Residents of Fayette and Fulton counties facing health issues they say were caused by the release of chemicals from the Philips Services Corp. (PSC) plant in Fairburn might have more to be concerned about than they first realized.

A laboratory contacted to take and analyze soil samples in the area has declined the job over the lab’s own fear of retaliation by Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD).

A decision last week at a meeting of the recently formed South Fulton/Fayette Community Task Force to have area soil samples professionally taken and tested ran into a roadblock, according to biologist and task force member Dennis Chase.

After contacting a lab to do the work, Chase was told that they would have to decline the job, citing their fear that the company would suffer repercussions from EPD with loss of future business opportunities.

The citizens group says it will continue fighting for the rights of residents they insist were sickened by vapors of the chemical odorant propyl mercaptan and pesticide MOCAP that came from the PSC plant on Ga. Highway 92, said task force Chairman Connie Biemiller.

And though a small fraction of those affected have filed a class-action lawsuit, the overwhelming majority of the more than 400 experiencing what material safety data sheets refer to as exposure to the two chemicals await action by state and federal government agencies.

While EPD did take some actions, including increased permit requirements and a $100,000 negotiated settlement, residents have expressed distrust that the state or federal government has their interests and their families’ health in mind.

Supplanting the efforts of the task force, Fayette County resident Janet Dunn developed a Web site for the emerging task force. Dunn is the wife of Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn.

Now up and running, communitytaskforce.org is providing another medium for affected residents and those far outside the chemical hot zone to gather information and discuss the issues facing the community.

“I’m concerned about this issue and about the environment,” Dunn said. “Between (husband) Greg’s concern and Dennis Chase asking me to speak to some on the task force and try to help out, I thought this would be a way to do that. My goal is to bring as much attention to this as I can.”

To date, Fayette County Emergency Management has accounted for 410 Fayette and Fulton residents who have reported symptoms they believe are related to exposure and overexposure to propyl mercaptan and MOCAP. Of those, 270 are residents of Fayette while 140 reside in Fulton.

Meanwhile, Georgia Division of Public Health has set a Sept. 1 deadline to receive exposure forms for affected residents that will be included in an initial epidemiological report to be compiled by division staff.

Those numbers will become a part of a larger public health consultation that will take a considerable time to amass. The consultation will include adverse health effects, including those indicated on exposure forms submitted after Sept. 1, and a number of other variables involved in the incidents that caused the problems thought to be related to the release of mercaptan and MOCAP into the environment of Fayette and Fulton counties.

Fayette residents can complete an exposure form at admin.co.fayette.ga.us.

Fulton residents can visit www.fairburn.com to complete a similar form. All forms will be forwarded to the state Division of Public Health.

For its part, PSC maintains that while odors did emanate from the plant on Ga. Highway 92 south of Fairburn, those chemicals posed no health risk to Fayette and Fulton residents.

“PSC today reiterated its willingness to continue to work with its regulators and neighbors to prevent further odor problems associated with materials shipped to its Fairburn, Georgia facility,” said PSC spokesperson Barbara Smith. “It is also strongly emphasized that, despite the vocal protestations of a minority of nearby residents, there is no evidence of any health risk associated with the odor incident or the operation of the facility.

“PSC will continue to vigorously defend itself against false information and untrue rumors that the company has harmed its neighbors and the nearby environment, when regulatory inspections have proven otherwise,” Smith said. “Numerous air samples have been taken in and around PSC’s facility. None of those scientific measurements, not a single one, detected anything remotely close to a harmful level. Now that a (class-action) lawsuit has been filed, PSC will vigorously defend itself against these baseless allegations in court and the question of whether there is any basis for these allegations of health risks will be decided there.”

“Further, this week PSC cooperated with additional unscheduled inspections of its facility and the taking of additional samples there for chemical analysis,” Smith said.

“PSC has been informed that results of these samples will be available in the near future and will be shared with the public. PSC stresses that it is confident that those test results will confirm, yet again, that we run a non-hazardous facility,” Smith said.

For their part, South Fulton/Fayette Community Task Force members remain adamant that the health effects experienced by hundreds in the two counties are due to exposure to chemicals that left the plant and entered their neighborhoods. The illnesses came in close proximity, too close, they say, to be coincidence.

What might have been more easily proved in air test sampling performed by Georgia Environmental Protection Division is suspect since the agency has permitting authority but little monitoring capability, combined with what residents believe is a vested interest in protecting industry, not the environment or citizens.

“We’re not going to be deterred because we have a mission,” said task force Chairman Connie Biemiller. “We believe in ourselves and we believe some in government want to do the right thing and we’re waiting for them to step up to the plate.”