Pesticide Poisoning - Dursban
Crozier/Maiangowi family
devastated by pesticide poisoning
in Scottsdale, Arizona
[ The
Story ] [ Read
More about Dursban ] [ Letter to the
President ]
Three of uncounted thousands suffering because of dursban poisoning
[ Symptoms of Pesticide Poisoning ]
[ Pesticide Articles Site Map ] * [ Pesticide Letters Site Map ] * [ Site Map ]
On November 29, 1996, our family - Joe Crozier, wife Yvette
Maiangowi, and four-year-old son James Maiangowi - moved into a home in
Scottsdale, Arizona that we had bought the month before. We were healthy when we
moved in, but over the next few months we all became sick with many serious
ailments, including digestive, respiratory and neurological problems.
On May 20, 1997 Joe saw a medical doctor who specializes in
environmental illness (ELI). He diagnosed pesticide poisoning.
Clinical evaluation and laboratory tests showed that
chemicals had damaged our immune systems. An environmental engineer found
airborne Dursban (chlorpyrifos), a neurotoxic pesticide. She also measured soil
concentrations of Dursban, in two places, 2.5 and 8.5 times the Arizona
Administrative Code limits.
Arizona Structural Pest Control Commission records showed
that on nine occasions from March 3, 1993 to November 2, 1995, a pesticide
company hired by the previous owner sprayed more than 758 gallons of five
different pesticides-in the attic, in the walls, and under the foundation.
Convincing medical and epidemiological evidence links
pesticide poisoning with long-term neurological illnesses such as depression,
headaches, reduced concentration and decision-making abilities, visual
disturbances, memory impairment, neurobehavioral effects; allergies and asthma;
sensitivity to chemical odors previously tolerated; immune system diseases.
Our doctor put us on a chemical detoxification program
using nutritional supplements. We switched to organic foods to minimize further
poisoning by pesticides. We tested allergic to numerous foods and inhalants, and
started immunotherapy. We can only tolerate low-toxicity cleaning products and
must operate air purifiers continually in our living space. We've all developed
sensitivities to many substances that never bothered us before, including
perfume, conventional cleaning products, swimming-pool chlorine, phenol,
formaldehyde, and the pesticides in widespread use throughout the Phoenix area.
Our digestive, respiratory and neurological symptoms recur if we stray too much
from our rotation-elimination diets.
No government agency-federal, state, county, municipal-has
helped us. They all say they have no authority or jurisdiction in these matters.
34 months after being driven from our home, 12 government
departments and 200 lawyers later, with evidence of causation and liability so
complete and convincing that a top US Environmental Protection Agency health
statistician - the nation's expert on the epidemiology of Dursban poisoning -
declared the quality of our documentation to be "excellent," we aren't
any closer to seeing justice served for ourselves and our son.
This situation has cost us many tens of thousands of
dollars. Prolonged acute pesticide poisoning is associated with many long-term
health problems, and the cost of coping with these is much higher still. In
October 1998 a real estate appraiser told us the home is uninhabitable,
worthless. Our savings ran out three months ago-we're now bankrupt. We can no
longer afford medical and each month without the needed treatment increases the
probability that our immune system damage will be permanent.
If justice is not done in our case, what hope is there for
all the people injured by pesticides who don't know in detail who, what, when,
where or how it happened? Who may not even realize their illnesses are due to
pesticides? Public service employees won't help these people. Lawyers won't help
these people. Who will help them? What greater good is served by not permitting
these people to secure justice for the violence committed against them?
Dear Steve:
Pesticides poisoned my family three years ago. We're pretty
well wiped out-- our health and finances and family life are in ruins--and we
have no idea when we'll put it all back together again, if ever. Please
see http://www.PoisonedInParadise.com.
We posted our story on the web several weeks ago, in a last-ditch attempt to find someone--anyone--who will help us obtain restitution from our poisoners. We refuse to believe that in a nation of 275 million people, with millions of lawyers and politicians and government officials, there is not one single person with the decency to recognize a terrible wrong and the power to make it right. Our eight-year-old son's immune system is very badly damaged, and he has a sharply elevated risk of developing autoimmune disease if we don't get medical treatment for him.
People
tell us that we won't win, that we'll give up from exhaustion and despair. We're
aware that pesticide poisoning victims face bleak odds when they try to get
justice from the courts or the government. (It's a mystery to us why the U.S.,
which was founded out of a people's outrage against injustice, has sunk so low.
This nation used to be a shining beacon in a dark world.) But as parents we
don't believe we have the ethical and moral right to sit just around and do
nothing and wait for our son to get non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and die.
Anyway, why I'm writing this is to ask if it would be
possible to get a copy of your CD on integrated pest management sometime this
week. Naturally, I'd pay the extra charges for rush delivery. The reason is that
since we posted our site, people are asking us about alternatives to spraying
homes with 400- 500 gallons of organophosphates during construction. We know a
little about boric acid and barrier sand and diatomaceous earth, but not very
much. Our research focus has been on the health effects of pesticides, and the
legal aspects, and the tragic extinguishment of the once-proud American Rule of
Law, at least for victims of chemical violence.
We'll never be as expert as you in this area, but we feel
we should know a little more than we do at present. Besides, if by some chance
we succeed in getting a hearing with, say Senator John McCain or some such
person of power and influence, they might ask some probing questions about IPM.
Yours very truly,
Joe Crozier
P.S. Your site contains such a great wealth of information.
We've checked out many of the pages and links. We mention you and your company
on our own website (page 51 of Report.PDF). I hope that's okay.
http://www.poisonedinparadise.com/
April, 2001 - Additional Sensitivity to Poisons:
My son James was over at a friend's house most of this afternoon. When I picked him up this evening, he was in terrible shape: nose running steadily, very dark eye circles, very low in energy, and very inattentive. He didn't have any of those symptoms when I dropped him off.
At first I thought he was having an allergic reaction to dog hair, since his friend's family just got a new dog six days ago. However, he hasn't had allergic reactions to any other dogs before, as far as we know.
Then he told me that whenever the dog came close to him he started coughing. This is not a typical reaction to animal dander. Yvette has suggested that he might be reacting to a flea collar or flea dip. The more I think about it, the more sense this makes. We know that he's still extremely sensitive to pesticides as a result of the poisoning in Arizona. Tonight I gave him an Epson salt bath, and some tri-salts, and a Tyler detoxification factors capsule. I had vacuumed the whole house earlier today, and washed all the bedclothes with hot water and tannic acid. Also I cranked up the AustinAir cleaner in the bedroom to the second-highest setting. I hope all of this is helping his immune system to re-stabilize after today's hit. I did notice that the tri-salts didn't work to reduce his symptoms. This makes me even more certain that it was chemicals that triggered this reaction, and not bioaerosols such as pet dander, dust mites, or tree pollen.
Steve, do you know what's commonly used in flea collars and flea dip? Is it something similar to Dursban TC or LO? We know that these collars are lethal. The manager of the office where Yvette used to work (in Phoenix) is fairly certain that one of them killed his dog. The dog died of cancer.
I read through chapter 18 of The Best Control, but didn't see the active or "inert" ingredients of collars and dips mentioned anywhere.
Regards,
Joe
P.S. I left a message with the parents of James's friend tonight. Maybe when they call back they can shed some more light on this.
Top