By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

THE public statements made by a University of Guam professor linking toxic contamination to neurodegenerative diseases on Guam has sparked a disciplinary warning from a university dean, but the research scientist stands by his theory.
Dr. Lee Yudin, dean of the UOG College of Natural and Applied Sciences, issued a warning memorandum to Dr. Luis Szyfres for allegedly making “inaccurate and false statements” about the association between toxic chemicals and brain diseases such as Lytico-Bodig.
Szyfres publicly released his preliminary findings in an interview with Variety in December last year.
In her memo, Yudin warned Szyfres that “there may be a basis to consider more stringent disciplinary measures.”
Cathleen Moore-Lin, UOG marketing and communications director, said the university could not comment on personnel matters and internal memos.
Excerpts from Yudin’s memo read: “In addition to this warning, I am adding a requirement to your CFES plan for this academic year.”
As part of the additional requirements, Yudin instructed Szyfres “to prepare a comprehensive review of the available scientific literature on neurodegenerative diseases on Guam and present it for peer review and possible publication.”
“I am preparing a comprehensive review on the contamination of Guam’s environment with toxic chemicals and their effects on the health of the Guamanians, not on Lytico-Bodig,” Szyfres stated in his Jan. 14 response to Yudin’s memo.
Szyfres is a faculty member of the UOG College of Natural and Applied Sciences and a member of the Guam Right to Know Commission, a panel created last year by the 28th Legislature. The commission is tasked to look into the toxic contamination that might have been brought about by chemical agents stored and left on Guam by the military.
In response to Szyfres’ theory, UOG issued a statement last month saying that “the U.S. Geological Survey, at our request, tested soil and water samples throughout Guam in 2002 and found no evidence for potentially toxic amounts of metals.”
Szyfres said he found it ironic that “a significant amount of the evidence of Guam’s contamination with toxic chemicals is from UOG.”
“Talking about ironies,” Szyfres said, “the same federal agency that is funding all of the studies on neurodegenerative diseases, the National Institute of Aging, is precisely the one that supports the association between environmental contamination and Lytico-Bodig, while the NIA-funded UOG, not only does not bother to evaluate that possibility, but also states publicly that there is no environmental contamination.”
Szyfres said there have been numerous studies on the toxic contamination on Guam conducted by federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of the Navy.
“All the specialized federal agencies concur that the environment of Guam is contaminated, except the University of Guam,” Szyfres said.
He said UOG and partner universities have collected blood samples from Guamanians over a period of 40 years, but “very few results” have been reported.
Szyfres was hired on a three-year tenure-track contractual appointment in June 2005, but has to reapply before November 2007. But Szyfres claimed Yudin wanted him out of UOG by buying back the remainder of his three-year contract.