Mississippi Blues

Seeking billions of dollars in punitive damages, thousands of Mississippi residents have sued Georgia Pacific Corp. (GP) and International Paper Co. (IP) for the alleged dumping of dioxin and other chemicals in three Mississippi rivers. The suits accuse the companies of continuing to dump even though they knew the pollutants posed serious threats to humans and the environment. IP and GP operate pulp and paper mills that produce dioxin and other chemical by-products during a bleaching process which turns brown paper white.

In the only case so far that has gone to trial, a Leakesville, Mississippi jury ordered Georgia Pacific (GP) to pay $1 million in punitive damages and $40,000 in compensatory damages to Wesley Simmons, who owns property about 40 miles downstream of GP's mill. Simmons' lawyer, John Deakle, says the case is the first dioxin suit in which a jury has awarded punitive damages. Deakle asserts that IP and GP hoped to use Simmons and other plantiffs, most of whom are poor and black, as guinea pigs to determine how dangerous dioxin is.

Irwin Stolz, a lawyer who is representing 1,850 Mississippi residents in their suits against GP and IP, accuses the companies of "dumping industrial urine, industrial feces, into the Mississippi rivers every day by the tons." Stolz says that fish from the rivers are deformed and covered with sores and that dead mussels lie along the beaches.

Cockpit Calamity

A commercial airline pilot who won a $2.45 million jury award last year after claiming he suffered adverse effects from Freon 113 released in his cockpit during a routine flight is campaigning to warn unsuspecting pilots of the chemical's dangers. Freon 113 is the main component of Rainboe, a rain repellent that is kept in canisters inside the cockpit of virtually every commercial airplane in the United States.

Richard O'Harren, a USAir pilot, sued a number of corporate giants after the colorless and odorless Freon 113 leaked in flight, causing him "progressively severe, grievous, and serious injuries," according to his lawsuit. Named in O'Harren's suit were DuPont, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing and USAir.

"USAir was found to have intentionally engaged in outrageous conduct with an intent to cause O'Harren severe emotional distress, with the knowledge of corporate officers," Lance Schaeffer, O'Harren's attorney said. "The jury further found that USAir's actions rose to the level of 'despicable' and therefore awarded punitive damages."

Following the flight, O'Harren suffered numerous physical ailments which prevented him from flying. After remaining idle a number of years, he has returned to work, but he has chosen to take a pay cut rather than fly any planes which have Rainboe stored in the cockpit.

Through his attorney, O'Harren is seeking regulatory action to minimize Rainboe's dangers. "If they can't figure out a way to make it non-toxic or remove it from the cockpit, it ought to be odorized and warnings should be given to maintenance personnel and flight crew members about the nature of its toxicity," Schaeffer says.

Calling the corporations' actions "absolutely criminal," Schaeffer charges, "There's this odorless, colorless, neurotoxic, cardiovascular toxic chemical in a pressurized system inside the cockpit of every commercial airline. The system is known to leak, and the pilots don't know about it."

Boy Scouts for Sale

In the wake of a decision by the Great Britain's Scout Association to sell space on merit badges to corporations, a U.S. public interest group is urging British officials to reverse their decision and calling on the Boy Scouts of America not to follow suit.

The Iogos are embroidered on merit badges in corporations' areas of interest. The badge for athletic achievement, for example, carries the name Match-stick, a maker of running shoes. Other corporate sponsors and their badges include: Itec, for information technology; Meccano, for craft and model making; Dungeons & Dragons, for hobbies; Grandstand, for radio and technical; and Royal Mail, for international friendship. Each company pays between $10,000 and $100,000 for a place on the merit badge.

"This fund-raising strategy not only enables corporations to target their advertising barrage at Britain's 700,000 scouts, but it also creates 700,000 trustworthy, walking advertisements," says Michael Jacobson, a co-founder of the Center for the Study of Commercialism, which criticized the move in a letter to Queen Elizabeth II and Lord Baden-Powell, the vice president of the Scouts' Association.

"The scouts should not allow big business to plaster ads on their members," says Jacobson, a former scout. "Scouting should provide an education in public service and civic-mindedness, not in companies and their products. This is a dangerous precedent that we fear might cross the Atlantic."

� David Lapp