To the Editor:

Massena Town Supervisor Joseph Gray recently wrote a letter to the North Country Now news organization in which he makes several libelous statements about Cancer Action NY.

He states that I have deliberately misled him. This is absurd. I made it very clear in my October 2011 presentation to the Massena Town Board that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) exposure minimization education was of particular importance to residents of the Town of Massena because of the PCB exposure that they had received as a result of living in the vicinity of the ALCOA West facility where PCBs were disposed of in a careless manner for many years. PCBs evaporate from contaminated sediments and soils and enter the outdoor atmosphere.

The residents of the Town of Massena have inhaled ALCOA PCBs for a long period of time. This has imposed an unusually large quantity of exposure upon these people. POPs exposure minimization education is very important to them because they are at higher risk of developing POPs associated diseases including: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

I suspect that ALCOA management has forced Supervisor Gray to attack me so as to create confusion about the substantive matters of PCB exposure and POPs exposure minimization education. ALCOA is afraid of the truth. ALCOA wants to suppress the respiratory exposure to PCBs issue so as to avoid being held responsible for much of the disease burden suffered by the residents of the Town of Massena.

I brought a POPs exposure minimization resolution before the Massena Town board many months ago as part of a campaign to obtain such resolutions from local governments in St. Lawrence County pursuant to motivating the St. Lawrence County Legislature to authorize the creation of a POPs exposure minimization educational outreach program within the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department. The Massena Town Board hesitated to adopt the resolution because they were concerned about displeasing ALCOA. After many town boards had adopted POPs exposure minimization education resolutions, I decided to bring the matter once more before the Massena Town Board. Supervisor Gray suggested that he would revise the resolution. I agreed to this because several towns had wanted to make small changes. In October 2011 the Massena Town Board unanimously adopted the revised resolution.

I wrote and transmitted a news release on the subject of Massena Town Board adoption of this resolution. I used the news release to emphasize the significance of past respiratory PCB exposures when addressing lifelong cancer risk imposed by cumulative POPs exposures. I said nothing in the news release that I had not said in the Massena Town Board meeting at which the resolution was adopted.

Supervisor Gray states in his letter to North Country Now that the resolution I brought to the Massena Town Board was unreasonable, promoting the position that everything caused cancer. This is false. Supervisor Gray knows that it is false. Joseph Gray has libeled me.

I am providing a copy of the original resolution submitted to the Massena Town Board. It is clear that Joseph Gray has spoken falsely when one reads this resolution. It does not say anything unreasonable about POPs exposure cancer risk. This unrevised resolution was adopted by several town boards because it is a very good resolution.

ALCOA is using Supervisor Gray to attempt to derail the work of Cancer Action NY. The truth is coming out now. ALCOA will learn that it does not rule St. Lawrence County. The people rule St. Lawrence County.

I demand an apology from Supervisor Gray and ALCOA.

Donald L. Hassig

SUPPORT OF A PUBLIC EDUCATION/CANCER PREVENTION INITIATIVE OF CANCER ACTION

NY

WHEREAS, the incidence of cancer in Massena is of great concern to the Town Board, and

WHEREAS, scientific research published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature demonstrates the presence of dioxins and other carcinogenic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the food supply, and such food supply contamination constitutes a major source of exposure, and is thus a major contributor to cancer causation, and

WHEREAS, many citizens are unaware of the presence of carcinogenic POPs in the food supply and steps that can be taken to decrease exposure and thus lower cancer risk, and

WHEREAS, the problem is not isolated to Massena, but requires state and national government actions to reduce exposure, and

WHEREAS, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are POPs, and animal studies have shown that exposure to PBDEs imposes increased cancer risk, and these chemical compounds are soluble in fat, and food sample analysis has demonstrated that these pollutants contaminate all animal fat, and education of the general public concerning the animal fat consumption exposure route for these and other POPs, including: dioxins, dioxin-like compounds, PCBs, and lipophilic pesticides is necessary as a cancer preventative measure, and

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board for the Town of Massena, meeting on the date of , does hereby commend the organization CANCER ACTION NY for its efforts to raise awareness about the problem, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Board calls upon its elected officials at both state level and federal level to use their influence to help educate Americans on the subject of the cancer risk imposed by consumption of animal fat, all of which is contaminated with carcinogenic POPs, and recommends that the educational outreach described herein be configured such that: (1) the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is made responsible for review of the scientific literature for the purpose of finding scientific knowledge that can be utilized in the creation of cancer prevention messages for the general public; (2) the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is made responsible for producing public education pieces that clearly set forth the cancer prevention knowledge discovered in the literature review; and (3) the State and County health departments are made responsible for disseminating the public education pieces to the residents of their jurisdictional areas, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Board encourages its citizens to be mindful of the dangers of carcinogenic substances in our environment and supports initiatives that will promote the health and happiness of its constituents.