VICTIMS OF TCE EXPOSURE

Old News

Next View-Master worker survey on Sunday, October 14th
VOTE will be having it’s next survey day of former View-Master workers on Sunday, October 14th from 2-5pm. We are looking for volunteers. The purpose of surveying former View-Master workers is to gather information about the possible health impacts – beyond cancer- which View-Master workers may be experiencing due to their TCE exposures while working at the Hall street plant. If you are interested in volunteering for VOTE please e-mail Amanda Evans at TCEin3D@yahoo.com or call 1-800-305-3133.

CAG Meeting Thursday, September 20
View-Master Citizens Advisory Group (CAG) Meeting Thursday, September 20, 2007 in the Beaverton Library’s Conference Room at 6pm. Speaker at this meeting will be Dr. Jae Douglas who will talk about the results of the View-Master Health Study’s proxy study. The results of this study will be important when studying former View-Master workers who have already passed away.

Mattel to Fund Scientific Advisor to View-Master CAG
In the face of the lead paint toy recalls – Mattel agrees to pay for the services of a scientific technical advisor to advise the CAG. This development comes 6 months after the CAG learned that Mattel put it’s own scientist on the View-Master Health Study’s Scientific Advisory Panel. Mattel informally offered to pay for the View-Master workers to have their own scientist on the panel. Last winter the CAG wrote a letter requesting that Mattel honor this offer to pay for a technical advisor to advise the CAG on the health study’s design, progress and results of the View-Master health study. On the eve of the toy recall the Secretary of the View-Master CAG and VOTE director Tom Griffith received a letter which can be viewed here.

Senator Hillary Clinton submitted the TCE Reduction Act to the Senate for approval
You may track the bills progress at this link: www.govtrack.us
You can read a copy of the 15 page bill here: TCE Bill PDF
VOTE has asked Oregon’s Senators to lend their support to this bill. We ask that if you live outside of Oregon that you let your Senators know about this important legislation.

View-Master Health Study Denied Funding for Second Year
October 2006 - Dr. Jae Douglas and Dr. Bill Lambert announced at the View Master Health Study Citizen’s Advisory Group (VMHS CAG) Meeting at the Beaverton Public Library that the View-Master Health Study proposal was not given funding for the 2nd year in a row. This has effectively stalled the study until funding can be located. For those interested in supporting funding for the View-Master study the CAG is looking to draw public interest. You can help by attending these CAG meetings and writing to our congressional delegates to ask them to ask Congress for funding of this very important study on the effects of TCE.

Vote Receives Grant for Community Study
April 2007 – VOTE is very excited to announce that we have received a grant for the first phase of our View-Master Community Health Study from the Laureen and Rudi Nussbaum Environmental Contamination and Human Health Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation. This advised grant is to be used to help VOTE hire medical/epidemiological/database design consultants to help us execute our telephone surveys of former View-Master workers. The information from these surveys will be analyzed by qualified scientists from which VOTE will write a report that we hope to have published in medical journals. We are very grateful for the support of the Nussbaum Family. If you are interested in volunteering to help us with the telephone surveys or if you would like to donate money to help us with this project please contact Amanda Evans at TCEin3D@yahoo.com or call the VOTE office at 503/615-5963.

Next View-Master CAG meeting set
June 12 2007 CAG meeting will take place in the Beaverton Library’s Conference Room from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. The Guest speaker is to be Dr. Don Austin of Oregon Health Sciences University who is a co-investigator of the View-Master Health Study. If you are interested in receiving monthly CAG notices please e-mail VOTE director and CAG Secretary Tom Griffith at griffitt@pacificu.edu.

Results for New York TCE Contamination Available:
Endicott, New York, is home to a large IBM plant that has contaminated the township with TCE. The New York State Department of Health has released a limited health study on the effects the TCE is suspected of having on the residents that live around the IBM plant. The results have found elevated rates of testicular and kidney cancer as well as elevated rates of certain birth defects. If you are interested in reading this study you may find it at this link in pdf format. www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/investigations/broome/docs/hsr_public_comment_draft.pdf
The commentary period for this public health consultation ends May 26, 2007.The next step recommended by the New York State Department of Health is to do a study of the nearly 40,000 workers for which IBM has records.

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VOTE Is Looking for Board Members:
VOTE is currently looking for directors to sit on it’s board. We are looking to increase the number of directors sitting on the VOTE board from 8 to 11 with one director to be appointed as VOTE’s Treasurer. Any one interested is encouraged to apply but particularly former View-Master Workers, former Cascade Plaza Powell’s Bookstore employees, or residents of the Fanno Creek Greenway Park neighborhood. If you are interested please e-mail Board President Amanda Evans at TCEin3D@yahoo.com.

2007 Annual Former View-Master Picnic
Save the Date! Saturday August 11, 2007 VOTE will host the Annual Former View-Master Picnic at Memorial Park in Newberg from 11:00am – 3:00pm.

VOTE Work Party:
The Work Party will be held at the Evans Farm 1615 NW Cavens Lane Hillsboro, OR. 97124, Saturday December 3rd from 2-5 pm. For information call: 1-800-305-3133. The work party is in preparation for VOTE Nite and will include reassembling the VOTE Health Impact Wall, creating visual aides for VOTE Nite and decorating the VOTE Giving Tree. Click here to download the Work Party flyer.

1st Annual VOTE Nite!
Sunday, December 11 from 3-6pm. At Meridian Park Hospital's Community Health Education Center (CHEC) in Tualatin, OR. Click here for the VOTE Nite flyer, which provides a detailed description of the event as well as the address, etc.

January View-Master CAG Meeting:
View-Master Health Study Citizen's Advisory Group's January Meeting is still TBD - it will be either January 19th or the 26th at the Beaverton Public Library's Conference Room from 6-7:30pm. call 1-800-305-3133 for information.

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View-Master Health Study CAG Meeting:
View-Master Health Study Citizen's Advisory Group Meeting, Beaverton Public Library Conference Room - Thursday October 27, 6-7:30pm.

Very important meeting where aides from Senator Smith and possibly Senator Wyden's office will talk about the federal appropriations process and answer our questions with getting funding for the health study. This is a great time to let our congressional delegation know how important this study is to us!

Local Senators Sign Clinton Letter to EPA:
Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden signed a letter authored by New York Senator Hilary Clinton asking the EPA to adopt a national interim TCE safety standard for water and air. Currently there is no enforceable federal safety standard while the EPA is waiting for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to review all scientific data related to TCE's toxicity to humans. We are anticipating NAS' preliminary recommendations to the EPA in February of 2006.

*** IMPORTANT VIEW-MASTER HEALTH STUDY CAG MEETING***
Thursday June 23, 2005 at the Beaverton Resource Center from 6-8:00pm
in the Large Community Room. The Beaverton Resource Center is located at
12500 SW Allen Blvd. (Cross street is Hall Blvd.)

The CAG is proud to host Dr. Bill Lambert who is serving on the View-Master Health Study's Peer Review Panel. Dr. Lambert will be speaking about the health study and is willing to answer any questions we may have about the health study. Don't miss this important opportunity to learn more and get your questions answered. For more information about the upcoming CAG meeting or to get on the CAG notification list please contact VOTE Director and CAG Secretary Tom Griffith at griffitt@pacificu.edu.

National Academy of Science TCE Scientific Advisory Board charged by the EPA with reviewing the toxicity of TCE to human beings is having a public hearing in Irvine, California on Thursday, June 9th, at the University of California, Irvine. Open mic will be from 2:05 - 3:15 pm. Each person will be given 3 minutes to give testimony. If you cannot attend the public hearing you may submit your own testimony and comments to:

Tamara Dawson
Senior Program Assistant
The National Academy of Science
National Research Council
Division of Earth & Life Studies
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
500 Fifth Street, NW Keck W216
Washington DC 20001

This is a very important event as this review will inform the EPA's new assessment and categorization of the toxicity of TCE. As you can imagine the industries that use TCE in their daily operations are pressuring the NAS TCE review panel to downplay the toxicity of TCE so they can avoid having to pay for clean up or altering their operations. This is unacceptable. People who have been exposed to TCE need to let NAS know that we are watching and that we care because it's our health that is at stake and not a corporate bottom line. A chemical's reputation should never be more valuable than human life.

VOTE Asks Senator Gordon Smith for Help and the Senator Responds:
VOTE's President Amanda Evans wrote to Senator Smith to request that he submit VOTE's testimony and recommendations to the National Academy of Sciences TCE Scientific Advisory Board on VOTE's behalf. On April 18, 2005 Amanda received a phone call confirming that the Senator would submit VOTE's materials for the NAS review with his coverletter. VOTE is grateful for the Senator's assistance for making sure that TCE exposure victims' voices are heard during this crucial time in TCE policy making.

www.TCEBlog.com:
A "must see" website devoted to all things TCE. This website is the work of the founders of a community group called "Cancer in Cheshire" which is a site in Connecticut. Join the authors everyday as they will keep you informed of what is going on in the fight against TCE contamination and as they repeatedly demonstrate that "TCE is Everywhere".

CAG Meeting:
The Mattel/ViewMaster Citizen's Advisory Group will meet on Thursday, February 24, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. (Please note the time change.) The meeting will be in the small community room in the Beaverton Resource Center, 12500 SW Allen (at the corner of Hall and Allen).

Hall Street Redevelopment:
Via negotiations with Harsch Associates VOTE will be allowed to film the interior of the Hall Street Facility that used to be the site of the View-Master plant. The filming will take place on February 21, 2005. Documentation of the interior of the plant is very important prior to it’s demolition and VOTE is grateful to Harsch Associates and the DEQ for their cooperation.

National Toxicology Program released it's 11th report on Carcinogens:
Here is a link to that report:The Department of Health and Human Services recently released the National Toxicology Program (NTP) Report on Carcinogens, Eleventh Edition.
Here is the URL to the NTP report:

http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/

There is a 60 day public commentary period to allow communities across the nation to voice their opinions on how destructive TCE is to human and environmental health. VOTE urges you to write your comments and submit them to not only the EPA but our Senators and Congressman Wu. In your letter I would tell your story about how you believe TCE has effected your life and the lives of your co-workers. The scientists have had their say now it’s our turn to let decision-makers know that we want TCE to be categorized as a “known human carcinogen”.

Your comments may be submitted to:
Dr. C.W. Jameson
NTP Mail Drop EC-14
PO Box 12233
Research Triangle Park, NC. 27709

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