< Yale University Daniel A. Colón-Ramos, Associate Professor Department of Cell Biology Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair (CNNR) Yale University School of Medicine 295 Congress Avenue BCMM 436B New Haven, Connecticut 06510 Telephone: 203 737-3438 Email: daniel.colon-ramos@yale.edu Hon. Barack Obama President of The United States of America The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 April 19, 2015 Dear President Obama: This month the US citizens of Puerto Rico will again commemorate the death of David Sanes, killed 16 years ago by two errant bombs dropped by the US Navy in the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. Three days later, on April 22, the community of Vieques will reflect on Earth Day while living in one of the most contaminated and toxic places in our planet. This contamination comes as a direct result of the US Navy s activities in Vieques. All of us who care about the environment share their concerns. I am writing you today to respectfully request that you uphold the promise you made during your presidential campaign in February 2008 to use all available resources to address the man-made health and environmental crisis that afflicts the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico. For over sixty years, the island of Vieques was shelled continuously with tens of thousands of bombs and toxic chemicals, every year. Following the death of David Sanes on April 19, 1999, thousands of citizens, including myself, peacefully protested the US Navy military exercises and were imprisoned, following the democratic tradition of civil disobedience. Over a decade ago, on May 1 st, 2003, the US Navy finally stopped bombing Vieques. In 2005, Vieques was designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Superfund site -- a glamorous name for a toxic dump. The mortality rate due to cancer in Vieques has been
reported as high as 20% greater 1 than the rest of Puerto Rico. In 2013, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released a report that it could not find credible scientific evidence to support the link between the military pollutants and the poorer health of Vieques residents. These findings by ATSDR have guided governmental policies in the past several years regarding decontamination of Vieques. It is important to clarify what ATSDR really found in its studies. ATSDR does not argue that Vieques is not contaminated. It recognizes the EPA studies that identify the presence of carcinogens at toxic concentrations. It also does not argue that the health of the people of Vieques is not deplorable, much worse than the rest of Puerto Rico. What ATSDR argues is that it did not find credible scientific evidence that there is a direct link between the toxic environment in Vieques, and the poor health of its citizens. As a professor and a scientist at Yale University, finding credible scientific evidence is what I do for a living. In science, lack of evidence to support a hypothesis is called negative data. Negative data can be misleading if studies are not conducted correctly. I respectfully encourage you to consider the following example as an analogy: if one visits Connecticut in the middle of the summer and does not find snow, one would lack credible scientific evidence that it snows in Connecticut. But it would be due to poor sampling. In this case, it is due to sampling during the wrong season. And it would be ridiculous to conclude that it never snows in Connecticut or to base policies on that negative data. When studying contamination in fish, instead of obtaining fish from the affected and contaminated areas, ATSDR used data from fish sampled at the Vieques town market, without knowing where the fish originated. And in spite of flawed sampling, the fish were found to have high levels of methylmercury (three times higher than the national standard recommended by the National Academy of Sciences). Methylmercury is a highly toxic compound linked to 1 http://www.nlg.org/petition-alleging-violations-human-rights-residents-vieques-puerto-ricounited-states
cardiovascular disease. In Vieques, the incidence of cardiovascular disease is higher than the rest of Puerto Rico. Yet, when ATSDR released its recommendations, it ignored the standards of safety and stated that the detected levels of methylmercury were safe for the people of Vieques. This is just one of several examples raised by a number of independent researchers regarding how ATSDR studies were poorly designed, and how the agency s cavalier and perfunctory conclusions were inconsistent with federally mandated standards. This is not the first time that ATSDR studies have been criticized by the scientific community or by the general public. In fact, ATSDR studies in various localities, including Vieques, have been lambasted in Congressional hearings and reports 2. For the past thirty years, ATSDR has consistently failed to find credible scientific evidence to link pollutants to public health problems in communities neighboring Superfund sites 3. In Camp Lejeune, NC, for over thirty years US Marines and their families bathed in and drank polluted tap water contaminated with carcinogens. Cancer, miscarriages, and birth defects were noted in people who drank the contaminated water. ATSDR conducted a study from which it concluded that a link between the polluted water and the health problems was unlikely; yet twelve years later, after public outcry and Congressional scrutiny, ATSDR had to retract their flawed findings. A decade ago, hurricane Katrina survivors living in FEMA trailers contaminated with formaldehyde (a known carcinogen) were beset with eye irritation, breathing problems, and nose-bleeds. ATSDR research indicated that there was no connection between the formaldehyde and these symptoms. Later studies demonstrated that the ATSDR research and public health recommendations were flawed, and ATSDR was forced to revise its studies. Many scientists and others believe ATSDR scientific studies are inconclusive by 2 http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/files/managed/atsdr%20staff%20report%2003%2010%2 009.pdf 3 http://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/hearings/052010_ charter.pdf
design. 4 University scientists and non-profit organizations have conducted rigorous, independent studies (which have undergone the stringent scrutiny of the scientific peer-review process) and call into question the scientific rigor, or lack thereof, of ATSDR findings (see for instance the studies and testimony of my colleague at Yale University, Dr. John Wargo, on the topic 5 ). The use of inconclusive scientific evidence to distract from the very real impact of pollutants in health is as old as the environmental movement itself. Fifty years ago, when Rachel Carson published the book Silent Spring, which catalyzed the modern day environmental movement, including Earth Day celebration this month, chemical companies used quasi-scientific studies to claim there was no credible scientific evidence linking pesticides such as DDT and adverse human health and environmental outcomes. Today, and indeed from its inception, ATSDR has been using taxpayers dollars to produce the inconclusive studies which are stifling the execution of environmental justice and, in the case of Vieques, have been used by some to help turn a blind eye to the responsibility the federal government has to address the health crisis it created 6. These flawed findings are used to guide management practices that further disperse pollutants, gratuitously exposing the vulnerable population of Vieques and the rest of Puerto Rico to additional and unnecessary health risks. As a scientist, I urge you to reflect upon the data the deplorable, and undeniable health outcomes of the people of Vieques; the environmental, man-made disaster created by over sixty years of continuous bombings of the island with weapons including napalm and depleted 4 http://www.ejnet.org/toxics/inconclusive.html. 5 http://archives.democrats.science.house.gov/media/file/commdocs/hearings/2010/oversight/20 may/wargo_testimony.pdf 6 http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/files/managed/atsdr%20staff%20report%2003%2010%2009.pdf.
uranium and act decisively to address this environmental and health crisis. It is long overdue. Indeed, as a presidential candidate in February 2008, you publically pledged the following: My Administration will actively work with the Department of Defense as well to achieve an environmentally acceptable clean-up of the former U.S. Navy lands in Vieques, Puerto Rico. We will closely monitor the health of the people of Vieques and promote appropriate remedies to health conditions caused by military activities conducted by the U.S. Navy on Vieques." 7 Twelve years have passed since the Navy left Vieques and seven years have passed since you made that pledge, which the people of Puerto Rico trust that you will still fulfill. On Earth Day we will celebrate the planet that we co-inhabit, reflect on the environmental issues that afflict it and that afflict our health. Earth Day is also my three daughters birthday I am the father of triplets, and they will turn five years old this year. May your actions this month establish a legacy of evidence-based environmental justice that protects future generations of American and world citizens, including the generation of our respective daughters. A very concrete example, and one that is long awaited, is for you to provide for adequate and prompt environmental restoration and urgent and proper attention to the health crisis in Vieques, Puerto Rico. I could not think of a better gift for the generation of our daughters and a better sense of justice for the people of Vieques, who have suffered way too much for way too long. Sincerely, Daniel Colón-Ramos Associate Professor, Yale University 7 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/barack_obama%27s_letter_to_an%c3%adbal_acevedo_vil%c3 %A1