Sky-high dioxin level taints river

The discovery of the highest level of the feared chemical compound dioxin ever in the Great Lakes region has prompted the EPA to order an emergency cleanup in the Saginaw River in Saginaw and the state to issue new warnings about eating fish from the river.

The chemical hot spot was found in river-bottom sediment near a city park popular among shoreline anglers. Dow Chemical Co., whose plant in Midland was the source of the likely decades-old dioxin, found the chemicals as part of a larger sampling program.

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In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's cleanup order, the Michigan Department of Community Health said late Wednesday that it was adding white bass to existing warnings on fish not to eat from the river and adding warnings for other fish.

Some fish are mainly bottom-feeders and accumulate more toxins than others. Health and environmental officials said Wednesday that eating fish from the river is, by far, the greatest risk for people from the dioxin.

The EPA's senior health adviser in Chicago, Milton Clark, said dioxin is highly toxic and may be more problematic in river sediment than in soils because it gets into the food chain.

The new hot spot is across from a Saginaw city riverfront park, Wickes Park, which has play areas for children and a boat launch. Locals say people often fish there.

Spots of dioxin have been found in rivers below Dow's Midland plant all the way out to Saginaw Bay, starting in 1978, but never at such a high level, EPA officials said. The agency issued three other emergency cleanup orders in June for three hot spots on the Tittabawassee River.

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