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A very important program will soon screen on public television, the
FRONTLINE PBS television documentary, FOOLING WITH NATURE. The program
concerns environmental toxins which have been found to be endocrine
disrupting chemicals. The show will air:
Date:   Tuesday, June 2
Time:   9:00pm
Channel: check your local listings.

Please take the time to view this important program.

Jonathan Parfrey

--------------PBS PRESS RELEASE----------------------

FOOLING WITH NATURE
PBS airdate: Tuesday, June 2, 9 P.M., 60 minutes

In recent years, lower IQ, reduced fertility, genital deformities, and
abnormalities within the immune system have all been suspected of
being
linked to synthetic chemicals in the environment.  Scientists have
found
growing evidence that these chemicals, stored in our bodies, could
threaten
human health.  "You are now carrying at least 500 measurable chemicals
in
your body," says World Wildlife Fund scientist Theo Colborn.  "They
were
never in anyone's body before the 1920s."

In "Fooling with Nature," airing Tuesday, June 2, at 9 p.m., on PBS,
FRONTLINE and the Center for Investigative Reporting explore an
alarming new
theory being debated within the scientific community that challenges
governments and the multibillion dollar chemical industry.  The
program
includes interviews with scientists, politicians, activists, and
business
officials, finding a variety of reactions to this theory.  The theory,
known
as "the endocrine disruption hypothesis," was made prominent by the
1996
publication of Our Stolen Future, co-authored by Colborn.

"Reaction to Theo Colborn's book was amazing," former industry insider
Dawn
Forsythe tells FRONTLINE.  Forsythe believes that endocrine disruption
has
shaken chemical industry executives more than any event since the
publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.  "Everything is at stake
for
the industry on this one," she claims.  "It was a day of reckoning
that they
didn't want to see, and everything depends on what they find out."

The day of reckoning for the chemical industry may soon arrive.  In a
controversial move, applauded by many proponents of the endocrine
disruption
hypothesis and prompted by an alliance between Senator Alfonse D'Amato
and
Long Island breast cancer activists, Congress took action.  Despite
the
uncertain health threat, it mandated that the U.S. Environmental
Protection
Agency develop a battery of screens and tests to detect endocrine
disrupting
chemicals by August 1998.  Over 75,000 manmade chemicals, some of
which have
never been tested for safety, will be put through these screens.

"This is the first time since the passage of the Toxic Substances
Control
Act more than twenty years ago that Congress has spoken on the issue
of
testing of chemicals," says Lynn Goldman, assistant administrator of
the EPA
Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances.  Goldman calls
it a
"fundamental change to the kind of legislation we've had in the past."

Not all scientists agree that humans are in danger.  Toxicologist
Stephen
Safe has dubbed the endocrine disruption hypothesis "paparazzi
science" in
the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and wrote an editorial
for
the Wall Street Journal entitled "Another Enviro-Scare Debunked."

"Fooling with Nature" brings Safe to Florida to discuss the importance
and
relevance of animal research to human health with scientist Lou
Guillette, a
leading proponent of the hypothesis.  Guillette found that male
alligators
born in contaminated lakes have abnormally small phalluses and
strikingly
low levels of the male sex hormone testosterone.

"Let's not look at alligators," Safe says. "We've got human data...I
wouldn't say there's not a problem, but I think the evidence does not
show a
parallel between what's happening to the alligators [in this]
contaminated
lake and humans."  FRONTLINE explores Safe's criticisms of the
endocrine
disruption hypothesis and the weakness in the human data, as well as
the
controversy over Safe's research funding from the chemical industry.

"There has been so much hype about endocrine disruption that it makes
it
difficult to carry on reasonable scientific discourse on the topic,"
says
Linda Birnbaum, associate director for health at the EPA's labs in
North
Carolina.  "With endocrine disruption, not only will different
scientists
interpret the same evidence differently, they will campaign for their
point
of view in the public arena," says producer Doug Hamilton.

Great Lakes scientist Jim Ludwig disagrees with Safe.  "We don't have
to
prove the general case that endocrine disruption is a health threat,"
he
says.  "DES did that for us absolutely clearly, cleanly, no questions
asked.
That was a really nasty experience."  The synthetic hormone
diethylstilbestrol (DES), prescribed to pregnant women from the 1940s
to the
1970s, caused severe reproductive abnormalities in their exposed
infants.

Some scientists speculate that there is indeed "another DES" wreaking
havoc
in our environment.  Hormone-related diseases like breast cancer,
prostate
cancer, and testicular cancer are on the rise.  Controversial reports
of a
fifty percent drop in human sperm counts have grabbed headlines
worldwide,
and a condition called hypospadias (a malformation of the penis)
appears to
be increasing in baby boys.

Of great concern are potential effects on the brain.  "Fooling with
Nature"
explores the research of Joe and Sandra Jacobson, who found a
permanent IQ
deficit of up to six points in children exposed to environmental
pollutants
through their mothers' diet of fish from the Great Lakes, although
they
cannot say if endocrine disruption is the cause.  But the threat
remains.
"Once the potential, the IQ potential, is shaved off a child, you
can't put
it back in," says Ludwig. "That's the key to this.  That's why
endocrine
disruption is so important to understand."

"Fooling with Nature" is a co-production of FRONTLINE and the Center
for
Investigative Reporting.  The film is produced by Doug Hamilton and is
directed and edited by Michael Chandler.  The executive producer for
the
Center for Investigative Reporting is Dan Noyes.  Sharon Tiller is the
senior producer for FRONTLINE.

FRONTLINE is produced by a consortium of public television stations:
WGBH
Boston, WTVS Detroit, WPBT Miami, WNET New York, KCTS Seattle.

Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers.
Additional funding for "Fooling with Nature" is provided by the
Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, the Deer Creek Foundation, the Fred Gellert
Family
Foundation, the Streisand Foundation, and the Wallace Genetic
Foundation.

Access FRONTLINE ONLINE at www.pbs.org/frontline for :
o       special reports on breast cancer and the chemical link;
chemicals in
the environment; how hormones work;
o       an "Animal Gallery" with pictures and summaries of what's
known
about endocrine disruption in certain species;
o       the debate concerning the threat to humans;
o       an endocrine disruption quiz;
o       "pros and cons" on the controversy over industry-funded
studies;
o       readings on the theory of endocrine disruption;
o       more of FRONTLINE's interviews with scientists and policy
makers.

Press and PBS station inquiries:        (617) 783-3500
Viewer comments and inquiries:          (617) 492-2777 X5355

FRONTLINE XVI/June 1998