The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has been withholding a federal study of environmental hazards in the
eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it reveals information that may be "alarming" to the public -- such as evidence of cancer and infant mortality rates.
Now, the Center for Public Integrity says it has landed a copy of the report, which has been blocked for more than seven months. The report is titled "Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Area of Concern":
The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns that
more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen "areas of concern" -- including
such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee -- may face elevated
health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or
six other hazardous pollutants.
In many of the geographic areas studied, researchers
found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and premature births,
and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.
