Hysteria article angers Warren County residents

Report ignores several facts to draw its own conclusion

[ Pesticide Poisoning and Kids ] * [ Symptoms of Pesticide Poisoning ]
[ MEMORIAL TO VICTIMS ]

Subject:   Ozone, chlorpyrifos and gas not "mass hysteria"------
Date:        Tue, 08 Feb 2000 08:50:18 -0500
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
          Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon, I thought you might be interested in an article from the Tennessean on the Mc Minnville Sick School that clearly contradicts the New England Journal of Medicine coverage of "mass hysteria", if you wish to see the article, you can click on the URL or read the article below:

http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/02/07/warrenair07.shtml

Monday, 2/7/00 - Hysteria article angers Warren County residents - By Anne Paine / Tennessean Staff Writer

A group of state and Vanderbilt doctors has created a stink in rural Warren County.

Their report published in the Jan. 13 New England Journal of Medicine, saying mass hysteria made almost 180 people sick in two incidents at Warren County High School more than a year ago, has angered several county residents.

Residents contend that a substance inside the building triggered at least some of the illnesses, and a memo from a Metro Schools official backs that up.

The memo points out that there was a fume-laden grease trap and also air cleaning machines pumping ozone -- a lung-irritating gas -- into the school.

Doctors say their report was an overall view not intended to hone in on particular individuals who indeed may have been ill.

"Something always has to happen to set it off," said Dr. Timothy F. Jones of the state Health Department, who is one of the authors. "I believe people when they say they experienced an odor and that may have contributed to their symptoms."

What the article said, however, was that no medical or environmental cause could be found for the complaints.

Rather the sicknesses "had features of mass psychogenic illness" that occurred when people thought they had been exposed to toxic fumes.

Students and others responded to the report with a feeling of suspicion and frustration.

"It really makes me mad when someone says you're not sick," said Susan Davis, the teacher who first reported symptoms along with several of her students.

School officials confirmed there was a strong odor in her classroom when she grew dizzy and slightly nauseated.

"I was sick," she said. "I was very sick. It had nothing to do with panic."

The article basically gave the 4-year-old school building a clean bill of health, mentioning only briefly that floor-drain traps in the classroom where the incident first occurred on Nov. 12, 1998, were not working.

"The school's air-handling and plumbing systems were functioning normally," the article says.

Thomas Hatfield, a Metro Schools official who helped the county investigate, however, noted in a Nov. 18, 1998, memo to the Warren County school superintendent that at least two serious shortcomings existed.

About 1,000 gallons of kitchen sludge had built up in a grease trap over the four-year life of the building, the memo said, creating a potential source of fumes and odors.

Also, the grease traps and sanitary sewer exhaust lines vented on the roof near the fresh air intake for part of the building. Under the right wind conditions, the fumes could be sucked inside.

"The symptoms they were experiencing were exactly what we've seen with grease traps here," said Hatfield, Metro's schools supervisor of plant maintenance.

Hatfield said nausea, dizziness and headaches are some of the symptoms that have resulted from grease-trap fumes in years past at Metro schools. Now, the traps are pumped regularly, watched and have been separated from the sewer system, he said.

Hatfield was present when the grease trap at the Warren County High School was opened.

"They had to chisel the concrete from around the manhole. When we popped that lid off, holy cow, we had to back up several yards. It was horrible."

School officials say they had not been aware that the trap existed.

Hatfield doesn't contradict the idea that epidemic hysteria may have broken out among some but says the ability of grease-trap fumes, for one, to affect people should not be downplayed.

"It depends on people's sensitivity," Hatfield said. "Some are overwhelmed."

The doctors say the study was intended for other doctors, to shed light on the topic of "mass psychogenic illness."

The problems the memo outlined don't affect the conclusion, Jones said.

"I don't think any of those individual things mentioned would have explained the entire outbreak," he said.

"That was the point of the article."

People who only stopped on campus to pick up students reported illnesses, and dozens of different types of smells were described. Also, people were ill in areas not served by the same air system.

The school closed Nov. 12 -- a Thursday -- with about 100 students, staff and one visitor to the grounds going to a local emergency room. The school reopened the following Monday and closed again on Tuesday when odors were again reported and dozens more went to the emergency room.

During the second incident, ozone generators were present, according to the Metro memo.

"We just used them one day," said Pedro Paz, Warren County school superintendent.

He said he wasn't sure how many the school used, but that a local store donated them to help out.

Ozone, a toxic gas with a sharp odor, can cause chest pains and bring on asthma attacks, officials say. It's sometimes used as an air cleaner, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, for one, warns against putting ozone into rooms where people are present.

The ozone generators were not mentioned in the medical paper, which was based to a large extent on EPA and Tennessee OSHA data.

"We didn't know anything about that," Dean Ullock, EPA federal on-scene coordinator, said of the ozone generators at the school.

The EPA arrived after the generators were shut down. The grease trap was pumped out before EPA arrived, too. The state's OSHA division, however, came in earlier.

Ullock said while EPA data may have been used, his agency had no participation in the medical paper.

The EPA and Tennessee OSHA coordinated extensive blood, urine, soil, air and water testing. Nothing "toxic" was found except traces of the pesticide chlorpyriphos in the walls.

That's been little comfort. (Especially, if they did not inspect for other POISONS!)

"I have friends who were sick and went to the hospital," said student Brett Rust, 14. "They didn't make that up."

The EPA has recommended the school hire a full-time environmental technician to assure that chores such as changing the heating, air-conditioning and ventilating filters are done regularly. (They also should find safe alternatives to your "registered" POISONS!)

"The problem was the news media said 'toxic fumes,' " Paz said. "They found nothing in blood tests.

"They said our air quality inside the building was better than outside."

State Correspondent Bill Zechman contributed to this report.

Lyndon, If "traces" of chlorpyrifos were found in the walls - they should have found "traces" of at least this volatile poison in the air and in the blood. I was just an expert witness at a pesticide contamination case where the "testing" company (hired by the poison applicator to refute the levels of contamination) was shown by Dr, Robert Simon to be totally unaware of how to read/interpret the results of their own "tests". The POISON guy's "expert" also had "test" results that said the air inside the obviously contaminated home was "cleaner" than outside! The article also ignores SYNERGISM and safe and effective pest control alternatives to your dangerous "registered" POISONS.

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten