Lewis A. Shadoff, BS, Ph.D.

316 Juniper, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566

lshadoff@brazosport.cc.tx.us

About the Author

Dr. Shadoff received a bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1961 and a Ph.D. degree in inorganic chemistry from Kansas State University in 1966 doing his dissertation research in mass spectrometry. Upon graduation he joined the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan and transferred to Dow's Texas Operations in Freeport in 1986. He retired from Dow in 1994.

In 1968 he started his involvement with dioxins by developing methods for the determination of chlorinated dioxins in chemical products(1). At that time 2,3,7,8-TCDD was not known in its pure state. The dioxins existed as impurities in chemical products at the part per million level. Mixtures of isomers had been isolated from these chemical products, but the exact chemical structure was only postulated, and not confirmed. Dow undertook a program to synthesize 2,3,7,8-TCDD for use in toxicology determinations, plant uptake studies (where the material was provided to the US government), and unequivocal structure determination by single crystal x-ray diffraction. Dr. Shadoff was involved in this project in determining the purity of the synthesized TCDD(2).

Not long after that he became involved in determining 2,3,7,8-TCDD in the environment in a study of an area in Texas where the herbicide 2,4,5-T (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid ester) was used extensively in the growing of rice(3). Since then, he has been involved in many environmental analysis studies through 1994 when he was involved in determining chlorinated dioxins in the Dow Chemical Company Texas Operations site. He was instrumental in setting up a new laboratory for the study, devising the methodology used, and analyzing the samples for this project(4).

He has been involved in several government studies of dioxins:

  • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dioxin Implementation Plan(5) .

  • A National Institute of Environmental Health Studies (NIEHS) study of human milk(6).

  • The Joint Health and Welfare Canada / Environment Canada Expert Advisory Committee on Dioxins(7).

He has been a co-author of several review papers on the determination of chlorinated dioxins(8,9,10), and a landmark paper on the natural occurrence of dioxins in the environment(11).

When National Geographic did an article on pesticides, they included a photograph of Dr. Shadoff's gloved hands holding a bottle of pure 2,3,7,8-TCDD(12). He was also interviewed by CBS news in Chicago concerning Agent Orange and 2,4,5-T.

Atmospheric halocarbons has also been a topic of interest to Dr. Shadoff, and he has published in this area(13,14).

1) Determination of chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins in pentachlorophenol by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry Blaser, W. W.; Bredeweg, R. A.; Shadoff, L. A.; Stehl, R. H., Anal. Chem., 48(7), 984-6(1976)
2) Preparation of carbon-14 uniformly labeled 2,7-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin Muelder, Wesley W.; Shadoff, Lewis, A.,Advan. Chem. Ser., 120, 1-6(1973)
3) A search for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in an environment exposed annually to 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid ester (2,4,5-T) herbicides Shadoff, L. A.; Hummel, R. A.; Lamparski, L.; Davidson, J. H., Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 18(4), 478-85(1977)
4) Manuscript in preparation.
5) A search for the presence of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in beef fat Kocher, C. W.; Mahle, N. H.; Hummel, R. A.; Shadoff, L. A., Getzendaner, M. E., Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 19(2), 229-36(1978)
6) The determination of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in human milk Shadoff, L. A., ACS Symp. Ser., 136(Pestic. Anal. Methodol.), 277-85(1980)
7) Report of the Joint Health and Welfare Canada/Environment Canada Expert Advisory Committee on Dioxins G. Bellward, J-F. Boivin, F. C. Fraser, F. W. Karasek, R. Roberts, L. Shadoff, G. R. B. Webster, R. F. Willes, Health and Welfare Canada, Environment Canada, Pub., (1983)
8) The determination of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in biological extracts by gas chromatography mass spectrometry Shadoff, L. A.; Hummel, R. A., Biomed. Mass Spectrom., 5(1), 7-13(1978)
9) The determination of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in human milk Shadoff, L. A., ACS Symp. Ser., 136(Pestic. Anal. Methodol.), 277-85(1980)
10) The mass spectrometry of chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins Mahle, Nels H.; Shadoff, L. A., Biomed. Mass Spectrom., 9(2), 45-60(1982)
11) Trace Chemistries of Fire: A Source of Chlorinated Dioxins R. R. Bumb, W. B. Crummett, S. S. Cute, J. R. Gledhill, R. H. Hummel, R. O. Kagel, L. L. Lamparski, E. V. Luoma, D. L. Miller, T. J. Nestrick, L. A. Shadoff, R. H. Stehl, J. S. Woods, Science, 210, 385-90(1980)
12) TCDD: the perilous by-product, Nat'l Geographic Mag., 157, No.2, 181ff(1980)
13) Determination of bis(chloromethyl) ether in air by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry Shadoff, L. A.; Kallos, G. J.; Woods, J. S., Anal. Chem., 45(14), 2341-4(1973)
14) The sampling and determination of halocarbons in ambient air using concentration on porous polymer Russell, John W.; Shadoff, Lewis A., J. Chromatogr., 134(2), 375-84(1977)