Team to study dog's death,
possible link to canker work.
The 86-pound dog fell
dead in his yard in Miami Monday while canker workers were grinding up a sour
orange tree stump next door. Tyson's owner suspects they used chemicals that
killed him.
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on the Story ]
Subject: Team to study dog's death, possible link to canker work-----
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 10:05:08 -0400
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read an
article: Published Thursday, October 19, 2000, in the Miami Herald entitled:
Team to study dog's death, possible link to canker work.
BY ARNOLD MARKOWITZ - amarkowitz@herald.com
A team of state and federal scientists begins an
investigation today of the sudden death of Tyson, the 4-year-old boxer who may
be a victim of the state's Citrus Canker Eradication Program.
The 86-pound dog fell dead in his yard in Miami Monday
while canker workers were grinding up a sour orange tree stump next door.
Tyson's owner suspects they used chemicals that killed him. A police officer
says she smelled a chemical odor so strong that it drove her from the yard
gasping.
The unexplained death is the latest and most compelling
event in a spreading controversy over the state's removal of thousands of citrus
trees and the behavior of contract workers who cut them down.
State investigators, ordered to action by Agriculture
Commissioner Bob Crawford, include a pesticide expert, a toxicologist, a
veterinarian who specializes in necropsy and some agriculture law enforcement
officers. The Environmental Protection Agency is sending a pesticide expert,
too.
They will report this morning to an Agriculture Department
office in Pembroke Pines.
`NO EVIDENCE'
Craig Meyers, deputy agriculture commissioner in charge of
canker eradication, said the state is sure that nothing its crews are approved
to use could kill a dog. He said there is ``no evidence or knowledge or
suspicion whatsoever'' that they might have sprayed anything else.
``We're coming to help solve the problem,'' Meyers said.
``There is a concern that if there is something in either one of those yards,
regardless of how it got there, that it's not healthy. We'd like to know because
we did have workers out there, too.''
On March 10, state workers cut down the sour orange tree in
the backyard of Oscar and Jennie Fernandez, at 3631 SW 19th St. On Monday, two
workers employed by AshBritt, a Pompano Beach contractor for the Agriculture
Department, came to grind the stump.
According to other AshBritt workers and state supervisors
who oversee the workers, they don't use any chemicals -- just two antimicrobial
solutions to clean their hands, shoe soles and tools between assignments. The
stronger version contains ammonia.
CHAIN OF EVENTS
Tyson was the pet of Carolina Sanchez, 61, who lives next
door to the Fernandezes. She said Tyson was barking at the crew on the other
side of a chain-link fence. Just as she noticed a powerful chemical odor, he
stopped. When she stepped outside, she found the dog dead. Sobbing, she called
police.
Miami Police Officer Linda Ares followed Sanchez into the
backyard. Ares saw the dead boxer, an unconscious cat and the remains of the
tree stump next door. She also noticed the soil there was wet. The grinding crew
had already left.
In a moment, the officer felt jolted by something she is
certain she had never smelled before. Her chest tightened. She couldn't breathe.
Ares grabbed Sanchez by the arm -- ``You've got to get out
of here!'' -- and led her to the street. Sanchez was all right; the officer
wasn't. She spent Monday night in a hospital and Tuesday at home. On Wednesday,
she was back on patrol.
``As soon as I walked in the gate, boom,'' she said. ``I
started coughing and tasted a dry mouth. My throat was burning. My eyes were
tearing and burning. My head was real light.''
Ares, 53, said she has a lot of allergies -- ``I'm allergic
to everything'' -- which might explain her severe reaction to whatever the odor
was.
``All I know is it's a chemical, a very full-strength
chemical,'' she said. ``Maybe a pesticide or herbicide. No, it wasn't ammonia or
soap or anything I've ever spilled. It was chemical.''
Ares doubts any insistence that the crew had no chemicals.
``There was something there, and they say they didn't put
anything there,'' she said. ``If there's an accident, OK, that's understandable,
but to say there's nothing there . . . ''
Her blood is being tested, as are the blood and other body
fluids from the dead dog and the sick cat. The results were not known Wednesday.
Sanchez had recovered her composure Wednesday, but still
could not talk about her dog without crying. She backed off a direct accusation,
but still suspected the canker workers were to blame -- partly because of a
medical examiner's report that her dog was in excellent health.
Mark Fagan, an Agriculture Department spokesman, said
canker eradicators are not supposed to use chemicals on the job because they are
unnecessary. But he could not say for certain that none of them do.
Until 1998, eradicators used a herbicide, Garlon-4, to
prevent regrowth of citrus stumps. The Agriculture Department stopped the usage
because of numerous complaints that Garlon was making people sick.
Canker workers clean their hands with an antimicrobial hand
soap called GX-1027. They use a stronger detergent, Gallex 900, on equipment and
shoe soles. Nine brands are approved. All include an ammonia-based compound
called quarternary ammonium chloride, or QVC. Diluted in use, it's supposed to
be safe and to not produce a strong odor.
TROUBLE FREE
These cleansers have been in wide, trouble-free use for
years, said Richard Gaskalla, director of the state's division of plant
industry.
``The product that we're using for decontamination in
citrus canker is very similar to what is used in hospitals and food service
areas,'' he said. It's also used in meat-packing and dairy plants, he added.
When mixed with chlorine, ammonia can form a toxic gas.
Gaskalla said he wasn't sure how QVC would react if combined with any other
chemicals. But one clue told him it wasn't involved.
``As I recall, there was a strong odor present and neither
of the products has a strong odor,'' he said.
Herald staff writer Curtis Morgan contributed to this
report.
Well Mr. Helliker, Do you think "they" are
telling the whole truth? You can
check out the whole story at http://www.herald.com/content/today/docs/036245.htm.
It is a fact that until 1998, eradicators used a herbicide, Garlon-4, to
prevent regrowth of citrus stumps. The Agriculture Department stopped the usage
because of numerous complaints that Garlon was making people sick.
Maybe "someone" did not remember to stop.
Respectfully, Stephen
L. Tvedten |
