Environmentalists Push Toxin-Free Paper

PENSACOLA, Fla. — As an environmentalist, publisher Fred Garth found himself protesting against pollution caused by making the very type of paper used to print his scuba diving magazine.

"I was in kind of a hypocritical situation," he admits.

That, however, changed two years ago when Scuba Times became the first general circulation magazine in North America printed on totally chlorine-free (TCF) paper.

Garth and other environmentalists now are pushing Congress to pass legislation that would phase out all chlorine bleaching compounds from paper making.

Chlorine makes paper white but also creates several types of toxins including dioxins, a family of chemicals linked to cancer and neurological, immune, reproductive and developmental problems.

The poisons are released into streams, rivers and other waters from mills that make pulp for fine writing and printing paper. Other types of paper such as newsprint, tissues and cardboards are produced without chlorine compounds.

The TCF bill's sponsor, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and its supporters, including Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club, face strong opposition from the paper industry.

"With the Congress we've got right now, the climate doesn't seem to be very encouraging," Greenpeace spokesman Mark Floegel said in Seattle.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, is considering a new rule that would reduce, but not eliminate, chlorine-related toxins.

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Garth, 40, grew up in Gainesville, Ga., and vacationed on Perdido Bay, just west of Pensacola, since childhood. His magazine now is headquartered on Perdido Key, a barrier island bordering the bay.

He is a member of the Perdido Bay Environmental Assn., which has been pressuring Champion International Corp. to stop using chlorine at its Pensacola pulp and paper mill, which discharges into the bay.

"I became a person that was fighting against the paper company that was polluting my frontyard, but at the same time in my business I was buying paper that was chlorine-bleached," Garth said. "I don't like to be a hypocrite, so I looked for a way to find a totally chlorine-free sheet."

At first, he was unable to find coated paper for high-quality color reproduction. Garth began using uncoated TCF paper for a 16-page black-and-white section in 1992. The entire magazine went totally chlorine-free in June 1995 on coated paper imported from Germany.