NEWS OF THE WEEK PUBLIC
HEALTH
ROOM AT THE TOP With CDC director leaving, four top federal health slots are vacant
J
EFFREY P. KOPLAN HAS AN-
nounced his resignation as director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, effective March 31. He has spent 26 years in public service and nearly four years at the helm of CDC. His departure leaves vacant four top health positions at a time when the Bush Administration is focusing on responding to bioterrorism. Under Koplan, C D C has branched out from an agency mainly concerned with infectious diseases to one stressing the prevention of chronic health problems like diabetes, heart disease,
Koplan
and obesity. In the 1970s, he worked to eradicate smallpox in Bangladesh, and in 1984 he assessed the health effects of the methyl isocyanate accident at Union Carbide's Bhopal, India, facility Koplan and CDC have drawn criticism for their response to last October's anthrax outbreaks and for seemingly not placing enough emphasis on bioterrorism. But Koplan counters that CDC responded "swiftly and effectively to the nation's first bioterrorism event." And, he says, bioterrorism has been one of his key priorities, pointing to the establish-
E N V I R O N M E N T
ALABAMA JURY FINDS MONSANTO LIABLE CLEANER Solutia still manufactures synthetic heattransfer fluids at its Anniston facility, but they haven't contained PCBs since 1971.
12
C&EN
/
MARCH
A,
Now Solutia must pay for decades of PCB contamination in Anniston
A
FTER FIVE HOURS OF DE-
liberation, an Alabama jury concluded that a Monsanto plant—which produced polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
2002
in Anniston between 1929 and 1971—had polluted nearby properties with the suspected endocrine disrupter and carcinogen. That decision puts Monsanto spin-off Solutia on the hook for any damages the jury ultimately decides to award. But the jury decision is just the tip of the iceberg. The decision affects only 17 of 700 property damage claims the jury must consider. All the others will be considered in turn unless there is a settlement. And the jury hasn't even started on the 700 personal injury claims that plaintiffs have pending. "We are disappointed but not totally surprised," said John C. Hunter, Solutia's chairman, president, and CEO, in a conference
ment of a world-class laboratory able to isolate and identify "anthrax in a variety of specimens." Koplan, 57, has said he is leaving CDC without revealing his future plans. Because Koplan still has a month to serve, Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, who will make the appointment, has not yet named an acting director or a successor. In addition to the C D C vacancy, the Bush Administration also lacks its surgeon general, FDA commissioner, and N I H director. Margaret A. Hamburg, vice president for biological programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative and a former assistant secretary at H H S , says, "It is a concern that there are so many vacant leadership positions in our nation's health-related federal departments and agencies."—LOIS EMBER
call with investors. "We find ourselves in the first step of what could be a long process which could include an appeal as well." But a long process is exactly what Alabama Circuit Court Judge R.Joel Laird Jr. is trying to avoid.. Laird has encouraged settlement discussions all along. He suspended trial proceedings last week to allow lawyers to negotiate a settlement. And he ordered top executives from Solutia, Monsanto, and Pharmacia—which has an 85% stake in Monsanto—to participate in settlement talks this past weekend. The trial, which got underway on Jan. 8 (C&ENJan. 14, page 4), could well go on for the rest of the year Monsanto and Pharmacia are also involved in the court proceedings because, if Solutia is unable to pay, they will be responsible for any damages. There's more: The three firms have another trial looming in 2003 involving PCB claims from an additional 15,000 Anniston plaintiffs. —MARC REISCH HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
