Edward J Sowinski
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Edward J Sowinski also appears in the tobacco archive literature as Edwin J Sowinski and generally known just as 'Ed'. He was the president of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, and he ran his own IAQ testing company, Environmental Health Management and Sciences Inc. in Hudson, Ohio, He was an associate of Ronald E Gots who had many and close ties to the tobacco and chemical industries. Gots' firm National Medical Advisory Service (NMAS), which specialised in finding corruptable witnesses for the tobacco and chemical firms, is described as an affiliate of Sowinski's company.
Sowinski was very obviously connected to the big companies in the chemical business through having previously worked at Uniroyal.
Documents & Timeline
1985 Oct In an article in C&EN magazine Uniform criteria set for classifying for carcinogens he is described as the Corporate Manager of Industrial Toxicology at Uniroyal, and the co-chairman of a panel comprising the:
- Chemical Manufacturer's Association (CMA),
- the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturer's Association (SOCMA),
- the European Council of Chemical Manufacturers' Federations
- and the Canadian Chemical Producers Association. This joint committee had formulated a critera document on chemical hazards.
1992 Oct An article in Occupational Hazards magazine is headed Putting Indoor Air Quality in its Place.
- "Outspoken consultants Ronald Gots and Edward Sowinski warn of the dangers of overreacting to indoor air quality concerns. They say more science and less emotion should guide the IAQ debate
Gots is described as an occupational physician who is the founder and president of National Medical Advisory Service (NMAS). He "regards IAQ-associated problems as building related symptoms and the article uses the term Sick Building Syndrome and tight building syndrome (to de-emphasise the role played by tobacco smoke). They also bring up the Legionnaire's disease outbreak in Philadelphia in 1976.
Edwin J Sowinksi is described as the owner of Environmental Health Management and Sciences Inc. whit is the Hudson Ohio affiliate of Gots' company NMAS. They are candid in their assessment of the problems in IAQ:
"Despite people's perceptions to the contrary, there are few occasions when symptoms are actually caused by contaminants like formaldehyde or volatile organic compounds," he said. "Most of the time, if there is a problem at all and you can identify it, it is with the HVAC system."
Gots said there are, however, cases where specific agents like chemicals, microbes, and environmental tobacco smoke are the root of indoor air problems.
For example, Gots recalled a school environment where the use of a petroleum-based product to remove floor tiles resulted in symptoms among students and teachers.[3]
Note that Gots' NMAS consulting firm has an affiliated Environmental Health Management and Sciences Inc (Hudson, Ohio) which is run by Edward J Sowinski who was also the president of the American Industrial Hygiene Association in 1992.
1994 Feb 24 a Philip Morris risk assessment document discusses the agenda for the 1994 Toxicology Symposium to be held Aug 15-19 at the Radisson hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. It deals with the position taken on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) which has joined the "ETS coaliton" (Agencies like the EPA who are concerned about the role of passive smoking as an office health hazard)
The subject at hand, the ETS position, was reviewed by Chris Coggins
His presentation discussed the flaws that are associated with the EPA study on ETS. At the conclusion of his presentation, all present voted in favor of John Heusener requesting that the Board reevaluate its position on ETS and that they only support Issues that are based on good science.
The official Society of Toxicology (SOT) liaison to AIHA Is Bob Drew of ALI. Ed Sowinski is the Toxicology Committee's liaison to SOT. Currently SOT does not perceive that they have a similar role as AIHA. it was suggested that one way to approach a better
relationship is to request that their specialty sections (like our committees) review some of our white papers.[4]
- {Christopher RE Coggins]] worked full-time as an Inhouse inhalation toxicologist and industry lobbyist for RJ Reynolds (later for Lorillard,) after shifting to the USA from the Battelle Research Center in Geneva, Switzerland. He obviously managed to convince the meeting that the EPA's risk assessment was flawed, and should be attacked rather than supported.[5] [6]
2000 May 15-17 This is the three-day Itinerary for a tour of the Philip Morris plants for Edward J Sowinski. He is meeting Richard Carchman and other R&D staff members. [7]
