He is survived by his brother Don of Victoria; son and daughter-in-
law Don and Nancy and their son Jake of Strathclair, Man.; daughter
Maren and Mike Theilmann and their daughters Lily and

He was predeceased by his wife Theresa in 1986.
Graveside service for family and friends was held JulytQart 1 am
at Park Memorial Cemetery. The service was conducted by Mr. Oddie’s

ee

LICENCED DINING ROOM

~ D-sar-D

DINING LOUNGE

AILY A

Located | Mile South of
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365-3294

ATTENTION VOTERS

Ootischenia/Paulson/West Robson

Fire Protection Commission

We would like your support at the polls.

We urge you to please come out and

VOTE!

REFERENDUM DATE: i
Saturday, August 11, 1990
8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

POLLING STATION:
Ootischenia Community Hall

ADVANCE POLL:
Friday, August 3, 1990
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Ootischenia Community Hall

— Ifa ride is needed, call 365-8451 —

VOUCHERS WELCOME

5358

RESERVATIONS

Jack L. Parkin
Bus. 365-6664
Res. 365-2694

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rensed wah Mutuai Life of Canaca/Mutual
nvesico inc.”. wo Mutuat Group.

“Let me help
you with your
financial needs.”’

Financial Planning

Life Insurance

Disability Income

Annuities and RRIFs
P.

GICs and Saving Plans
Investment Funds

'S
Employee Benefits

Ri The Mutual Group

Facing Tomorrow
Together

supervision of the Bookshop. Du
supplies, clothing and confection:

in accordance with Board policies.

Salary and Benefits policy

Selkirk College — Castlegar Campus
invites applications for the position of

BOOKSHOP MANAGER

The successful candidate will be responsible for the effective operation and
purchasing and rece:

the bookshops on the Trail, Nelson and Castlegar campuses: preparation and
control of the operating and capital budgets; and the operation of the Bookshop

Applicants should have successfully completed a two (2) year Business Admin
istration program or its equivalent, three (3) to five (5) years of retailing ex
perience and excellent oral, written and interpersonal skills

This is @ full-time position commencing August 20, 1990. The position offers an
attractive salary and benefit package in accordance with the Administrative
Please send applications, including three references, by August 3. 1990. to

SELKIRK COLLEGE
a Relations 0:

include merchandising of books, office

9 of purchases tor

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Castlegar News

SECTION

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Dioxin threat may be overestimated

Scientists re-evaluate data
on cancer-causing potential

By MALCOLM GLADWELL
‘The Washington Post

Dioxin — the chemical that forced the evacuation of
Love Canal, sparked a wave of lawsuits over Agent
Orange and became notorious as the most potent car-
cinogen ever tested — may be far less dangerous than
to new scientific evidence.

After close study of the chemical’s effect and a
re-evaluation of the original scientific data on dioxin’s
alleged dangers, many scientists have sharply reduced
their estimates of dioxin’s cancer-causing potential.
Calling it a weak carcinogen, some scientists now recom-
mend relaxing guidelines for the handling and cleanup of
the chemical.

The re-evaluation is not complete and in some cases
is hotly disputed by environmentalists. Even those scien-
tists leading the revision stress that dioxin is far from
benign and should be handled with care.

But the new research sharply contradicts the

of many i ists that the levels of
dioxin currently in the environment pose a significant
health risk and suggests that at least some of the billions
of dollars being spent to reduce trace amounts of dioxin in
the air and water might be better spent elsewhere.

“*I certainly wouldn’t want to get more of this stuff
into the environment,’’ said Renata Kimbrough,
toxicology and risk evaluation adviser in the U.S. En-

P i Agency ini "s office
and one of a growing number of scientists inside and out-

regulate it, it will force an enormous change in the.way we
regulate all animal carcinogens.””

The case against~djoxin dates back to two la ‘ee
rodent studies conducted in the 1970s, both of which
showed the chemical to be one of the most potent car-
cinogens ever measured in animals. Subsequent research
‘on the chemical has led many scientists to believe that at
higher doses dioxin can cause liver toxicity, immune
system dysfunction and birth defects in humans and
animals.

Dioxin is everywhere. It is a byproduct of in-
cineration, wood and coal burning, paper-making and
seer indust: Processes and trace amounts of it are

ind in the air and water as well as in milk, orange juice,
eggs, hamburger meat, hot dogs and chicken broth.

Of course, these amounts are extremely small. The
average daily exposure for Americans, for example, has
been estimated by some scientists to be 0.5 picograms per
kilogram of body weight every day, which amounts to
one-half of a millionth of a millionth of a gram. This is
equivalent to about one 10-billionth the concentration of
aspirin in a 150-pound person taking a standard tablet.
But given dioxin’s extraordinary toxicity, the question
has logically been raised about whether that dose is safe.

The position of the EPA is that it isn’t. The agency’s
estimate of a safe daily dose of dioxin — one that officials
believe carries a cancer risk of less than one in a million —
is 0.006 picograms per kilogram, about one per cent of the
dose people actually receive. Although EPA officials
strons that figure represents only a starting point for

side government pushing for more relaxed for
dioxin. ‘‘But the present levels we're exposed to should
not be of particular concern. We’ ve overestimated the risk
+ There are a lot of social ills in this country and we've
got to concentrate on things that are really necessary.’
The re-evaluation of dioxin also calls into question
some of the i of risk
that have guided federal health policy on toxic chemicals
for the past 20 years. If, as many experts argue, scientific

king, their risk has added

of yeti of dollars to the costs of cleaning up con-
taminated sites, forced the pulp and paper industry into
an expensive dioxin reduction program and limited con-

ion of toxi pane

“The only acceptable standard for dioxin is zero,”’
said Mark Floegel, an official with Greenpeace, one of a
number of environmental groups for whom dioxin has
become a rallying cry. ‘‘We’re devoting the same kind of
to this issue as we do to whales or nuclear

have invali previous j about
dioxin, it could mean that U.S. federal policy on a broad
range of chemicals is also invalid.

“The stakes are enormous with dioxin,’’ said
Michael Gough, author of the 1988 study Dioxin, Agent
Orange and a senior fellow at the Washington-based
Resources for the-Future. “If we change the way we

a

missiles.’’

But increasingly, scientists familiar with dioxin have
become skeptical of the EPA’s position and a number of
other Western countries have radically reduced their
estimates of dioxin’s dangers.

Part of the reason is that respected epidemiological

Study can't find toxics

studies involving people exposed to much higher than
normal levels of dioxin — most recently Vietnam veterans
exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange, which contained
dioxin — have failed to show that dioxin has the same ef-
fect on humans as it does on laboratory animals.

Other scientists have begun to raise questions about
the accuracy of the original rodent tests involving dioxin.
This concern stems from the fact that in the 10 years since
the original animal studies tested dioxin’s carcinogenicity,
the scientific standards for evaluating a chemical’s poten-
cy have become much more precise and reliable.

Last year, Johns Hopkins University scientist Robert
Squire — who performed the original analysis of the

4 cortele wouldn't want to get more
of th

In other words, if 50 out of 100 rats got cancer from
eating a bow! of dioxin a day, the EPA assumes that at
half a bow! a day, half as many would get cancer, and at
one-quarter bowl one-quarter would get sick and so on
down to the point where at 0.006 picograms per kilogram
per day the agency assumed that the cancer risk to
humans would be somewhere around one in « million.

This risk assessment technique assumes tat any dose
— no matter how small — of a chemical carries some risk
of causing cancer. Indeed, there is a class of chemicals
known as mutagens that damage DNA directly and can
trigger cancer-causing mutations in even the most minute
quantities.

But dioxin is not a mutagen: It does not damage
DNA directly. Rather, it seems to ‘work by triggering a

— but — change in the biological

into the . But
the eso levels we're exposed to
should not be of particular concern.
We've so Unebreuge: the risk.’

_B Kimb Saul

risk evaluation odvies in the U. a

PB
Envir Pr 9 y

functions of cells. Many scientists believe that below a
certain level of dioxin is ii of
triggering that change. .

What is that threshold? Using an alternative model
for interpreting dioxin’s risk, Canada, Australia and a
number of countries in Europe have estimated that dioxin
remains safe at doses from one to 10 picograms per

animal data for the EPA a decade ago — re-examined his
findings. Based on the new criteria, his conclusion - — en-

per day — a range several hundred times higher
than the EPA estimate and comfortably above the levels
to which Americans are currently exposed. This range

dorsed this spring by a panel of pi
was that as many as half of the lesions originally thought
to be evidence of dioxin’s carcinogenicity were actually
benign.

While the original analysis showed dioxin to be
dangerous in even the smallest amounts, the new
assessment found that it caused no tumors except at the
very highest dose level, making it only a weak carcinogen.
Extrapolated to humans, this difference means the safe
daily dose of dioxin could be increased as much as thir-
tyfold.

“*Based on all of the biological evidence, I do not
believe that dioxin poses a cancer risk to humans at any
anticipated levels of exposure,’’ Squire said in a letter to
the EPA.

Perhaps the most serious reservation about the way
the risks of dioxin have been evaluated, l.owever, stems
from the assumptions used by the EPA in translating its
animal data on dioxin’s risk to a policy governing human
exposure.

The agency used its standard risk assessment model,
which assumes that the amount of cancer caused by a
chemical at high doses in an animal study is directly
Proportional to the risk of cancer from the much lower
doses found in the real world.

also corresps to safe limits for dioxin’s other toxic ef-
fects, such as the potential for causing birth defects.

A ing to Dennis P ‘president of
McLaren Environmental Engineering in California and
one of the country’s foremost dioxin cleanup specialists,
the United States could save upwards of $1 billion by

moving to a standard of five picograms. Even a standard
of one picogram ‘‘would eliminate 75 to 90 Per cent of the
cost of cleanup” in sites where dioxin was the major
chemical of concern.

Not everyone is convinced by this analysis.

“*We know a lot about how dioxin acts, but we don’t
know everything,” said Ellen Silbergeld, a toxicologist
with the Environmental Defense Fund. Silbergeld and
others recently opposed an attempt by the EPA to in-
crease the acceptable daily dose for dioxin.

But enough experts have joined in the revisionist
chorus that some scientists consider a softening in the
government’s stance toward the chemical inevitable.

“There is an awful lot of dioxin around,” said Henry
Pitot, a pathologist and dioxin expert at the McCardle
Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin. ‘But the
levels are so low that if this is a threshold carcinogen, then
a good bit of our exposure is meaningless.””

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EDMONTON (CP) — Drinking
water in Alberta communities down-
stream from pulp and paper mills is
not contaminated by toxic dioxins
and furans, a study by the provincial
Environment Department concludes.

A study of drinking water samples
from seven communities was unable
to detect dioxins and furans from
discharges from bleached-kraft pulp
mills.

“*No chlorinated dioxins (or) furans
were detected in either the raw or
treated water samples collected during
this sampling program,”’ said the
report, released Wednesday. ‘‘There
does not appear to be contamination
of downstream drinking water sup-

plies . . . from existing bleached-kraft
pulp mill discharges.””

de Prairie, Fort Vermilion and Peace
River on the Peace River. All the

But i i critics
were skeptical.

New Democrat John McInnis said
the study didn’t address the effect of
dioxins and furans in the food chain.

And Liberal Grant Mitchell said it
didn’t consider the effect a number of
new mills will have on water quality.

Dioxins and furans, which have
been linked to cancer in some studies,
are produced in effluent from mills
that use chlorine to bleach the pulp to
produce white paper.

The study tested water from Hin-
ton, Jasper, Smith and Athabasca on
the Athabasca River and from Gran-

are from
bleached-kraft mills.

It said the samples were taken when
river water was at its lowest and when
contamination would be at its worst.

“The fact the dioxin level is not
high enough to cause a health concern
doesn’t deal with the main problem
with dioxin, which is the ac-
cumulation in the food chain,” -he
said.

The Alberta and federal gover-
nments have announced a three-year,
$10-million study of the effect mill
pollution is having on the fish in the
Athabasca and Peace River systems.

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Canada’s Parks and Historical Sites

Sources
of wonders!

They're all around you. In every part
of the Country. Canada’s National
Parks and Historic Sites. Very special
places where our natural wonders
are protected and our ancestors are
remembered.

Staffed by friendly, knowledgeable
people, these unique places are there
for you and your family to discover.
To enjoy. And to cherish as part of
your own family’s traditions. So make
them part of your travelling plans
this year.

For detailed brochures on Canada's
National Parks and Historic Sites
please call

(403) 292-4495

or write

Canadian Parks Service
P.O. Box 2989

Postal Station M
Calgary, Alberta

T2P 3H8

Environment Canada Environnement Canada

Parks Service

Service des parce