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Michigan: Dow Plant Pollution May Have Hurt Residents

State report says the health of people living in a Saginaw residential area may have been harmed by dioxins from a Dow Chemical Co. plant.

SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) -- A state report says the health of people living in a Saginaw residential area may have been harmed by pollution from a Dow Chemical Co. plant in Midland.

The report issued Tuesday by the Michigan Department of Community Health said there's apparently no present health threat in the area following a cleanup in 2008.

But it says for at least a year prior to that, residents breathed, touched and accidentally ate dioxins in soil and dust.

The state department calculated that adults and children living on tainted properties took in dioxins at a higher rate than what the World Health Organization considers safe.

The report says there appears to be no danger now, but that could change if future flooding of the Tittabawassee River dumps more pollution into people's yards.

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