Tragedy in Hopewell

Dale Gilbert was delighted to get his job as an operations supervisor at Life Science Products Co., a small Hopewell, Va., firm that manufactured a pesticide called Kepone. His annual salary was $14,500--$3,000 more than he had earned in his previous job in a tobacco plant. Gilbert has paid dearly for his raise. Two months after joining Life Science, the handsome Virginian noticed that his hands had begun to tremble. By last May he had developed pains in his chest and stomach. He was hospitalized in June, and has not worked since. He suffers from liver and spleen damage and has become sterile. The pupil of one of his eyes no longer reacts to light, and he has become abnormally sensitive to noise. There is also a possibility that Gilbert--married and the father of three children--could develop cancer.

Gilbert, 34, is the first diagnosed victim of Life Science's sole product: Kepone. But as testimony before a Senate subcommittee in Washington emphasized last week, dozens of others are suffering from exposure to the deadly pesticide. Since last summer, doctors have treated more than 70 people--Life Science employees and members of their families--for overexposure to Kepone; some 30 have been hospitalized. More victims of this environmental disaster may yet be discovered. For 16 months before it was closed last July, Life Science sent its toxic wastes through the Hopewell sewage treatment system and into the James River, one of the area's sources of fish and shellfish.

Unheeded Warning. Kepone is a white powder that has proved potent against ants, roaches and potato bugs. It was developed by Allied Chemical Corp. in 1951 and manufactured, off and on, in Allied's plant in Hopewell. At various times, the company arranged with two other firms, Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp. of Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Nease Chemical Co. of State College, Pa., to produce it. Then in 1974 Allied contracted with Life Science, a new firm started by two former Allied employees, William Moore and Virgil Hundtofte, to produce the pesticide.

Allied officials informed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about Kepone's toxicity as early as 1961 and warned Life Science that the pesticide, which can be absorbed through the skin, should be handled with care. The warning seems to have gone largely unheeded. Gilbert insists that neither he nor his fellow workers were ever told that Kepone could be hazardous. Unaware of the danger, many of the employees did not bother to wear the rubber gloves they had been issued. Others ate their lunches off tables covered with Kepone dust. Says Gilbert: "Nobody said this stuff was dangerous. I was told it was not harmful."

The alarm was not sounded, in fact, until a local doctor, puzzled by Gilbert's symptoms, sent a sample of his blood to the U.S. Public Health Service's Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Doctors there discovered the high Kepone level and notified Dr. Robert Jackson, the state epidemiologist and acting director of Virginia's bureau of preventive medical services. Jackson visited the Life Science plant, witnessed what he described as incredibly lax and sloppy conditions, and examined ten employees. Seven had symptoms similar to Gilbert's. Since then, doctors have examined 131 people who worked for Life Science at various times. More than half showed symptoms of Kepone poisoning, which include brain and liver damage, slurred speech, loss of memory and erratic eye movement. Recent studies show that Kepone also causes cancer in laboratory animals.

The Life Science plant was promptly closed down. Because traces of Kepone have been found in fish and shellfish from the James, authorities have closed the river--and its tributaries--from Richmond to Chesapeake Bay to fishermen. They are also keeping a watchful eye on the families of former Life Science employees; all of them were exposed to Kepone dust brought into their homes in the workers' clothing. Gilbert's wife Jan, 33, was recently hospitalized for liver and spleen problems, and although the Gilberts' daughter seems free of symptoms, the couple's two boys have both had minor eye problems.

Unused Authority. Gilbert and eleven of his former co-workers are suing Allied and Hooker for a total of $28.9 million (since they are collecting workmen's compensation from Life Science's insurer, they are prohibited under Virginia law from suing that company). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Life Science for four safety violations and fined the company $16,500, an action that the firm is contesting. Federal, state and local officials are also acting. The Senate's Agricultural Research and General Legislation Subcommittee will study the testimony at the hearings to determine how the Kepone disaster could have happened--and how similar events can be avoided. Virginia's Governor Mills E. Godwin Jr., the General Assembly, and the city of Hopewell are looking into legislation that will strengthen the safeguards against contamination of the environment by toxic chemicals.

That kind of legislation is badly needed on a national level. Chemists are introducing new compounds at the rate of more than 1,000 a year, and only careful screening can spot potentially hazardous substances before they get into the environment. But new laws alone are not enough to protect workers and the public from exposure to toxic chemicals. What is also needed is a willingness on the part of various agencies to communicate with each other and to act. Federal, state and local officials had ample authority to protect the Life Science workers from Kepone poisoning. No one exercised this authority until it was too late.

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