Excerpt
JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): We head out West now to rural Oregon, known for its forests and as a place where the timber industry is a major player in the economy. But there is growing concern from some residents about chemical spraying practices.
The story comes from our partners at the Center for Investigative Reporting, who produced this story.
The correspondent is Ingrid Lobet.
INGRID LOBET, Center for Investigative Reporting: Western Oregon's beautiful forests and fish-filled streams are known as a paradise for nature lovers, but this is also one of the finest timber-growing regions in the world.
With 30 million acres of forestland, Oregon's timber industry generates $13 billion in sales each year. But in Triangle Lake, some residents worry that timber industry practices are exposing people to harm.
Significant excerpts
INGRID LOBET: Witt says he hasn't heard of any cases of wide-scale herbicide contamination from the forest industry.
Of course, none of this is an issue on federal land, where nearly all spraying has been banned in Oregon since the 1980s, when residents successfully challenged the use of herbicides, including Agent Orange.
Jim Furnish, a former Forest Service deputy chief, says his agency discovered that hand-cutting unwanted brush was just as effective.
JIM FURNISH, former deputy chief, U.S. Forest Service: Suddenly, then herbicides were no longer essential or necessary. It may be preferable economically, but you have to bear in mind that this Douglas fir timber is worth a lot of money.
So you can afford to do other more costly methods, provided that they are still effective, and turn a handsome profit.
INGRID LOBET: Dana Barr's findings also caught the attention of Oregon's Health Authority. It launched a two-year study, with help from the Centers for Disease Control. The first round of testing also found the herbicide 2,4-D in residents' urine.
Herbicides are designed to work on plants, but a growing body of research suggests some may have profound effects on humans.
Suzanne Fenton works for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
SUZANNE FENTON, National Institute of Environmental Health Science: Herbicides are understudied. There's not a lot of funding for it.
But even worse than that is the fact that early life exposures to herbicides are really understudied. We know that many herbicides are endocrine disrupters.
INGRID LOBET: Endocrine disrupters act like hormones, but they relay the wrong signals to and from the brain and reproductive system.
Fenton has found that mice whose mothers were exposed to atrazine for just three days while pregnant experienced changes that lasted throughout their lives. Atrazine is heavily used in Oregon forestry.
SUZANNE FENTON: It can affect pubertal timing, so it can affect breast development during the period of puberty.
It can then also -- if it persists, if the effect persists, it can affect lactation. So it can affect the ability of the mom to provide nutrients to her offspring.
COMMENT: Ah, yes. Put citizens health at risk for the sake of profits. Note that this could be called a typical Republican view.
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