01:28 AM ET 12/09/99

Town Humiliated in Pesticide Scare
By CHRISTINE HANLEY, Associated Press Writer

        EARLIMART, Calif. (AP) _ Sickened by a mysterious stench that wafted across this tiny community, two dozen people sat in a grassy field on a chilly evening and waited for emergency crews to decide what to do.
        At the time, no one knew what was causing their eyes to water, lungs to burn, stomachs to retch. Amid the chaos, as a precaution, a decontamination line was ordered.
        One by one, those sickened, most of them women, were sprayed with water by men wearing masks and green splash suits: the hazardous materials team.
        Lupe Baeza, a 56-year-old grandmother, was first.
        ``They said to take off all my clothes. I left my underwear on. I said, 'I'm not taking them off,''' she said, recalling how her protest was in vain, as a paramedic pulled them off. ``He said I had to.''
        Nearly a month later, Baeza and the others remain humiliated by the treatment, frightened by their exposure to what turned out to be a cancer-causing soil fumigant and saddled with thousands of dollars in medical bills they cannot afford.
        Tired of getting no answers, some residents on Wednesday gave a representative of the Board of Supervisors at least 183 complaints about illnesses believed to be related to their exposure on Nov. 13.
        They are demanding a more organized evacuation system, reimbursement for ambulance and hospital expenses and, most importantly, stricter pesticide regulations and air monitoring standards. A meeting was planned today with the Tulare County Agriculture Commissioner.
        ``If something like this happened in Berkeley or Sacramento, to people who vote or ordinary middle-class citizens, legislators would be tripping over themselves to get something done about it,'' said Dr. Marion Moses of the Pesticide Education Center in San Francisco.
        Most of the 3,000 or so residents of Earlimart, about 70 miles south of Fresno, are Hispanic or Filipino. Some are transient. Nearly all earn their living picking grapes or pruning vines.
        Wilbur-Ellis Co. was applying a fumigant known by the trade name Sectagon 42 to a 75-acre potato field owned by Vignolo Farms when the smell drifted over the town that Saturday afternoon.
        Sectagon 42 contains metam sodium, which is on the state's list of cancer-causing pesticides.
        The compound is fast becoming an alternative to methyl bromide, a highly toxic fumigant prized by farmers but being phased out worldwide. From 1991 to 1998, use of metam sodium jumped from about 5 million pounds statewide to more than 15 million pounds. Restrictions are tightest in a few counties where similar accidents were reported.
        County agriculture officials say it appears the company followed county regulations: meeting the per-acre ratio, posting warning signs and staying within a required 500-foot buffer zone.
        Still, the fumes escaped.
        ``Rotten eggs. Really rotten eggs,'' Lucy Huizar said of that first whiff.
        About 150 people were evacuated from their homes. Following sheriff's orders, Huizar, a single mom, took three of her kids to a middle school and waited with others on the football field. Because of the contamination potential, they were not allowed inside. Mothers cradled their infants. Some people vomited.
        Ambulance workers called for the decontamination line because they are not allowed to transport contaminated passengers.
         Humiliation followed.
        Though plastic tarps offered a partial shield, Huizar and the others said they were forced to strip down to nothing in an area within view of a crowd of at least 100 emergency personnel, TV crews and other spectators.
        ``It felt like we were raped,'' said Huizar, 42, reenacting how she was told to lift up her arms and turn in circles as she walked down the line.
        Firefighters and agriculture officials say the possible consequences outweighed privacy issues.
        ``I know some people were humiliated. But it's life or death sometimes,'' said Tulare County Fire Capt. Patricia Granillo.   ``Prior to them being washed down, we didn't know what the chemical was. It was just standard operating procedure.''
        Hazardous materials crews are required to carry CD-Roms with pesticide information. Otherwise, they are instructed to contact local agriculture officials, who had reached the potato field and interviewed the applicator by the time decontamination began.
        Both groups should have been aware of Sectagon 42's contents, said Glenn Brank, spokesman for the state Department of Pesticide Regulation.
        Huizar and the others were examined at various hospitals and sent home, told they were exposed to a gas that is nothing more than an irritant.
        Moses disputes that. She said even the fumes of metam sodium are a toxin capable of disrupting reproductive systems.
        The treatment didn't come cheap, either. Ambulance rides cost $885 for Huizar and each of her three kids. The doctor's advice cost nearly $200 apiece.
        The bills included this advice: ``Get rest, lots of fluids and avoid re-exposure.''