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People who were exposed to pollutants worry about the effects. But they're pleased to gain validation about their concerns.
By CANDACE RONDEAUX, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 6, 2003
Pat Drew remembers the smoky clouds hanging over Gulfside Elementary School like it was yesterday.
There were days when she drove up Anclote Boulevard to her job as a cook at the school, and the haze from the old Stauffer Chemical plant across the way was so thick she could barely make out the road.
"Many, many times there was just a big white cloud to drive through when you drove past there," said Drew, 68, of Bayonet Point.
Almost a decade after retiring from the school, Drew still wonders what was in the air she breathed every day for nearly 20 years. But last week, when she learned a federal health agency announced that pollutants from the old phosphorous-processing plant had caused a public health hazard in the past, she also began to wonder if that was what was making her sick now.
A nonsmoker, Drew said she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive lung disease and until recently used an oxygen tank to help her breathe.
"I told my doctor about it (the report) because he couldn't find the reason for my illness," Drew said.
According to a new report from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry, Stauffer Chemical's Tarpon Springs plant was a public health hazard while it was operating. Federal health experts now say toxic substances associated with the plant's operation might be linked to past lung and heart conditions in some nearby residents and former Stauffer workers.
The latest report comes more than two years after ATSDR officials concluded that state health reports on the effects of contaminants at the former chemical plant were incomplete. Federal health experts now say harmful pollutants from the plant may have hurt the health of people who lived, worked or went to school near Stauffer until it stopped operating in 1981.
The news is significant for many in the community who have followed Stauffer's history closely. The 130-acre plant had begun processing phosphate ore into elemental phosphorus in 1947. When the plant closed in 1981, it left behind more than 30 toxic substances in the soil and water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the property a Superfund site in 1994 and ordered Stauffer to pay for the cleanup.
"It was like: Yes, finally. They were finally saying they (Stauffer) did pollute," said Mary Mosley, an environmental activist who has kept close watch of developments at the site for more than two decades. "I think this community owes (ATSDR director) Dr. Henry Falk and Ron Wilson a great debt."
ATSDR began studying environmental data about Stauffer about two years ago, after agency ombudsman Ronnie Wilson said a new public health assessment should be done. Community and environmental activists have waited years to receive some validation for their concerns about any effects the plant's operation may have had on people's health.
Drew and her friend, Tom Pape of New Port Richey, said they were relieved that the report was released. The two retirees were some of the first people hired to work at Gulfside Elementary shortly after the school opened in 1977.
Both also said they look forward to finding out more when agency representatives hold public information sessions Tuesday afternoon and evening at the Tarpon Springs Community Center.
Pape, 78, worked for years at the school first as a custodian, then as plant manager, until retiring in 1992. He vividly remembers seeing cars in the faculty parking lot covered with a thin layer of yellow dust that sometimes fell from the air like snow, he said.
"At one point the powder was so thick on the cars it pitted the paint on the cars," Pape said. "A lot of people bought covers for their cars. That's how thick the residue was."
Over the years, both had their worries about the chemical plant across the way, but they loved their jobs at Gulfside Elementary and loved the students even more.
"That school was like a family," Drew said. "We were very close."
That closeness and the new public health assessment are driving Drew to start asking questions about Stauffer again. She and several other Gulfside Elementary workers actively sought information about Stauffer at community meetings sponsored by the EPA and other state and federal agencies. But like many who lived or worked near the Tarpon Springs site, Pape and Drew became frustrated with the lack of clear answers on issues of health and gave up.
Although the report recommended against further study of former Gulfside Elementary students, there was no shortage of answers and information in the report released by the ATSDR on Wednesday. Scientists who helped compile the study say there still are several health concerns associated with the old plant.
That's why they recommend in the 174-page report that people who lived, worked or attended Gulfside Elementary School near Stauffer while the plant was operating should think about getting a checkup with a physician. Local doctors should watch for signs of pollution-related conditions such as lung disease or cancer.
"People were at an increased risk of heart and lung disease because of exposure to particulate matter when Stauffer was operating," said David Mellard, a toxicologist who also helped prepare the report.
Those who lived, worked or went to school within roughly a 1-mile radius of the chemical plant while it was operating also could have been periodically exposed to high levels of toxic sulfur dioxide from Stauffer's smokestack.
Along with an estimated 2,500 people who worked at Stauffer over the years, about 6,000 people lived near Stauffer while it was operating, according to 1980 census statistics included in the report. People living as far away from the Tarpon Springs site as Holiday Estates may have been exposed at one time or another between 1977 and 1981.
In at least one instance, sulfur dioxide levels reached as high as eight times the lowest known level to cause adverse symptoms in people. Children, the elderly and people with asthma would have been especially prone to show symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath, throat irritation or coughing fits.
But agency scientists cautioned against making a direct link with pollutants from Stauffer and chronic illness. Other factors such as health habits, stress and exposure to other toxic substances are just some of the things that could contribute to lung or heart conditions, Mellard said.
Drew doesn't plan to let the warning stop her from wondering. She and Pape still keep in touch with the some former Gulfside Elementary students. Drew said she owes it to the students and her former co-workers to keep asking questions.
"If it can help the children who went to that school," Drew said, "I feel the report is important."
-- Candace Rondeaux can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or rondeaux@sptimes.com.
A copy of the ATSDR public health assessment is available for review at the Tarpon Springs Public Library, 138 E Lemon St. For more information, call ATSDR Environmental Health Scientist Steve Richardson toll free at 1-888-422-8737 or the agency's regional representative in Atlanta, Carl Blair, at (404) 562-1786. Callers should reference the Stauffer Chemical Co. site in Tarpon Springs.
Officials also will hold public availability sessions on the report from noon to 2 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Tarpon Springs Community Center, 400 S Walton Ave.
Comments on the public health assessment must be submitted to ATSDR in writing. They should be mailed to: Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch, ATSDR, 1600 Clifton Road NE (MS E-32), Atlanta, GA 30333.