A select committee from the US National Academy of Sciences announced
this week that it could not decide whether toxic wastes are a serious danger
to humans or not. The public believes that toxic waste is 鈥榓 serious threat鈥�,
but many scientists consider that the danger is exaggerated, noted the report.
After an exhaustive review of the literature, the com mittee decided it
鈥榗annot confirm or refute either view鈥�.
This is partly due to the difficulty of carrying out epi-demiological
studies, says the report. Many studies of health records around toxic waste
sites are prepared for use in litigation but are sealed when cases are settled
out of court.
