CFC # 10222

FAIR USE NOTICE

DAVID L. LEWIS, PH.D.

Dr. Lewis is an internationally recognized research microbiologist who discovered, at the University of Georgia (UGA) in the early 1990s, that the AIDS virus could be transmitted by certain types of dental equipment dentists share with their patients. His research, published in Lancet and Nature Medicine, led to the current heat-sterilization standard for dentistry worldwide. He has also studied similar problems with flexible endoscopes used for common medical procedures such as colorectal cancer screening.

As a senior-level (GS-15) research microbiologist for EPA’s Office of Research & Development, Dr. Lewis used DNA-fingerprinting in the late 1990s to study the effects of global climate change on the breakdown of pesticides by bacteria. This research, which he published in Nature, was awarded EPA’s Science Achievement Award. EPA officials who developed the Agency’s sewage sludge regulations, however, moved to shut down his research when he began investigating illnesses and deaths linked to EPA programs promoting the agricultural use of processed sewage sludge. Nevertheless, his research in this area prompted the CDC to issue guidelines protecting workers handling processed sewage sludge.

At UGA, Dr. Lewis directs the Georgia-Oklahoma Center for Research on the Environment. There, he has published additional research articles concerning the public health and the environment, including a first-authored research article in Nature dealing with global climate change. He also organized and published a 5-year prospective epidemiological study of hepatitis C cross-infection in Egypt.

Dr. Lewis was awarded the Lexington Leadership Award in 2000 and the Accuracy in Media Award. He is Senior Science Advisor to the National Whistleblower Center and a member of its Board of Directors. At the NWC, he organizes conferences and other events concerning the use of academic institutions by federal agencies to support government policies and quash independent scientific research. He also works with religious and community groups to foster acceptance of advancing scientific knowledge, promote religious tolerance, and discourage the use of the democratic process to empower religious movements (www.RoyalLaw.org).

PUBLIC RECOGNITION

Dr. Lewis’ work has been covered in numerous news articles, editorials and documentaries in a wide variety of professional, scientific and popular publications and broadcasts including Science, Lancet, JAMA, The Scientist, National Geographic, Reader's Digest, Voice of America, Paul Harvey, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, London Times, NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS Healthweek, PBS Technopolitics, CBS Evening News, ABC's Primetime Live, and BBC Panorama.

In 1998, an overview of Dr. Lewis’s research was published in a cover story by Time, Inc.'s Hippocrates magazine, which won a national award for the year's best magazine cover story. In 2005, the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health published a peer-reviewed article outlining efforts by EPA policy makers to stop Lewis’ research into illnesses and deaths linked to sewage sludge. This article by Caroline Snyder, Ph.D., is titled “The dirty work of promoting ‘recycling’ of America's sewage sludge” and can be viewed at www.ijoeh.com/pfds/IJOEH_ 1104_ Snyder.pdf and www.sludgefacts.org.

SELECTED SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

Lewis, D.L. 1996. EPA Science: Casualty of election politics. Nature 381:731-732.

Lewis, DL, et al. 1999. Influence of environmental changes on degradation of chiral pollutants in soils. Nature 401:898-901.

Lewis, D.L., and M. Arens. 1995. Resistance of microorganisms to disinfection in dental and medical devices. Nature Medicine 1:956-958.

Lewis, D.L., M. Arens, S. Appleton, K. Nakashima, J. Ryu, R.K. Boe, J. Patrick, D. Watanabe, & M. Suzuki. 1992. Cross-contamination potential with dental equipment. Lancet 340: 1252-4.

Lewis, D.L. & D. K. Gattie. 2002. Pathogen risks from applying sewage sludge to land Environmental Science & Technology 36:286A-293A

Lewis, DL. 1999. A sterilization standard for endoscopes and other difficult to clean medical devices. Practical Gastroenterology 23:28-56.

Lewis, D.L. 1999. High-level disinfection of flexible endoscopes: a microbiologist's point of view. International Review of Modern Surgery. pp. 77-83. (Published in association with the International Federation of Surgical Colleges)

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