The variety of illnesses reported by more than 750 north Fayette and south Fulton residents in mid-2006 after breathing chemicals emanating from the Philip Services Corp. (PSC) waste treatment plant on Ga. Highway 92 in Fairburn appeared to pose no long-term adverse health effects and no public health threat, according to a March 7 Final Health Consultation study by the Georgia Division of Public Health (GDPH) and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a division of U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services.

Affected residents maintain that the state and federal agencies whitewashed the results of the comprehensive study, deciding instead to toe the party line that exists in the decades-long symbiotic relationship between big industry and big government.

The initial Health Consultation began in late 2006 and reported the following year that some residents did suffer short-term health effects from exposure to the chemical odorant propyl mercaptan.

The final report, one that included public comments and responses to them, reiterated the previous position that propyl mercaptan posed no long-term hazard and that the organophosphate pesticide ethoprop, known commercially as MOCAP, posed no short-term or long-term health risk.

Representing a large geographical area of which the 40 square-mile "hot zone" of exposure is only a part, South Fulton and Fayette Community Task Force (SFFCTF) Chairman and Georgia 66th District candidate Connie Biemiller said state and federal agencies failed to stand for affected residents and allowing the issues, instead, to be swept under the regulatory rug.

"The Final Health Consultation only further validates the fact that the ATSDR and Georgia Department of Health refuse to take into account any of the health claims of their citizens," Biemiller said. "If they validated the citizens, they would have to go beyond their normal functioning and incorporate much needed changes to further protect the communities that they serve. It is beyond the South Fulton and Fayette Community Task Force's comprehension as to how an entire community can be swept so easily under the rug. We refuse to be silenced and we will do everything in our power to make our voices heard. We expect to see changes made to our health and environmental laws so that all people are protected and put first in the State of Georgia." 

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