‘What was Daddy like before he got sick?’”

[Guest guest]

histo yeast, a mold found in soil, in his blood serum.

(http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=870890)

Injured Biotech Worker Fights For His Life- Blood, phlegm and

tears: Bell claims he was sickened while working at a

biotech firm, but no one's listening

By Seth Sandronsky

More stories by this author...

Former Sacramento resident Bellwas healthy when AgraQuest, a

firm that manufactures biological pesticides, hired him as a

researcher and technician in August 1998. Five months later, he came

down with severe flu symptoms. His face and teeth grew numb.

Breathing became difficult and he developed severe headaches. His

nose bled and his sputum turned bloody.

Ten years, four sinus surgeries and numerous medical treatments

later, Bell remains incapacitated by the illness, which he and his

mother, Sandi Trend, of Citrus Heights, claim was caused by bacteria

and fungi he was exposed to at AgraQuest. Yet thanks to record-

keeping errors and the amount of time that passed before Bell

realized what might be causing his illness, he has not been

compensated for the wages he lost, nor the six-figure medical

expenses he's incurred since becoming sick.

But Bell and Trend are not giving up their quest. They've gone to the

workers' compensation board. They've contacted elected

representatives. Now, they've enlisted famed consumer advocate and

Peace and Freedom Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in their

cause. For Bell, it's as much about restoring his lost dignity as his

health.

" I went looking for an honest job with AgraQuest, " said Bell, a Chico

High School graduate. He was laid off in June 1999, but quickly found

new employment with a biotech firm in Fairfield. It didn't last. " I

had to resign, due to uncontrollable throwing up traveling to and

from work on [interstate] 80, " he said. A husband and father of two

youngsters, he could no longer serve as the family's

breadwinner. " That took away my pride. "

AgraQuest was founded in 1995 by Pam Marrone, a respected

entomologist who had specialized in agriculture and insects at

biotech giant Monsanto. Bell was a semester away from earning a

bachelor's degree in biology from Sacramento State when he started at

the company in 1998. According to the transcript from his first

workers' compensation hearing, Bell worked primarily on two

biopesticide projects, Laginex and Serenade.

Laginex is the brand name of Lagenidium giganteum, a water mold

(fungi), which infects and kills mosquitoes. In a series of

experiments, Bell documented what happened in water with mosquito

larvae and Laginex and how to lengthen the biopesticide's shelf life.

Serenade is a biopesticide used to control insects on crops. Its

active ingredients are the Bacillus subtilis bacteria, which

AgraQuest first found in a Fresno peach orchard. Bell tested soil

samples taken from locations worldwide, using a fermentation process

to extract the bacteria. He and a co-worker filled 10-kilo bags of

Serenade from a larger drum. Bell did not wear a respirator while

loading the Serenade.

" I wore only my own lab coat and company-provided safety glasses, " he

said. " I was told that everything at work was safe. "

Marrone left AgraQuest in March 2006 to found Marrone Organic

Innovations in . She declined to comment for this story. But as

recently as October 2002, Marrone wrote that Serenade is " safe to

workers and ground water, " in the industry journal Pesticide Outlook.

At the workers' compensation hearing, Manker, AgraQuest's vice

president of global product development, testified that the company

and its employees followed proper safety procedures and had tested

its strain of Bacillus subtilis to ensure it did not contain a

substance that causes allergic reactions. While noting that soil

samples in the laboratory can be hazardous if handled incorrectly,

she said it was highly unlikely that Bell had become infected by the

Bacillus subtilis, since it's not known to be harmful to humans.

But as Bell discovered during a 2004 visit to the Mayo Clinic in

Arizona for his third sinus surgery, that may not be the case.

According to peer-reviewed articles in British medical journal The

Lancet, and other sources, serious questions have been raised about

the safety of Bacillus subtilis for humans and animals.

Tests conducted at the clinic determined Bell had histo yeast, a mold

found in soil, in his blood serum. He had developed histoplasmosis,

which according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention affects the lungs and other organs and can be fatal if not

treated.

" It dawned on me that I'd been screwed, " Bell said. " At AgraQuest I

became the experiment. That's not right. "

Working his case backward through time has presented distinct

disadvantages.

When he realized why he was sick in 2003, Bell immediately called the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigated

AgraQuest and found that one of its ventilator hoods didn't meet

state standards. The hood was repaired, but the minor violation had

no bearing on his case. Bell also learned that the Sutter Health

doctor who performed his first sinus surgery in 1999 had failed to

collect cultures of his bodily fluids, making it difficult to prove

he was infected at AgraQuest.

But by far the most formidable obstacle Bell faced was the statute of

limitations on workers' compensation cases. When he first began

experiencing symptoms in 1999, Bell says AgraQuest did not provide

him with a claim form for potential benefits under the state workers'

compensation system, as required by the California Labor Code.

By the time he filed in October 2003, it was too late. Last year,

workers' compensation administrative law Judge Suzanne F. Dugan

denied his claim because it had been filed " over four years after his

termination of employment. " That, according to the judge, made Bell's

injury claim moot.

Bell appealed the ruling, but lost.

It's been a debilitating, frustrating ordeal for Bell and his mother,

who's served as her son's chief researcher throughout. Since Dugan

denied Bell's claim, they've desperately attempted to gain the

attention of various elected representatives from the state, with

little success. They contacted Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. No reply. Trend

spoke with Rep. Dan Lungren at a town hall meeting last November.

Neither he nor his staff showed much interest. Rep. Lynn Woolsey,

chairwoman of the workforce protections committee, told Trend to wait

until next year.

This August, the case came to the attention of Ralph Nader, who was

in Sacramento for the Peace and Freedom Party's state convention.

Before receiving the party's nomination, Nader heard Trend present

Bell's story at a candidate forum. Nader, long an advocate for

regulating industry in the public interest of consumers and workers,

said that he would contact Waxman. Nader plans also to speak about

the need for better government oversight of the biopesticide industry

in days before the November 4 election.

Meanwhile, Bell continues to fight the debilitating illness. Because

his infected lungs can no longer tolerate Sacramento Valley air

pollution, he and his family moved to Texas, where the environment is

more suitable. Still, headaches, night sweats, vomiting and diarrhea

remain a part of Bell's daily routine. Then there's the sputum.

" I've literally seen pus from my nose in nearly all colors of the

rainbow, " Bell said. " I have 1- and 2-foot strands of hyperplastic

mucus, which look like huge fish eggs, but are actually polyps of

infections. "

To unclog his sinus cavities, he regularly uses a nasal irrigator

with 3 liters of saline rinse. As anybody who has swallowed salt

water knows, it causes dizziness, a regular occurrence for Bell. It

hasn't been easy on the family.

" My kids are doing fine now, but it's been bad when I left home for

surgeries, " Bell said. " I recall our daughter Sheri asking my wife

, `What was Daddy like before he got sick?' "