post from toxicologist about New Oreleans

[Guest guest]

I inspected the ship, Scotia Prince, and talked to many of the

residents on

> board the ship Feb 11 and 12, and saw the preliminary data from

Dr. Ritchie

> Shoemaker's study regarding the health of ship board workers. The

Scotia

> Prince workers had few if any symptoms and all of the St Bernard

Parish

> residents, who were living on the Scotia Prince, said they felt

better on the ship

> than when they were walking in the neighborhoods in St Bernard.

They were

> breathing filtered, safe air on board the Scotia Prince and

getting showers and

> three meals a day.

>

> I was shocked to find out that the Habitat for Humanity

volunteers that

> I toured with, and who were trained by FEMA, had been told that

mold cannot

> hurt you and you do not need any protective equipment. This was

totally wrong

> and I gave them the 800 phone number of the lab that could

overnight the

> proper safety equipment to them c/o the Scotia Prince since none

of them had

> mailing addresses. Highly pathogenic endotoxins from gram

negative bacteria were

> found earlier by NIOSH scientists and personnel from the

Louisiana Dept. of

> Health and the levels were 20 times above normal on average. The

levels were

> not only high inside the flooded homes but also in the ambient

air in the

> neighborhood. Gram negative bacteria all produce endotoxins,

similar to

> mycotoxins used in germ warfare at very high levels to kill

people within minutes,

> and include Legionella bacteria, Salmonella, E. coli from human

sewage, etc.

>

> I inspected almost every area and neighborhood in St. Bernard

Parish on

> Friday and Saturday and took samples and I took pictures, which I

will send

> in the next e-mail in a few minutes. Most of the residents doing

remediation

> of their homes were wearing protective equipment and dragging

contaminated

> debris to the curbside. I inspected many homes and the stench of

rotting

> materials was in every home and there was significant water

damage and high levels

> of pathogenic molds and bacteria in every home since the homes

had been under

> water for days and have been growing mold for months. There were

snakes

> living in some of the homes and marsh grass in most of the homes

and many had

> marsh grass on top of the roof indicating how deep the water was

in those areas

> of St. Bernard Parish. None of the homes were safe to occupy or

even be inside

> for any length of time without personal protective equipment

including a

> HEPA respirator, rubber gloves, goggles and a Tyvek suit.

>

> Most of the homes had extremely high levels, the highest I

have ever

> seen in my 35 years of testing homes for toxic mold. The levels

will be in

> the tens of millions of spores per gram of dirt on furniture or

on wallpaper,

> etc. and the most common pathogenic mold appeared to be

Stachybotrys, which

> can produce mycotoxins and is sometimes called the " black

mold " , the most

> toxic of all toxic molds. It is 10 times more toxic that the most

pathogenic of

> the Penicillium or Aspergillus molds which also can produce

mycotoxins.

> Stachbotrys is uncommon in contaminated homes and I rarely find

it in even the

> most sick of the sick buildings. Stachybotrys produces

tricothocenes and highly

> purified forms were developed by the U.S. Army and never used and

have since,

> probably been destroyed.

>

> Many of the homes must be bulldozed and burned since they

cannot be

> salvaged. The Oil spill has contaminated 30 to 40 square

blocks of St.

> Bernard Parish so EPA has declared it a contaminated zone

requiring

> remediation. None of the Scotia Prince residents should return

even to the neighborhoods

> without proper protective equipment much less return to their

destroyed

> homes and try to live in them.

>

>

> Dr. L. Lipsey ( 904 )398-2168

> 550 Water St, #1230, ville, FL 32202

> Forensic Toxicologist and former Adjunct Professor,

> Univ. N. Florida, Div. Continuing Educ., HazMat/OSHA

> Fla. Comm. College Jax, Institute of Occ. Safety & Health,

> Clinical Toxicology Advisory Comm., Florida Poison Info Center,

Jax.

> _www.richardlipsey.com_ (http://www.richardlipsey.com/)