OT: Rpt. from Dr Richard Lipsey, Forensic toxicologist (St Bernard Parish)

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Report from Dr. Richard L. Lipsey, Forensic Toxicologist and former Adjunct Professor, Univ. N. Florida, Div. Continuing Educ., HazMat/OSHAon his findings upon his inspection of the ship, Scotia Prince.

 

Dr Shoemaker and Dr Lipsey are true WARRIORS doing their best to help the people in New Orleans....

 

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Mr. Carsten. Here is the report I promised..............

 

I inspected the ship, Scotia Prince, and talked to many of the residents on

board the ship Feb 11 and 12, and saw the preliminary data from Dr. Ritchie

Shoemaker's study regarding the health of ship board workers. The Scotia

Prince workers had few if any symptoms and all of the St Bernard Parish

residents, who were living on the Scotia Prince, said they felt better on the ship

than when they were walking in the neighborhoods in St Bernard. They were

breathing filtered, safe air on board the Scotia Prince and getting showers and

three meals a day.

 

I was shocked to find out that the Habitat for Humanity volunteers that

I toured with, and who were trained by FEMA, had been told that mold cannot

hurt you and you do not need any protective equipment. This was totally wrong

and I gave them the 800 phone number of the lab that could overnight the

proper safety equipment to them c/o the Scotia Prince since none of them had

mailing addresses. Highly pathogenic endotoxins from gram negative bacteria were

found earlier by NIOSH scientists and personnel from the Louisiana Dept. of

Health and the levels were 20 times above normal on average. The levels were

not only high inside the flooded homes but also in the ambient air in the

neighborhood. Gram negative bacteria all produce endotoxins, similar to

mycotoxins used in germ warfare at very high levels to kill people within minutes, and include Legionella bacteria, Salmonella, E. coli from human sewage, etc.

 

I inspected almost every area and neighborhood in St. Bernard Parish on

Friday and Saturday and took samples and I took pictures, which I will send

in the next e-mail in a few minutes. Most of the residents doing remediation

of their homes were wearing protective equipment and dragging contaminated

debris to the curbside. I inspected many homes and the stench of rotting

materials was in every home and there was significant water damage and high levels

of pathogenic molds and bacteria in every home since the homes had been under

water for days and have been growing mold for months. There were snakes

living in some of the homes and marsh grass in most of the homes and many had

marsh grass on top of the roof indicating how deep the water was in those areas

of St. Bernard Parish. None of the homes were safe to occupy or even be inside

for any length of time without personal protective equipment including a

HEPA respirator, rubber gloves, goggles and a Tyvek suit.

Most of the homes had extremely high levels, the highest I have ever

seen in my 35 years of testing homes for toxic mold. The levels will be in

the tens of millions of spores per gram of dirt on furniture or on wallpaper,

etc. and the most common pathogenic mold appeared to be Stachybotrys, which

can produce mycotoxins and is sometimes called the " black mold ", the most

toxic of all toxic molds. It is 10 times more toxic that the most pathogenic of

the Penicillium or Aspergillus molds which also can produce mycotoxins.

Stachbotrys is uncommon in contaminated homes and I rarely find it in even the

most sick of the sick buildings. Stachybotrys produces tricothocenes and highly

purified forms were developed by the U.S. Army and never used and have since,

probably been destroyed.

 

Many of the homes must be bulldozed and burned since they cannot be

salvaged. The Murphy Oil spill has contaminated 30 to 40 square blocks of St.

Bernard Parish so EPA has declared it a contaminated zone requiring

remediation. None of the Scotia Prince residents should return even to the neighborhoods without proper protective equipment much less return to their destroyed homes and try to live in them.

 

 

Dr. Richard L. Lipsey ( 904 )398-2168

550 Water St, #1230, Jacksonville, FL 32202

Forensic Toxicologist and former Adjunct Professor,

Univ. N. Florida, Div. Continuing Educ., HazMat/OSHA

Fla. Comm. College Jax, Institute of Occ. Safety & Health,

Clinical Toxicology Advisory Comm., Florida Poison Info Center, Jax.

_www.richardlipsey.com_ (http://www.richardlipsey.com/)