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Sunday, May 19, 2013
Marine who dumped toxins felt illness was payback
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) ? Ron Poirier couldn't escape the feeling that his cancer was somehow a punishment.
As a young Marine electronics technician at Camp Lejeune in the mid-1970s, the Massachusetts man figured he'd dumped hundreds of gallons of toxic solvents onto the ground. It would be decades before he realized that he had unknowingly contributed to the worst drinking water contamination in the country's history ? and, perhaps, to his own premature death.
"It's just a terrible thing," the 58-year-old veteran told The Associated Press shortly before succumbing to esophageal cancer at a Cape Cod nursing facility on May 3.
"Once I found out, it's like, 'God! I added to the contamination.'"
The cancer that killed Poirier is one of more than a dozen diseases and conditions with recognized links to a toxic soup brewing beneath the sprawling coastal base between the 1950s and mid-1980s, when officials finally ordered tainted drinking-water wells closed. As many as a million Marines, family members and civilian employees are believed to have been exposed to several cancer-causing chemicals.
In the final weeks of his life, it was not just cancer that was gnawing at Ron Poirier.
The Brewster, Mass., man was with the 8th Communications Battalion at Lejeune from 1974 to 1976, working in a shop installing and repairing top-secret radio components. The shop was located just south of the Hadnot Point Industrial Area, right in the middle of a cluster of drinking water wells serving one of the base's main residential sections.
There was plenty of suspicion about the possible health effects of handling and ingesting trichloroethylene, or TCE. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had not yet established regulations for limiting exposure levels.
In a mid-March telephone interview from his home, Poirier said one of his jobs was to recondition circuit boards and other components. Working in a space with little or no ventilation, he used his bare hands to bathe the components in a pan of the TCE-laced cleaner or spray them down with an aerosolized version.
"It was also a great degreaser," he said in halting tones, stopping often to catch his breath. "And it would leave the circuit boards absolutely clean."
And it was cheap.
According to the manufacturer, the chemicals were to be used only once. Poirier chuckled when he recalled orders not to dump the stuff down the toilet, "because it would kill the bacteria" in the base's septic system.
The only warning he could remember was not to dispose of the product beside buildings. So when he and his colleagues had filled a drum with used cleaner, they carried it across the parking lot and dumped it in the woods.
"Over the two years, how much did I dispose of?" he asked. "Christ. We used to go through 55 gallons in less than a month. So, you know, if I had to say a rough guess would be 100 gallons a month. ... It was probably more. That's a conservative figure."
A civilian worker from Lejeune told a federal fact-finding group that there was "no guideline, policy, or program in place for base personnel handling or disposing of any chemical until the mid-1980s.Until that time, said the worker, whose name was redacted from the group's report, PCB-laden transformer oil was spread onto roads "to keep the dust down," and everything else "was either dumped on the ground or they just dug a hole and poured the chemicals into the ground."
At one point, Poirier recalled, the EPA issued some guidance on TCE.
"And I remember the old-timers there saying, 'That's a bunch of bull. ... We've been doing it this way for years,'" he said. "I was 18 years old. You did what you were told. You didn't ask questions."
Poirier left the Marines in 1976 as a sergeant, then spent six years with the Army.
Over the years, Poirier was surprised at the number of former Marine comrades who had died of cancer. With all the chemicals he'd handled during his lifetime, he said, "I thought maybe I was the lucky one."
Then his luck ran out.
By the time doctors discovered the tumor in his throat, the cancer had already spread to other parts of his body. Poirier's only option was chemotherapy.
At first, Poirier's doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital were baffled by his illness. He never smoked or drank to excess, and had quit both years earlier.
Then he learned about the Lejeune investigation, "and things started to make sense there."
Esophageal cancer is one of 15 diseases or conditions listed under the Camp Lejeune Veterans and Family Act, which covers Marines and family members who were at the base between 1957 and 1987. Poirier's disability claim "breezed right through," and he had nothing but praise for the care he received through the VA.
Following a recent NBC News report on Lejeune men diagnosed with breast cancer, Poirier poured his heart out on an online message board.
"It is very difficult living with the tought that i took part in this ground polution and facing death from this cancer," he wrote, his fingers stumbling over the keys. "I joined the USMC to serve and protect, not to harm."
Mike Partain, one of the men who appeared in the NBC piece, tried to reassure Poirier that he bore no blame.
"How can you be responsible in ignorance?" replied Partain, a Marine's son who was born at Lejeune's Naval Hospital. "You were poisoned just as much as I and everyone else at the base was."
Poirier understood that ? on one level.
"I'm a religious person," he told the AP, apologizing repeatedly for his slurred speech. "I believe in the universe. I don't think it's a direct thing. But I have guilt, let's put it that way. I have guilt."
A couple of years ago, the lifelong fisherman founded RonZ Engineered Soft Baits. He had recently switched from lead weights to tin, "a green metal," and scrupulously avoided using plastics made with phthalates, a softening agent linked to cancer and reproductive issues.
Earlier this year, Poirier began having trouble walking. In mid-March, he learned the cancer had spread to his brain.
Within a week of speaking with the AP, Poirier had moved into hospice. He was later transferred to a skilled nursing facility, where he spent his final three weeks.
While he knew he couldn't alter the past, Poirier had hopes that he could change the future.
"When judgment day comes, you know," he said, "I hope those people that suffered ... realize that I didn't know what I was doing."
___
Associated Press writer Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this story.
Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at features(at)ap.org. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/(hash)!/AllenGBreed
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/marine-dumped-toxins-felt-illness-payback-135339347.html
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FILA approves new rules to keep wrestling in games
Freestyle wrestlers Mehdi Taghavi Kermani, left, from Iran, and Kellen Russell from Ann Harbor, Mich., compete at an international wrestling exhibition at Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, in New York. Kermani won the bout. The event dubbed "The Rumble on the Rails" marked the fourth straight year a New York City landmark was transformed into a wrestling meet to raise money for charity, with the last two in Times Square. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Freestyle wrestlers Mehdi Taghavi Kermani, left, from Iran, and Kellen Russell from Ann Harbor, Mich., compete at an international wrestling exhibition at Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, in New York. Kermani won the bout. The event dubbed "The Rumble on the Rails" marked the fourth straight year a New York City landmark was transformed into a wrestling meet to raise money for charity, with the last two in Times Square. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Former Olympic gold medalist and professional wrestler Kurt Angle holds up a T-shirt during a three-nation wrestling exhibition at Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, in New York. The event dubbed "The Rumble on the Rails" marked the fourth straight year a New York City landmark was transformed into a wrestling meet to raise money for charity, with the last two in Times Square. In February, the International Olympic Committee recommended that the sport be dropped starting with the 2020 Games. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
MOSCOW (AP) ? Wrestling's governing body has approved new rule and constitutional changes aimed at modernizing the sport and keeping it in the Olympics after 2016.
A special congress Saturday of the federation, known by the acronym FILA, decreed there will be a mandatory women's vice-presidency role.
The new rules will ensure matches are made up out of two three-minute sessions instead of three two-minute periods. Scoring will become cumulative instead of the previous two-out-of-three system.
The changes come after the International Olympic Committee removed wrestling as one of the core sports of the games in February. It is now one of eight sports that will be competing for an open slot at the 2020 Games. That decision will be made by the IOC in September.
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Surgeons-in-training dislike new work hours: survey
By Andrew M. Seaman
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most surgeons-in-training dislike new rules that limit how many hours they can work, according to a new study that also found the majority said they skirt the restrictions.
Researchers surveyed 1,013 surgical residents - who train for years alongside more senior surgeons - and found that about two of every three said they disapproved of the 2011 regulations, which aimed to improve patient care as well as the residents' education and quality of life.
"I don't think anybody wants to work 120 hours a week, but I don't think we really want medicine to necessarily have bankers' hours," said Dr. Brian Drolet, the study's lead author and a fourth-year surgical resident at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.
Under pressure from the public and government officials, in July 2011 the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) restricted the shifts of the most junior trainee surgeons, first-year surgical interns, to 16 hours and capped the shifts of the remaining residents at 28 hours.
The regulations built on similar restrictions the organization put in place in 2003, but the policy has raised questions about whether simply restricting the hours doctors-in-training are permitted to work improves their lives or the health of their patients.
Some recent studies have suggested, for example, that the new rules create more hand-offs of patient care, and possibly more errors, while shortchanging the doctors' education (see Reuters Health story of March 25, 2013 here: http://reut.rs/WRLaLj).
For the new study, Drolet and his colleagues surveyed residents from graduate programs across the U.S. at the end of 2011, six months after the regulations went into effect.
Of the 4,140 residents sent the survey, about a quarter answered the 20 questions about patient care and residents' education and quality of life.
More than half said that patient safety was unchanged six months after the regulations were put in place. About 40 percent said patient care got worse, however, and about 10 percent said it improved.
As for their own education, about 40 percent of residents said there was no decrease in quality, but another 55 percent said it had gotten worse. About 70 percent also said there was less focus on preparing them to take on a more senior role. The same proportion also felt senior residents had to take on tasks more suited for a less-experienced resident.
About half of the residents said their work schedules were worse after the change and about 22 percent said they were getting less rest despite the limits on work hours.
Overall, there was some improvement in the quality of life of first-year interns, but a much smaller improvement among more senior residents, according to the researchers who published their findings in JAMA Surgery.
The most striking of the results, according to Drolet, is that almost 70 percent of the residents said they were not following the new requirement in some way.
About half of the residents said they were underreporting or working between one and five hours more than they should each week, and more than 60 percent said they were falsifying their duty hours "to appear in compliance with regulations."
In a critique accompanying the new study, Dr. Orlando Kirton said the findings on underreporting and falsifying duty hours represent "extremely troubling behavior."
"The ACGME rules are the law of the land. It is no longer about adoption but about adaptation and demonstrating resolve. Noncompliance is not an option and must not be encouraged," Kirton writes.
He points out, however, that the study had some limitations, including that only a fraction of the hospitals asked to participate in the survey did so.
But Dr. Sanjay Desai, director of the residency program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, told Reuters Health he believes the researchers would find similar results if they did the study today.
"It takes time for programs to adapt to the new rules," said Desai, who was not involved in the new study.
"This just adds to the body of data that I think creates this need to look at this very carefully, partner with everybody concerned to get to the table and look at this more rigorously," he added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/15T36LW JAMA Surgery, online May 15, 2013.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/surgeons-training-dislike-hours-survey-194513540.html
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Orb favored to take Preakness, set up Triple try ? Artesia News
Exercise rider Jennifer Patterson gallops Preakness Stakes favorite and Kentucky Derby winner Orb at Pimlico Race Course Friday, May 17, 2013 in Baltimore. The Preakness Stakes horse race is scheduled for Saturday. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)
BALTIMORE (AP) ? Everything?s a go for Orb.
The Kentucky Derby winner was in a playful mood the day before the Preakness, making faces for photographers between nibbles of grass outside his stall at Pimlico Race Course.
?He?s really settled in well. He seems to be energetic about what he?s doing so I couldn?t be more pleased,? trainer Shug McGaughey said on a warm and sunny Friday morning. ?We?re excited about giving him a whirl to see if we can get it done and go on to the next step.?
Getting it done would mean defeating eight rivals in the 1 3-16-mile Preakness to set up a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes three weeks from Saturday. Orb is the even-money favorite, and there?s a growing feeling that this 3-year-old bay colt may be special enough to give thoroughbred racing its first Triple Crown champion since Affirmed in 1978.
?We?d sure love to have that opportunity,? said McGaughey, seeming relaxed and confident. ?Probably the racing world would love to see it, too. It brings a lot more attention to what we?re doing from all standpoints.?
Orb extended his winning streak to five with a thrilling victory in the Derby two weeks ago, when jockey Joel Rosario patiently guided the colt from 17th to first in the final half mile over a sloppy track.
In the Preakness, Orb will break from the No. 1 post, a spot that has seen only one winner ? Tabasco Cat in 1994 ? since 1961.
?Who knows how this race is going to go, but I don?t think it will be a problem,? Rosario said of the inside post. ?He?s a horse that comes from behind, so I really don?t think it will affect him. I?m just excited to go into this with a horse who has a chance to win.?
A chance?
While rival trainers aren?t conceding the race, most agree Orb is the best of the bunch.
?Orb, he?s a freak. Right now, everybody should be rooting for Orb, except for the connections of the other horses in the race,? trainer Bob Baffert said ? and he?s got a horse in the race, 12-1 choice Govenor Charlie. ?Anybody who?s not rooting for Orb, there?s something mentally wrong with them.?
Baffert has been there before. Three of his five Preakness winners had also won the Derby, but were unable to complete the Triple Crown with a win in the Belmont. He says the Preakness is the least stressful of the three races.
?There is absolutely no pressure, believe it or not because you?ve just won the Derby,? he said. ?You?re flying high and everybody?s excited. You don?t think about it. The next one (the Belmont) is the pressure.?
Getting to the next one may sound easy. It isn?t. Six of the past eight Derby winners did not win the Preakness, and McGaughey is well aware of the pitfalls.
?There are a lot of ways you can lose. Freaky things can happen,? he said. ?You hope he doesn?t get in any trouble, you hope he handles the track, you hope he handles the kickback of the dirt, you hope he handles the day. If he does all that, I would have to think it will take a pretty darn good horse to beat him.?
Maybe it?s Goldencents, who did not take to the slop at Churchill Downs and finished 17th after winning the Santa Anita Derby in April.
?Orb?s not like a one-race hit. All year long he?s been super impressive,? said Goldencents trainer Doug O?Neill, who won the Derby and Preakness last year with I?ll Have Another, only to scratch the colt the day before the Belmont because of a tendon injury. ?But we?ve seen Goldencents do some brilliant things in the afternoon. If he does, I think he can beat him.?
Maybe it?s Itsmyluckyday, another top 3-year-old who did not handle the sloppy track and finished 15th in the Derby.
?He?s given me every sign that he?s ready for the war; he?s ready for the race; he?s ready for the battle,? trainer Eddie Plesa Jr., said. ?Let?s just get it on.?
Or maybe it?s Departing, one of the three horses in the race who did not run in the Derby. Orb knows Departing well ? the two were pals growing up at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., and ran around together in the same field. The gelding has won four of five starts, and comes into the Preakness off a win in the Illinois Derby.
And, of course, there?s D. Wayne Lukas, who has three of the nine entries in Oxbow, Will Take Charge and Titletown Five, a colt owned by Green Bay Packer greats Paul Hornung and Willie Davis. Lukas, like Baffert, has five Preakness wins, and his next victory in a Triple Crown race would give him a record 14 ? one more than ?Sunny Jim? Fitzsimmons.
Oxbow was sixth and Will Take Charge eighth in the Derby, while Titletown Five is a maiden winner who ran fourth in the Derby Trial.
?You have to be careful about that much emphasis on one race,? Lukas said of Orb?s Derby win. ?You change the surface, you shorten the race, you put him in the one hole. These are things he?ll have to overcome. He?s the best horse. It?s his race to lose. But it only takes one horse to spoil your day.?
Weather could be a factor, too. The latest forecast for Saturday is calling for a 50 percent chance of rain with temperatures reaching the low 70s. Post time for the race on NBC is 6:20 p.m.
While Orb will take his shot at becoming the 34th horse with a chance at the Triple Crown ? 11 have done it, 19 failed and three others did not run in the Belmont ? several other historic milestones are in play. Rosie Napravnik will be aboard 5-1 second choice Mylute in an attempt to become the first female to the win the Preakness and Kevin Krigger, who rides Goldencents, looks to become the first black jockey to win since Willie Simms with Sly Fox in 1898.
Orb?s rapid rise began with his win in the Fountain of Youth, followed by a solid victory in the Florida Derby before he ran off with the Kentucky Derby. The colt is co-owned by racing royalty ? Ogden Mills ?Dinny? Phipps and his first cousin, Marylander Stuart Janney III. They run their racing operation the traditional way ? breeding and racing their own horses rather than attending sales and trying to buy champions.
McGaughey has been the Phipps? trainer for 28 years, and has campaigned such champions as Easy Goer, Inside Information and the undefeated Personal Ensign.
?This has kind of shown that with Stuart Janney?s relationship with breeding that it can be done in a different way,? McGaughey said. ?There?s a long line of pedigree that?s been in their family for years and years and years and there?s a lot of thought process in breeding horses to mares ? whether right or wrong. And we might have gotten a little lucky this time.?
___
Follow Richard Rosenblatt on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/rosenblattap
This entry was posted on May 17, 2013, 1:21 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Watch Ridley Scott's Aliens Animated in Just 60 Seconds
Who has time to watch a whole movie anymore? It's summer! So in the spirit of phoning in everything once the temperature rises above 70-ish, here's Ridley Scott's Aliens in 60 seconds of adorable animation. Brought to you, of course, by the fine folks who did Star Wars Episode IV
Source: http://gizmodo.com/watch-ridley-scotts-aliens-animated-in-just-60-seconds-508528275
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