ANTI - RITALIN ACTIVIST DIES!!!!!

Pioneer in toxicology studies dies at 79
By Kelly Hawes
Correspondent

Published July 15, 2005
GALVESTON — Marvin S. Legator literally wrote the book on documenting the health effects of toxic wastes.


“He came in one morning and told me he was going to do it, and the next thing I knew the book was finished,” said Jonathan Ward, who succeeded Legator as director of the division of environmental toxicology in the department of preventive medicine and community health at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Legator, who died Monday at the age of 79, was the co-author of “The Health Detective’s Handbook: A Guide to the Investigation of Environmental Health Hazards by Nonprofessionals,” published in 1985. An update, “Chemical Alert: A Community Action Handbook,” was published eight years later.

The book led to numerous requests from communities seeking to document the health effects of toxic chemicals, and those studies, in turn, led to numerous articles.

“One of the things that Marvin ended up doing a lot of was serving as an expert witness in cases of individuals and communities injured by toxic chemicals,” Ward recalled.

One of the earliest cases involved a lawsuit filed by a chemical plant worker who developed leukemia after years of exposure to benzene.

“That case led to a judgment for millions of dollars,” Ward said.

In the 1990s, Legator wrote a weekly question-and-answer column called “Living in a Chemical World” for The Daily News.

Legator, who founded the division of environmental toxicology when he joined UTMB in 1976, retired from the director’s position in 1999, but he remained active in research until the time of his death. His final project involved the cancer effects of Ritalin.

“Marvin noticed a study that found a link between Ritalin and the development of cancer in rats, and he went out and raised $100,000 for some research,” Ward said.

The study of a dozen children in Texas City gained national attention and has led to follow-up studies.

“And he did all of this while struggling with his illness,” Ward said.

Before joining UTMB, Legator was a professor of genetics at Brown University, chief of the genetic toxicology branch of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and toxicologist at the Shell Development Co.

Legator was born in Chicago, and he earned a doctorate in microbial genetics and biochemistry at the University of Illinois in 1951.

He and his wife, Donna, were married in 1960. They had three children and five grandchildren.