What Ever Happened to...?

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Remember this? does anyone know what ever happened to the victim?

methyl bromide victim in Los Angeles

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sanet-mg@...

Subject: methyl bromide victim in Los Angeles

From: kert@... (Kert Davies)

Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 10:53:48 -0500

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Anyone with information on state of the art treatment for methyl bromide

poisoning can email Liv55@...

a friend of Mero.

Illness Probed for Possible Pesticide Link

Health: Officials are trying to determine if woman now in coma was

overcome by methyl bromide fumigation of neighboring building.

By STEVE BERRY, Times Staff Writer

LA Times Saturday, March 22, 1997

State investigators were trying Friday to determine if a 36-year-old woman

who has been in a coma for two weeks was gassed when a pesticide that

environmentalists have been trying to outlaw for more than a decade was

used to fumigate a building next to her home.

The case of Mero of Toluca Lake promises to renew an intense,

years-long debate over use of the highly toxic gas methyl bromide.

Environmentalists have repeatedly tried to ban the chemical, which has been

blamed by state authorities for 18 deaths and hundreds of illnesses over

the last 13 years, but have been unable to overcome resistance from the

agricultural and pest control industries, supported by Gov. Pete .

Mero, an assistant for an entertainment company, was in critical condition

Friday at St. ph's Medical Center in Burbank, a hospital spokeswoman

said. " She is a critically brain-injured young lady fighting for her life, "

said her lawyer, Larry Feldman, who added that he is planning to file a

suit.

He said that on March 8, the day after the gas was used on a neighboring

building, Mero told several friends by phone that she awoke feeling ill.

She went back to sleep and was found unconscious in her home the next day

by her landlady, Sally s, Feldman said.

Feldman said Mero's home, in a group of buildings in the 10400 block of

West Valley Spring Lane, was connected by seven pipes, one to two inches in

diameter, to the fumigated studio just 15 feet away.

The owner of the fumigation firm involved said Friday that the pipes were

not easily visible in the studio, and that there is no proof that Mero's

coma was caused by methyl bromide.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation is investigating the case

for methyl bromide poisoning, said Bob Donley, chief of pesticide

investigations for the county agricultural commissioner's office. No

finding that the gas was involved has been issued.

A woman who would identify herself only as a cousin of Mero named said

at the hospital Friday that Mero's doctor had found 27 parts per million of

methyl bromide in her blood--well above the lethal dose of 24 ppm.

The chemical would have been illegal for use in California if a ban that

was to go into effect in March 1996 had not been delayed by the state

Legislature. Legislators acted at the request of farm groups and Gov.

, who called a special session of the Legislature to deal with the

issue.

Methyl bromide will be outlawed in 2010 in the United States and many other

countries under an international agreement signed in Montreal in 1993

because of fears that it damages the ozone layer, which protects life on

Earth from harmful solar rays.

Environmentalists also paint it as a danger to farm laborers who work with

it and harvest crops in fields where it has been injected into the soil.

The California Legislature acted in 1984 to ban it by 1991, but farmers

complained that the ban would cause about $500 million a year in losses to

strawberry, nut, cherry, nectarine, grape, cotton and vegetable crops.

The state Department of Food and Agriculture estimated potential losses at

$346 million from smaller harvests, plus $241 million in lost exports,

which the department predicted would eliminate 10,000 jobs.

California currently uses more than 20 million pounds of methyl bromide

annually, about one-seventh of worldwide production. About a fifth of the

state's usage goes to fumigate homes and buildings to kill termites and

other pests.

Methyl bromide fumes, which attack the central nervous and respiratory

systems, bring on dizziness, vomiting and disorientation, and have been

associated with birth defects.

State regulators said the deaths attributed to the gas all occurred because

someone--often a homeless person or burglar--entered a structure during

fumigation or during the several days thereafter when buildings are

supposed to remain vacant until the gas dissipates.

, owner of Exterminating Co. of Burbank, which used the

gas on the studio next to Mero's home, said the building was inspected

before fumigation and was completely enclosed with a tent.

He said he did not see the pipes extending from the wall because they were

obstructed by a chair.

" The [pipe] system installed there is so unusual, " he said. " I've never

seen conduits run from one structure to another in all of the houses I've

inspected. "

It could not be determined Friday what the pipes were used for, and the

building owner could not be reached for comment.

Copyright Los Angeles Times

Use of Powerful Insecticide Fills Air With Controversy

Regulation: Pros and cons of methyl bromide, believed linked to a

Valley coma case, have been argued for years.

By SHARON BERNSTEIN, Times Staff Writer

LA Times, March 23, 1997

Even before Mero of Toluca Lake fell into a coma after alleged

exposure to the fumigant methyl bromide, the highly toxic chemical was the

center of a storm of controversy involving environmentalists, scientists,

politicians and the agriculture and pesticide industries.

The compound, used on farms to fumigate strawberry fields and in cities

to kill termites, is scheduled to be banned worldwide in 2001 because it

damages the protective ozone layer, but remains in use in California, where

farm and chemical interests are lobbying hard to keep it legal.

Ironically, methyl bromide might not have been available for use March 8

when Mero was stricken had state lawmakers and Gov. Pete not

intervened last year to prevent suspension of the chemical's use.

Methyl bromide kills an average of one person per year in Los Angeles

County, according to a top county pesticide regulator, most of them

burglars or transients who enter houses that are being fumigated.

Over the years, hundreds of injuries have been attributed to its use on

farms. Mero, 36, appears to have been poisoned in her own home, which was

connected by several pipes to a nearby building that was being fumigated.

She remained in critical condition Saturday night at St. ph Medical

Center in Burbank.

City Councilman Ferraro has demanded an investigation into Mero's

case, and said Friday that he would ask the council to support better

regulation of the chemical if it is proven to have caused Mero's condition.

County health officials are examining the case, as are state regulators.

" It's tragic, but it often takes a person with a name and face and a

connection to a community to bring home what the issues are, " said

environmentalist Bill , spokesman for the Environmental Working

Group, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that has sought to ban methyl

bromide.

Mero's case " underscores for people just how dangerous this pesticide is, "

said. " It's very volatile and it's very hard to control. "

Two bills regarding the regulation and possible ban of the compound are

expected to come before the state Legislature this year, and a Ventura

County Grand Jury is studying its impact on homes, schools and day-care

centers that are near strawberry fields where the chemical is used.

Just last week, a key panel of scientists demanded that state regulators

improve their methods for measuring methyl bromide in the air and consider

restrictions on the chemical's use.

Still, political views on methyl bromide are so deeply entrenched that

Mero's case has done little to change the views on either side:

Environmentalists say tragedies like Mero's are inevitable, and accuse the

administration of doing an inadequate job of regulation; regulators

and agricultural interests say her condition is a fluke, caused because

exterminators did not know that her house was connected to a building that

was being fumigated.

" Something went wrong, " said Jim Wells, director of the California

Department of Pesticide Regulation. " There are thousands of methyl bromide

applications across the country, and people are not made ill.

" Methyl bromide is an acutely toxic pesticide. . . . That's why it is a

home fumigant and that's why we're so careful about how we control its

use, " he said.

He compared Mero's situation to the cases of people who are killed by

carbon monoxide poisoning from kerosene heaters. " I don't think you should

use [Mero's case] to ban methyl bromide just like you wouldn't ban all use

of kerosene heaters, " Wells said. " These things are all accidents. "

The pest control and agriculture industries have long argued for methyl

bromide's continued use, saying a ban would result in millions of dollars

in increased costs for termite extermination and put crops at risk.

Bowing to those concerns in a special session called by the governor last

year, the Legislature gave methyl bromide manufacturers a grace period to

complete health studies mandated by state law. Without the extension,

methyl bromide use would have been suspended for failure to complete the

studies on time.

" We have very strict regulations in California on how and where methyl

bromide can be used, " said Bob Krauter, spokesman for the California Farm

Bureau, a business group. " We have very good safety records. "

The state requires a buffer zone of 30 feet between private homes and

fields where methyl bromide is applied. In 1991, the state required that

concentrations of the fumigant be lowered when it is used for termite

control in buildings, and it now is used in only about 15% of structural

fumigation.

But some lawmakers, environmentalists and a panel of the state's top

scientists have questioned whether the Department of Pesticide Regulation

has done enough.

" I am concerned about the situation where methyl bromide fumigations occur

very close to schools and homes, " said Pitts, an atmospheric chemist

at the University of California at Irvine who chairs the California

Scientific Review Panel for Toxic Contaminants.

Last Wednesday, Pitts said, state regulators presented the group with a

list of contaminants scheduled for review and possible elimination in

California, and methyl bromide was very low on the list. The panel, which

is set up to review the scientific grounds for conclusions made by

regulators, asked that the fumigant be made a priority.

" I felt that methyl bromide should be very high on that list, " Pitts said.

Assemblyman Fred Keeley (D-Boulder Creek) has held up hearings on the

pesticide regulation department's budget in a key Assembly subcommittee

that he chairs. " I'm holding up their budget until I become convinced

they're doing a better job, " Keeley said in a telephone interview.

" I'm concerned about their pesticide monitoring program " and compliance

with Proposition 65, which requires warnings to the public about hazardous

substances.

Keeley said he is opposed to a plan to phase out a tax on the chemical

industry that supports pesticide regulation, arguing that the money could

be used to seek alternatives to methyl bromide. He plans to introduce a

bill to continue the tax, which is scheduled to be eliminated under a

sunset provision later this year.

State Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford) recently held oversight hearings on the

pesticide agency, and will soon introduce legislation to restrict use of

methyl bromide, according to Kip Lipper, Sher's chief of staff.

" There's a big storm brewing, " Lipper said. " There's a lot of concern

specifically related to methyl bromide. You have a very clear conflict

between the people who use this pesticide and those who feel state controls

don't adequately protect people. "

Copyright Los Angeles Times

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Kert Davies

Environmental Working Group

1718 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 600

Washington, D.C. 20009

kert@... WWWeb: http://www.ewg.org

202-667-6982 fax 202-232-2592

Any opinions expressed are mine and not my employer's.

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