In early 1991 executives from four major paper companies visited the EPA's director, William Reilly to convince him to reassess dioxin in the light of the new evidence. In a memo following the meeting they thanked Reilly for his receptiveness to their ideas pointing out that their industry was subject to unwarranted "public fears about risk associated with dioxin which bears no relationship to scientific evidence. A consequence of this atmosphere is that our companies are now the subject of groundless class action toxic tort suits seeking billions of dollars in damages." (Quoted in Montague 1992)

According to the EPA's Cate Jenkins the industry pressure to reassess dioxin represented a "last-ditch effort to win litigation that's currently pending in the court system" (Quoted in Montague 1992). The assessment would take a few years, during which the industry could win several law suits by arguing that risk from dioxin was low. The paper companies told the EPA: "Reasoned public statements can help calm the needless public alarm that has, in turn, stimulated a proliferation of unjustified legal action against so many companies in our industry" (Lapp 1991, p. 8).

Reilly seems to have obliged. The EPA began its third assessment of the risks of dioxin within a few months of the meeting and in August that year William Reilly told The New York Times: "I don't want to prejudge the issue, but we are seeing new information on dioxin that suggests a lower risk assessment ... should be applied." (Quoted in Bailey 1992). This contrasted sharply with the views of many of the EPA's own scientists. However it was widely reported in the media that the EPA thought that dioxin dangers were exaggerated.

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Additional Material

Bailey, Jeff, 1992, 'Dueling Studies: How Two Industries Created a Fresh Spin on the Dioxin Debate', Wall Street Journal, 20 February, p. A4.

Montague, Peter, 1992, EPA's Dioxin Reassessment - Part 1, Rachel's Hazardous Waste News, No. 269.

Lapp, David, 1991, 'Defenders of Dioxin: The Corporate Campaign to Rehabilitate Dioxin', Multinational Monitor (October) , pp. 8-12.