Michigan State to lead $14.1M dioxin research

EAST LANSING (AP) -- Michigan State University scientists plan to lead a $14.1 million initiative to better understand how dioxins affect human health and identify new ways of removing them from the environment. The school announced Tuesday that researchers will use a five-year grant from the Superfund Research Program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to support multiple studies on the toxic industrial byproducts. Rutgers University, Purdue University, the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences in North Carolina and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also are involved. Some work will be done in the Midland and Saginaw Bay areas of Michigan, where dioxin cleanup is ongoing. The World Health Organization says dioxin may impair the human immune and nervous systems and damage organs such as the liver. ---------- Online: http://www.msu.edu Published: Wed, Jul 10, 2013