Mortality : Overview

August 3, 2004:

The "Overview of Dow Worker Studies" that was available on the Dioxin Data website is no longer available on the current Dow dioxin website.  In addition, the websites that are listed in the "Link to Additional Information" at the bottom of the page have been changed.  An update will be made in the very near future.

The current Dow web site where Dow's mortality studies of its dioxin-exposed workers can be found is as follows:

http://www.dow.com/facilities/namerica/michigan/dioxin/scientific/health.htm

Dow has posted a number of mortality studies on its Dioxin Data website. Due to the difficulty in understanding epidemiology studies, it’s reasonable to assume that many of the Dioxin Data visitors may have only read the abstracts at the beginning of each article.

This is the era of news being delivered in 20 second segments. Perhaps with this in mind, Dow also provided an Overview of Dow Worker Studies. “Overview” is basically a summary of the summaries of the various Dow mortality studies. I thought that it was rather nice of Dow to provide this summary.  Rather than having to read the summaries of 22 scientific papers, a website visitor just has to read a single summary. “Overview” can be read very quickly, surely convincing the reader that “all is well” in Midland and along the Tittabawassee River.

However, "Overview" is not really 22 scientific papers, there are only 11 "scientific papers".  In some cases,  what is presented in "Overview" is not a complete accounting of all the data that was presented in the original study and "Overview" may not contain all the conclusions that were reached by the authors. 

Perhaps the best may to address these issues is to compare the "Summary of the Summaries" with information from the actual study and plus additional information from other studies, when appropriate.

Link To Additional Information