The difference between spinach and onions

Nearly everybody in the country has heard about the E. coli outbreak responsible for more than 170 illnesses and at least one death in 25 states, all attributed to eating fresh spinach.

The FDA quickly responded to the emergency and zeroed in on three farms in Salinas County, Calif., as the source of the tainted spinach. The response was rapid, comprehensive and noteworthy. Media coverage has been prolific.

Yet more than 750 people living in the infinitely smaller area of south Fulton and north Fayette counties, members of your community, have battled illnesses directly related to what they believe was the onion-like chemical odor coming from a waste treatment plant in the area.

Of those affected, at least one was told he would have died had he not been hospitalized in time.

The response by some local, state and federal agencies to the plight of those suffering illnesses has been curiously slow up to now.

We will all see if that changes. We’re waiting to see if Georgia Division of Public Health provides a comprehensive assessment of the real problem, or if they follow the thus far piecemeal actions of Georgia EPD and federal EPA.

This newspaper will continue to keep you informed on the unfolding actions of Public Health.

We will continue to report on the actions of Fulton County and EPD as regards the active permits currently held by the plant.

We will keep you informed on the status of EPA actions since four shipments rejected by the Philip Services plant contained astronomically high levels of chemicals suspected in the illnesses.

These and other shipments, according to the bills of lading, originated at Bayer CropScience in Axis, Ala., and were shipped here care of AMVAC, also of Axis.

As for EPD and EPA, they are regulatory agencies that write and issue regulations once legislators pass environmental laws.

The problem with state and federal regulations is that they are written in favor of corporate interests and, again curiously, to the detriment of the taxpaying public.

Meanwhile, state and federal legislative oversight is a joke. Legislators, regulators, chemical and waste companies will probably disagree with this assessment. Great.

Those who will not disagree are the residents throughout America that have been subjected to myriad types of chemical and biological emissions from waste treatment facilities, manufacturing facilities, landfills, sludge applications and the military since the dawn of the Green Revolution.

A sad fact of life in America, and around the world, is that we have been saturated in an often undetectable chemical bath for so long that we don’t think about it, realize it or react to it. We simply accept it without question.

Regulations are geared to the expectation that permitting agencies will help chemical and waste generating companies conduct business. Resulting enforcement actions are sterile.

But there is something else, something bigger. Politicians and federal agencies can clamor endlessly about the real dangers of E. coli, but they won’t speak above a whisper about the real dangers posed by their corporate masters.

Considering corporate lobbying efforts, campaign contributions and board memberships once out of office, the public doesn’t stand a chance.

For those locally and across America who suffer short and long-term illness courtesy of the chemical and waste industries, the damage they experience is all too real.

But miracles do happen. And here locally, with enough public will and public pressure, there may be an adequate state and federal response to the illnesses of more than 750 children and adults.

After all, the affected residents of Fayette and Fulton are more persistent than most and they clearly know the difference between spinach and onions.