EPA puts MTBE water degradation before air quality benefits.
statements skeptical of MCS as a distinct disease, according to the draft report. Those who believe there is a potential link between low-level chemical exposure and human ailments are calling for the government to devise a research agenda directed toward MCS to fill the knowledge gaps. A 1992 report from a National Academy of Sciences workshop, which resulted in a 200-page report, could provide a framework for such an agenda, said Jonathan Samat, professor and chairman of the Department of Epidemiology's School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University Baltimore Md who chaired the workshop But MCS has fallen through the cracks since then Samat said Despite workshops and published papers the rhpmical in dustry wants to "keen information that might provide the illness credibility, suggested Charles Hinshaw, president of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, in Wichita, Kan., and a workshop participant. ATSDR's 14-chapter draft report does not provide answers to these netdesome problems. Instead, it presents an overview of the current literature. The draft concludes that MCS is unlikely to receive extensive research support from the government because federal agencies now operate on tight personnel and financial budgets and are struggling to evaluate a variety of syndromes that "lack objective clinical or laboratory evidence of disease." MCS is one such syndrome as well Persian Gulf War-related illnesses the draft states The answer? The government should develop a comprehensive "strategic plan" for all of these syndromes according