November 07, 2009
What's Inside:
Photo by August Kryger / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo
Several Clarksdale, Mo., residents said the distribution of chromium-containing sludge onto fields was a common practice in the town. ‘They spread it within a half-mile of my place,’ said Clarksdale resident Roger Veal.
DEKALB COUNTY, Mo. — Chuck Tripp still recalls the odor that permeated Clarksdale on days that a sludge was spread over nearby farm fields.
“It smelled like death,” he said while dining Thursday at the Hill Top Stop in Stewartsville. “I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now.”
Mr. Tripp lived on Clarksdale’s south side for more than 25 years and was familiar with the agricultural use of sludge from a St. Joseph tannery as a protein-rich fertilizer. A lawsuit claims the sludge contained a compound called chromium 6 that causes health problems.
“We caught the brunt of it,” he said of the odor. “There were several people in town who did not like it.”
In the late 1990s, Mr. Tripp wondered what environmental hazards could have resulted from the sludge, which was applied to farms in Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton and DeKalb counties. He’s aware of two fairly large farms west of Stewartsville that received the sludge.
“At that time, no one wanted to listen to you,” he added. “I knew they could not take those chemicals out.”
Mr. Tripp — who now lives in rural Stewartsville — said he knows of no one who has wanted to move from the area or who has suffered unexplained health issues.
Roger Veal of rural Clarksdale spent the day using a backhoe to dig a basement. He estimates that smells from sludge have been common to the area for much of the decade. He knows of a neighbor who had the material spread on his fields.
To Mr. Veal, it’s just a typical smell a person is bound to encounter in a farming community.
“They spread within a half mile of my place,” he said. “For a day or two, you kind of notice it.”
Becky Kelly, another DeKalb County resident, told the News-Press her neighbors have spread the sludge on their property for a decade and that she contracted breast cancer last year.
“I could not open my windows each summer because of the toxic smell — and I don’t have air conditioning,” she said.
A neighbor complained to her about a phone call she made asking Prime Tanning to cease the application.
Medical tests have determined that her cancer is environmental rather than genetic, she added.
Chris Whitley, a spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency office in Kansas City, Kan., said the agency has one letter on file from 1993 that complained of odors related to spreading sludge.
The EPA has no information from testing to suggest that chromium 6 is potentially responsible for brain tumors, although Mr. Whitley said an investigation will continue.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has not responded to several requests from the News-Press for comment.
Ray Scherer can be reached
at rscherer@npgco.com.
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Kind of makes you think about going vegan or organic or something, doesn't it?
Yeah, Trixie - going vegan and eating grains and vegetables grown in the fields that have been treated. That doesn't take into consideration the chemicals used to create a longer shelf-life, more intense colors and uniformity. Have you noticed that an apple sure doesn't taste like an apple any more?
These are the first stages of us polluting our environment beyond our repair. We shouldn't be saying save our earth, it should be save ourselves....
If it is these chemicals causing brain tumors, why don’t the workers at the tanning plant have a rash of brain tumors?
Aren’t they breathing the highest concentration of the chemicals?
What we need are a few more lawyers looking into this. The term ambulance chaser comes to mind.
What you put into the air and ground will eventually find its way into the population whether systemically from food or being airborne.
Enough documentation exists on chromium 6 to raise concerns and when personal choice exists, eliminating its use appears the safest option.
On April 17, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that carbon dioxide emissions endanger "the health and welfare of current and future generations."
CO2 is a naturally occurring gas that humans exhale.
Liberals should be encouraged to do their duty in protecting our environment by not breathing one day every week.
WW:
Excellent idea. Why didn't we think of that sooner?
Perhaps CO2 emissions from man made products are different than the naturally occuring gas we exhale.
Could it be that all the toxins we inhale or ingest are exhaled with that naturally occuring CO2...
What kind of consequences are there for lawyers who make virulent accusations and spread negative publicity on innocent businesses causing irreconcilable harm? Indeed there ought to be dire monetary consequences to any so-called legal entities making claims that are not fully substantiated. I am not saying that E. Brokovich has done such, but if she or anyone else has, let them be accountable. For all I know, their accusations may be true, but how many are there that are not?
The important part is to get to the real causes, not how much legal money can be made by less-than-ethical lawyers making accusations along the way. Let those opportunist lawyers pay recompense for wrongful or unsubstantiated accusations. They shouldn't be allowed to walk away saying, "Oh well, I guess I was wrong", and move on to their next victim.
At least the concern of all of us that have been complaining about this sludge for years and not seeing any tests performed will finally get the answers we have been waiting for. Thank you Erin Brokovich!
FYI: I am sure that the employees at Prime Tanning wear PPE according to OSHA regulations when performing their job duties for their 40 hours/week exposure. (I wish I only had to deal with it 40 hrs/wk....)
ww & dalearch - What does CO2 have to do with chromium 6 contamination.
Would either of you care to volunteer for a study on the use of chromium 6 on your foods or environmental areas.
dalearch-
If you watched the news last night you would have seen a worker interviewed that has a rash and said others had too.
Why doesn't everyone out here stop slamming on liberals, lawyers,etc, and focus on the real issues: these toxins were allegedly in this sludge being given away for "free" to farmers. Nothing in this life is truly free. It is unfortunate that we have so many people suffering from these sins. I'm sure those in the Kirschner Addition are tied to this and this is all just the tip of the iceberg. If anyone watched the movie "Erin Brockovich" you would have seen that those people trusted what they were told. Look what happened. Thank goodness for her and what her relentlessness uncovered and helped so many people. Have your opinion, but if this was YOU or your FAMILY suffering this way, perhaps you'd be more sympathetic. It amazes me how quick people are to be negative and on the side of anyone other than Erin or the attorneys as you automatically assume they are vultures just in it for the money. Even if were their motiviation, which I do not think is the sole motivation, so what? If it helps those suffering be able to get answers and resolution then good. Doesn't everyone out here expect to be paid for doing their jobs??
There is much more to come and be uncovered. Let's wait to see what the end result is before condemning either side.
Let's all be sympathetic to our fellow human beings..I wouldn't wish what they are going through. God Bless them all.
this so called toxic sludge was used in 4 counties but cameron is the only one with a high number of brain tumors and cancers which raises the question why would you stop looking for another answer just because one person says they have the answer obviously there are more answers out there that need to be found...and yes i live in one of the counties in the country
How do you know that Cameron is the only place with a high number of brain tumors and cancers? Perhaps this is just the beginning of the unraveling....(I hope I'm wrong, but who's to say at this point?)
RH:
I don’t live in St. Joe so I couldn’t have watched the news last night.
All I did was ask a common sense question. Even if the workers in the plant do wear protective equipment, why don’t the employees in surrounding businesses have problems?
When I did live in St. Joe and drove down Lake Avenue (or whatever that street is) the whole area down there smelled like a sewer.
dalearch: if you dont live in st. joe, where do you live?
donaldo:
Prairie Village, Kansas.
Im curious, what sort of PPE would prevent chemicals such as Chromium 6 exposure? As a past employee of Prime, I can attest to what we were required to wear. It consisted of ear plugs, eye protection and a rubber apron. Im sure that it takes so little exposure to receive a deadly dose, that every employee did in fact get it.
Yes, some people would get rashes, it was generally on the forearms. It was a result of constantly being in contact with the leather as it came off a conveyor belt. We would hand stack the leather upon a pallet and due to this there was nearly constant friction of bare skin on very hot (approx 120 degree) leather. But in general it was limited to fairer complected employees. The application of lotion in most cases cleared it up.
Catfish, I can personally account that while I sometimes had a forty hour work week, fifty and yes sometimes sixty hour weeks were there too. Twelve hour shifts can add up pretty fast, especially when it is generally labor intensive.
I only hope that the true cause of this comes to light. While I am not tanking sides as of just yet, I cant help but notice that now Prime has been labeled, all investigation has come to a literal standstill. There is a dozen factories that create noxious byproducts; Omnium, Interstate, Deffenbaugh, Triumph, Lakeland and Woodbury to name a few. The stock yards also make quite a smell. But it is one thing for a company to inherently smell bad and quite another to claim that 'Prime smells bad therefore they must be responsible for the rise in cancer.'