It is being called a “National Conversation” that is designed to keep Americans safe from wrongful exposure to chemicals used in the United States. South Fulton and Fayette Community Task Force and Environmental Institute of Georgia (EIOG) Chairman Connie Thomas is one of only two community members selected from across America for the 30-person panel who will serve on the year-long national work group.

The Chemical Emergencies Work Group for the National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures is a program of the national Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR).

The 30-person panel, made up nearly exclusively of government, industry and academic members, will determine how the U.S. can meet public health goals and achieve the ATSDR/NCEH (National Center for Environmental Health) vision that the United States will use and manage chemicals in ways that are safe and healthy for all people. There are more than 80,0000 chemicals marketed in the United States.

A clinical social worker by profession, Thomas said the impetus for the National Conversation came about after hearings in the House of Representatives on the inadequacies of ATSDR nationwide. Asked if she knew why she was selected as one of only two community members, Thomas said she had received a number of nominations and that she had been rather vocal at the June kick-off meeting in Baltimore.

“I’m going to be there as a voice for the communities that have been harmed and to make sure we‘re not just there talking about theory,” Thomas said. “We’ll be there talking about real people, real lives, and to establish a plan to reform the way toxic emergencies are handled so counties can have immediate relief and so that they are assisted by valid science and valid medical resources.”

The four-part goal of the National Conversation is to develop an action agenda for strengthening the public health approach to chemical exposures. This is expected to be accomplished by identifying gaps, redundancies, priorities and solutions, improving the role and work of NCEH and ATSDR, collaborating with other federal agencies and engaging with non-federal partners such as state and local agencies, communities, non-governmental organizations, academia and the private sector.

Thomas was thrust into the controversy surrounding the chemical exposure of hundreds of residents in north and central Fayette County and south Fulton County during the summer of 2006.

Her efforts led to the formation of the very vocal South Fulton and Fayette Community Task Force and a subsequent Health Consultation by ATSDR and Georgia Division of Public Health where those agencies eventually acknowledged that residents had become sickened by an organophosphate pesticide “wash water” from the Philip Services Corp. plant on Ga. Highway 92 plant near Fairburn and just north of Fayette County.

The chemical cocktail with a telltale “onion odor” caused numerous reactions and illnesses that were consistent with both chronic and acute exposure to the pesticide.

For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government in December 2008 was persuaded to change its tune of Gulf War Syndrome. Having always maintained that the illnesses were more psychological than physical, a 432-page medical report confirmed the physical basis of the syndrome. The main culprit behind Gulf War Syndrome was found to be organophosphate pesticides.

Led by Thomas, the task force efforts also led to PSC’s withdrawal of its wastewater permit application, a move that essentially shut down most of its operations. PSC also settled out of court last year on a $4 million class-action lawsuit on the matter.

Thomas also serves as chair of EIOG. The non-profit is the trustee of a 310-acre nature preserve on Bohannon Road owned by the city of Fairburn. EIOG also sponsors Fayette County Earth Day event and the county’s Rivers Alive clean-ups.

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