What does it all mean?
The science is over.
The interpretation is beginning.
Tuesday, the public saw the results of a two-year scientific study showing the relationship between dioxin levels in the environment and in people living near the Tittabawassee River floodplains and Dow Chemical Co.'s Midland complex.
The University of Michigan researchers did not evaluate the health effects of dioxin. What they did conclude is that dioxin plays a small role in contaminating blood.
What they did not do is cool the feud between Dow and residents claiming the company is contributing to erosion of health and property values.
Both sides are using the research to back their arguments.
"This (study) shows it's a serious situation," said Kathy Henry, a 48-year-old Freeland resident and a chief litigant in a class-action lawsuit filed against Dow in March 2003. "Something needs to be done."
Dow spokesman John C. Musser said company officials plan to delve deeper into the research findings before deciding the next step.
The initial points, he said, favored his predictions.
"(The final results are) statistically significant but not biologically significant," Musser said. "We did not believe that people living in this area were in any significant or imminent threat levels, and virtually every (statistic) was where we believed they would be."
Henry expected such a response.
"He has nothing to prove that statement," she said. "I really doubt he can use the report in (Dow's) favor."
Just the facts
Musser said detractors are ignoring the facts for their own interests.
"A scientist's view of this would have to suggest that the community should be less concerned than more concerned," he said.
Researchers divided the study into five regions, including those who live in the floodplain, near it, downwind from the plant, in other areas around Midland and Saginaw, and a control group in Jackson and Calhoun counties.
People living in the Tittabawassee River floodplain near Dow had 32 parts of dioxin for every trillion parts of blood, compared to 25 -- about the national average -- in those living in the Jackson and Calhoun region.
"There are not big differences in blood levels for people living in this area vs. living in Calhoun or Jackson (counties)," Musser said.
David H. Garabrant, a U-M medicine and epidemiology professor who led the $15 million probe, said age was the largest factor in determining the amount of dioxin blood levels.
A 41-page summary of his research concluded contaminated soil contributes "small amounts to the levels of dioxins in people's blood."
Henry believes the chemical's effect on humans is large enough to justify restitution from Dow.
The lawsuit against the company remains on hold as the Michigan Court of Appeals decides whether to throw out the case.
Department of Environmental Quality Director Jim Sygo said it's too early to tell which direction the findings will steer Dow and its neighbors. "Clearly there is a lot of information here," he said. "It will take time to sort this out, but this is a good start."
Garabrant anticipates the project could extend another few months to a year as researchers follow up on questions the findings pose and study less prevalent dioxin chemicals.
DEQ officials plan to use the information to determine where to clean up chemicals.
The department is working with Dow to analyze and correct dioxin contamination along the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers.
The Midland company unveiled a decade-long outline to clean up in May, but critics -- including the DEQ, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the local watchdog group Lone Tree Council -- say the plans need trimming.
Dow is working to readjust the schedule for a quicker fix.
Sygo believes Garabrant's study adds another tool of information to use in determining how to approach the project.
Residential reaction
Affected homeowners -- such as Leonard Heinzman -- anticipated the research results' unveiling for months.
"I hoped this was going to be a slam dunk -- that there was going to be no dioxin found here," said Heinzman, a 59-year-old Tittabawassee Township resident who owns property on the floodplain. "But I'm encouraged by the insignificance of the (contamination) numbers."
Heinzman believes residents wouldn't have pursued a class-action lawsuit if researchers finished the study before the case went to court.
"I'm sure that would have been the end of it," he said. "It's too bad there are sides in this now."
On Tuesday, he was one of about 250 people present for Garabrant's public unveiling of the findings at Saginaw Valley State University.
The study satisfied some in attendance.
"It was a good start," said Vito C. Damre, 58, of Saginaw. "It shows that there are some areas of concern."
Others weren't as impressed with the data.
"It's the same thing that's been going on the whole time," said Dale C. Faunce, 79, of Saginaw. "There is nothing you can do about it."
Garabrant plans to discuss his findings in the Jackson and Calhoun wing of the study at 6 p.m. today at Albion College. v
Vince Bond Jr. and Justin Engel are staff writers for The Saginaw News. You may reach Bond at 776-9724, and Engel at 776-9691.