Apr 5, 2000 - 02:10 AM
Tampa Tribune
Shafey firing raises issue of autonomy
By JAN HOLLINGSWORTH
Four days before health officials launched an investigation
into Omar Shafey's travel records, the state epidemiologist fired off a
prophetic e-mail to his new boss entitled ``ethics.''
In it, Shafey, 38, alluded to continuing discord over his
refusal in January 1999 to alter the conclusions of a controversial Medfly
report.
``The department can retaliate against me by not
cooperating with other surveillance goals ... and/or fire me for some other
perceived violation of procedures,'' Shafey wrote in the Dec. 6 memo.
However, added Shafey, he was a scientist in a career
service position who could not be fired without cause.
Less than three months later, health officials accused the
epidemiologist of falsifying his travel records and fired him.
The circumstances surrounding Shafey's dismissal raise
questions about the autonomy of government scientists acting in the public's
interest and whether their work can be effectively shielded from political
pressures.
In a complaint filed last week with the U.S. Department of
Labor, Shafey's lawyers contend state health officials retaliated against him
for airing his concerns about the health risks of crop dusting urban populations
with malathion bait to combat the Mediterranean fruit fly.
The crop-killing pest poses a serious threat to the state's
agriculture industry. Widespread aerial spraying has long been viewed as the
cheapest, most effective remedy, even in the face of growing opposition to the
practice.
The administrative action, filed under federal
whistleblower statutes, alleges Shafey's new bureau chief, David Johnson,
suggested in November ``that he should conform his professional
recommendations'' to the official policy of the health department ``or consider
leaving.''
Health officials won't comment on the dismissal, citing
pending litigation.
But department records obtained by The Tampa Tribune
document Shafey's meteoric fall from grace, which culminated March 2 with the
nationally respected scientist being escorted from the agency's headquarters by
a police officer.
Some of the more than 1,000 pages of investigative reports,
e- mails and memos shed light on growing tensions between Shafey - a former
Peace Corps volunteer and Greenpeace activist - and his superiors.
Much of the conflict revolved around the department's
attempts to manage the information Shafey acquired and disseminated as he
attempted to document incidents of pesticide poisoning around the state.
But health officials made no mention of escalating
professional disagreements in a March 1 letter charging Shafey with falsifying
travel records and engaging in conduct unbecoming a public employee.
The latter charge stemmed from a February e-mail Shafey
sent to Geoffrey Calvert, a senior medical officer at the national Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. In it, Shafey noted that potassium chloride used
in the state's first execution by lethal injection had not been approved for
that use by the Food and Drug Administration.
Health officials called the correspondence
``inappropriate'' and ``outside the scope of your job duties and outside the
jurisdiction of the Department of Health.''
Calvert, in his e-mail reply to Shafey, called it ``another
example of your stellar sleuthing and your tenacious efforts to identify the
truth.''
Ironically, it is accusations of deception that form the
foundation of the charges against Shafey.
ON DEC. 10, SHARON HEBER, head of the agency's division of
environmental health, asked the Inspector General's office to look into a trip
Shafey took to Immokalee in early November. Shafey was to investigate a methyl
bromide spill that injured dozens of farmworkers as well as rescue workers who
responded to the scene.
According to the Inspector General's report, Heber was
``concerned about the appropriateness of his travel'' because Shafey stayed in
Miami rather than in two closer alternatives - Fort Myers or Naples.
Heber, one of two health officials who altered the draft of
Shafey's Medfly report to discount a link between aerial Medfly spraying and
documented illnesses, cited state rules that call for employees ``to select the
most economical method of travel.''
Investigators concluded that although Miami was a longer
commute, Shafey ended up saving the state a total of $47.11 by staying with a
friend instead of paying for a motel room.
Nonetheless, the three-month investigation continued.
Shafey's records, including parking stubs, toll receipts,
phone calls and e-mail, were meticulously examined to reconstruct his movements
during the four-day trip.
Investigators concluded the epidemiologist had not traveled
to Immokalee on one of those days, although an attorney Shafey met with
confirmed during two separate interviews that he had.
The attorney did admit, after some prodding, ``that she
could have been wrong about the day, but she still thinks the meeting was
Friday,'' according to the investigator's interview summary.
Investigators then moved on to inspect Shafey's next trip,
a six-day conference in Chicago.
An examination of those records led to the conclusion that
Shafey had worked three-fourths of one day and received reimbursement for a full
day's expenses ``resulting in an overpayment of $12.50.''
According to the report, investigators never asked Shafey
about the Chicago trip or the $12.50 discrepancy that resulted in one of the
most serious charges, against him.
THE NEWS of Shafey's firing rocked the participants of the
Pesticide Poisoning Surveillance Program, a CDC-funded project that Shafey had
coordinated since its 1998 inception.
By most accounts, he is a careful scientist of unquestioned
integrity.
``I have found him to be one of the most professional, well
organized and socially responsible individuals I have ever met,'' said Dennis
Penzell, medical director of the Suncoast Community Health Centers in Ruskin.
Some members of Shafey's pesticide working group,
consisting of physicians and representatives of industries where pesticides may
pose an occupational hazard, said they believe he may have been too
conscientious for his own good.
That sentiment is echoed by Marc Lappe, a former California
health department toxicologist who warned in 1980 that aerial Medfly spraying
posed a public health risk.
Lappe's draft report, like Shafey's, was altered by his
superiors. ``I think there's a pattern of behavior in which large bureaucracies
attempt to protect themselves from having to take unpopular actions and from
having to be responsible to the people they serve,'' said Lappe, who testified
before the California State Assembly about his experience.
Lappe resigned from the California health department in the
wake of the Medfly controversy there, but not before officials stripped him of
all involvement in policy decisions or discussions.
THE BEGINNING OF the end for Shafey appears to be November,
when Johnson took over as bureau chief.
That was the same month Shafey took the investigated trips
and the same month the CDC published an article supporting the epidemiologist's
original conclusions that aerial spraying malathion bait to eradicate the
crop-killing Medfly was linked to reported illnesses.
In his interview with the travel investigators, Johnson
called Shafey ``a hard worker'' and ``a smart man with a lot of talent.''
But, he added, ``He has some difficulty in following the
rules and tends to go around them.''
Shafey's annual job evaluations mentioned no problems with
the epidemiologist's ability to work within the system, commending him for his
progress in developing the pesticide surveillance program.
Nonetheless, Shafey found his professional responsibilities
diminishing.
In late February, Johnson informed Shafey that he could no
longer ``perform the classification of acute illness'' in cases of pesticide
poisoning.
It was Shafey's classification of spray-zone-related
illnesses that prompted the controversial Medfly report.
Shafey's removal from classification duties brought a swift
response from CDC, the state's partner in the surveillance program.
``Who is responsible for this decision?'' wrote the CDC's
Calvert to Johnson in an e-mail the following day.
Calvert said the classification system is fundamental to
the integrity of the program and stressed the importance of it being ``conducted
in an objective and scientific manner.''
``Please explain how you will ensure that the
classifications are conducted in a high quality and timely fashion.''
Calvert has not, to date, received an answer from the
department.
Less than two weeks later, Heber presented Shafey with a
letter informing him of the department's allegations and its intent to terminate
him.
Heber reported that Shafey gave her ``a very aggressive
stare'' and closed the door to her office, shutting out Johnson on the other
side.
The next day, Shafey was placed on administrative leave
pending an internal investigation of the incident.
A Tallahassee police officer was summoned to escort Shafey
from the building. According to the police report, the officer found him ``to be
calm but upset.''
An additional charge of ``abusive language'' was added to
the roster when the epidemiologist called Johnson, among other things, ``a
worm'' and ``excrement.''
A hearing in which Shafey was to be given an opportunity to
respond to the charges was canceled and he was terminated March 3.
Jan Hollingsworth covers the environment and can be reached
at (813) 259-7607 or jhollingsworth@tampatrib.com
See SHAFEY, Page 6 ‹ Š From Page 1
[ Government
and Pesticides Site Map ] * [ Pesticide
Articles
Site Map ] * [ Get Set Site Map ]