The number keeps climbing. More than 750 people in north Fayette and south Fulton counties have reported illnesses they believe are related to exposure to the organophosphate pesticide MOCAP originating at the Philip Services Corp. plant on Ga. Highway 92 near Fairburn.

Georgia Division of Public Health (DPH) and Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) are studying illnesses in the community and samples of chemicals previously located at the plant.

And with the testing process, the Scientific Committee of South Fulton/Fayette Community Task Force is poised with questions related to that process.

DHP is currently compiling information from the first 340 potential exposure forms completed by Fayette and Fulton residents. The forms were initially provided by Fayette County Emergency Management.

The balance of the more than 750 forms completed by residents by the Sept. 1 deadline for inclusion in the Epidemiological Report are being routed to DPH.

The preliminary report update issued Aug. 25 provided a breakdown of the various symptoms experienced by residents downwind of the plant. Those included headache, burning eyes, cough or sore throat, nausea or vomiting, difficulty breathing, nosebleed and other symptoms.

Symptoms are being correlated by gender, age, geographic location and the number of symptoms manifested.

Preliminary results show reports of headache and at least two other symptoms coming primarily during the week of May 14 and extending through the week of July 16.

The geographic location of residents thus far tallied fits inside the previously identified 40-square-mile “hot zone” of exposure, from the city of Fairburn on the north down to central Fayette to the south, from west of Ga. Highway 74 on the west to near Ga. Highway 279 on the east.

Already being contested by affected residents is the statement that “the type and number of symptoms reported among persons who had onset before and after June 29 were generally comparable. Propyl mercaptan received and handled at the plant on June 29 could not have been the cause of adverse health effects before that date,” the report said.

Many residents have reported the identical smell both before and after the June 29 date when PSC reportedly refused to accept four shipments of MOCAP water wash containing propyl mercaptan due to a higher than acceptable concentration.

Not accounted for in the DPH statement was the plant’s reported acceptance of 38 5,000-gallon shipments of the same water wash beginning June 20. Affected residents continue to ask for an explanation for the presence of the odor prior to June 20 but have currently received no answer.

At issue for nearly two months was the MOCAP water wash refused by PSC when the first of four shipments of the material arrived at the plant June 28.

Company officials said they refused to accept the material, apparently because the level of the chemical propyl mercaptan in the MOCAP water wash was at too high a concentration.

The shipments were said to have been returned to the AMVAC plant in Axis, Ala. Test results on MOCAP water wash samples obtained at the AMVAC plant are expected are early as the end of the week. Testing is being conducted by EPD.

A recent sludge sample taken at the PSC plant is also being tested. In an Aug. 31 letter, Division of Public Health Director Stuart Brown and Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch said EPD has completed an initial analysis of sludge samples taken from the PSC plant Aug. 15.

The letter indicated that the amount of MOCAP pesticide found in the sludge, a level of 150 milligrams per kilogram (150 mg/kg), poses no health threat.

“In one sample taken from a small amount of sludge located in the bottom drainpipe of an empty waste storage tank, ethoprop (MOCAP) was tentatively identified by EPD at a concentration of 150 mg/kg. EPD is conducting additional tests on this sample to confirm the concentration of ethoprop. This tank was one of the tanks that initially received the MOCAP waste received from the AMVAC plant in Axis, Ala. The other samples did not detect ethoprop nor any other constituents of concern. While this concentration and small volume of ethoprop does not pose a health threat, it indicates that the PSC facility has not been fully decontaminated of the MOCAP waste. Ethoprop can break down into propyl mercaptan, which has a strong onion-like odor,” the letter said.

Subsequent to the testing, a review of previous odor decontamination efforts and the extent to which residual odors continue, EPD requested that PSC provide a detailed work plan by Sept. 13. The plan is to be prepared by an independent chemical engineer and structured to eliminate the remaining odors and residues associated with the MOCAP waste, the Aug. 31 letter added.

“If the plant operates within current guidelines and restrictions, it is in compliance with state and federal laws that protect the health of the public. We have no evidence that the plant’s ongoing operations pose a health threat to the community,” the letter stated.

“Recent enforcement actions by EPD during July and August require the reduction of plant operations, third-party testing of plant equipment, and significant operational improvements. If EPD identifies a problem, immediate actions will be taken,” Brown and Couch said.

Information on current data reflecting resident’s health issues can be obtained at http://health.state.ga.us/programs/hazards/

Information on the efforts of the Fayette and Fulton communities can be obtained at www.communitytaskforce.org.

Addressing some facets of the state studies, South Fulton/Fayette Community Task Force chemist Lois Speaker questioned the testing methodologies being used.

“By what methods was the ethoprop identified and quantified? Method selection is critical. EPA specifies either gas chromatography with flame photometric detection or gas/liquid chromatography with microcoulometric detection, methods that require highly specialized equipment and skill sets,” Speaker said.

“The threat posed by a material is a function of not only its concentration but also of its chemical nature, inherent toxicity and route of entry into the body,” Speaker said. “For water or sugar or salt or perfume used in the usual ways, a concentration of 150 mg/kg, which is the same as 150 parts per million (ppm), is perfectly acceptable. For a material like ethoprop, 150 ppm is very high and is not safe for anyone or any animal to be around without special protection.”

A waste profile sheet completed by AMVAC in Axis, Ala., in June and addressed to PSC in Fairburn lists the chemical composition of 3,000 gallons of “pesticide production wash water.” The sheet lists water as 99.5-99.8 percent of the contents, chloride salts at 12-15 percent, propyl mercaptan at .009-.1 percent or 525 ppm, MOCAP at .09-0.1 percent or 157 ppm, and ethanol at .09-0.1 percent.

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