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Is Mysterious Illness Fault of an Old Chemical Spill?

 In the small town of Le Roy, N.Y., teenagers are suffering from Tourette’s-like symptoms from an unknown cause - possibly related to a 40-year-old chemical spill.

The teens were diagnosed by a local Le Roy doctor with mass psychogenic illness, or, mass hysteria, a rare disease that occurs during periods of stress that is displayed through physical ailments.

A three-month long investigation from state and local health officials ruled out environmental and infectious agents. A physician from the New York Department of Health told NBC News there was no evidence of any environmental factor and ruled out infection or communicable disease.

Another doctor from the DENT Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. told CBS News his diagnosis is conversion disorder, which displays symptoms without a cause. So, the cause must be psychological or neurological, according to physicians.

Are mass hysteria or conversion disorder to blame, or could the cause of it all be related to an old chemical spill? Environmental activist Erin Brockovich stepped in to research whether or not a 1970 toxic chemical spill is to blame for the uncontrollable tics, fainting spells and verbal outbursts amongst a group of 15 teenagers in Upstate New York.

Brockovich has questions related to a 1970 chemical spill that occurred a mere three miles away from Le Roy Central High School where the teens attend school. Brockovich states, “There are other people coming out reporting that they lived close to the spill site; that their family is also experiencing health problems.” Brockovich sent her team of investigators to test local water for chemicals that could be linked to the 1970 spill. So far Brockovich’s team has yet to conclude the investigation and have not found anything to link the teen twitching to the spill.

Here at Environmental Protection Online, we know that groundwater contamination can remain for decades and cause harmful effects, so the concern is justified. In the meantime, more Tourette’s-like cases continue and the psychological cause is understandably a diagnosis that’s hard to swallow.

The town of Le Roy, N.Y. just wants proven answers and a cure.


 

Posted by Christina Miralla on Feb 07, 2012 at 12:43 PM


Comments

Mon, Mar 5, 2012 Kristin NY

I have to agree that this story is short on facts, and is very hard to believe. If a spill occurred 40 years ago, it seems that these symptoms would have also appeared long before now, and in more than a handful of teenagers.

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 Mike McEachern United States

For a toxic agent to have any effect on human health, such as triggering mysterious symptoms, there would have to be exposure to the toxic agent. The likelihood of a 40+ year-old spill, 3 miles away from a school having any health consequences to students of that school is preposterous.

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 Editor

Editor's note: This is the Environmental Protection Blog portion of EPOnline, therefore, all blog posts contain writer's opinions.

Wed, Feb 8, 2012

Rather than being speculative, this article should have contained fundamental facts about the chemical spill, e.g., the chemical(s) in the spill, the mass of the spill and the mass of the chemical(s), their fate and persistence in the environment, where the chemical(s) partitioned (air, soil, water), mobility and transport, epidemiology and route of exposure if a health hazard, the hazardous concentrations, if a health hazard, what was done with the spill - was there a clean-up - and the factors that would provide scientific and technical value to an analysis. The article reads like Theo Colburn's ubiquitous comment throughout her bood, "Our Stolen Future", where she says "It's not hard to imagine that....." Lots of imagination here, unfortunately. As Jack Friday in Dragnet used to say, "Just the facts, M'am."

Wed, Feb 8, 2012

An inability to accept the conversion diagnosis amply illustrates the writer's biases. The fact that this is occuring 30 yrs after the spill, and to just teenage females all going to the same school, supports another cause (such as psychological stressers).

Wed, Feb 8, 2012

As in many "mysterious illnessess", there will be conspiracy theories of what may be occurring or what may have happened. If it is a contamination issue - why is it so selective? Should everyobne have a baseline screening done to look for anti-bodies or low level exposure metabolites? My son said it also resembles the Salem witch trials where a group of teenagers ultimately were faking it for attention. As a parent I would want answers immediatelty. As a realist - I wonder if there is a potential lawsuit driving the bus.

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 Bill Suncook NH

The article should have also stated if the children affected, are those of parents who in their childhood days, played around the area in question after the accident or maybe grew up in the contaminated area. It could have been passed on at birth. What ever the cause, they seem to be taking their time trying to find out what is causing the problem with those children

Tue, Feb 7, 2012 Joe P CO

I'm sure there are several IHs, Toxicologists and many other professionals working on this. Are there any chemical sampling results or data collection of surveys/facts avail? We need a daily routine/exposure data to link this to something. I hate the answer "unexplained". There's always an explanation!

Tue, Feb 7, 2012 Joe P CO

I'm sure there are several IHs, Toxicologists and many other professionals working on this. Are there any chemical sampling results or data collection of surveys/facts avail? We need a daily routine/exposure data to link this to something. I hate the answer "unexplained". There's always an explanation!

Tue, Feb 7, 2012 john USA

This is why everyone should use Safe Drains to protect their storm drains..

Tue, Feb 7, 2012 Steve Alabama

You did not mention the chemical contaminate or the chemical compound by name. The chemical that was spilled would have health risks associated with it that could be looked up by the CAS code or from a MSDS. Your story would bear more relevance if the chemical were hazardous!

Tue, Feb 7, 2012 Bert Klein

If the problem is water born , why are not older adults or young children showing the same symptums? I'm sure the Health departments have looked at possible bottled water or other beverages but what about an electromagnetic influences of to much talking on cell phones? Is there a higher incidence amoung the teenage girls than boys? Is there any other comminality between those with the symptons like one brand of cell phone or a particular brand of perfume etc? This information has not been reported or ruled out.

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