News Review 8.12~Biotech Canaries~Sickened workers get little relief

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_http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1485497_

(http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1485497)

Biotech canaries

Sickened workers get little relief

By Seth Sandronsky

This article was published on _08.12.10_

(http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/2010-08-12/archive) .

Bell is sick. He developed a lung condition called histoplasmosis

and other respiratory maladies while working at biotech firm AgraQuest

12 years ago. He blames his poor health on his exposure to bacteria, fungi

and insects he handled while working for the firm in 1998.

But a workers’ compensation judge disagreed, leaving Bell with staggering

medical bills. “It’s kind of freaky to live on limited income and get

medical bills of $12,000 to $17,000,†Bell explained.

He’s just one of many injured biotech workers around the country who

believe workplace-safety laws are not protecting them.

In the past dozen years, Bell has endured four sinus surgeries and submits

to monthly hookups for intravenous transfusions of immunoglobulin to help

strengthen his weakened immune system.

He and his family moved to Austin, Texas, in 2005. SN & R recently spoke

with Bell by phone. “I was too ill to go with my wife and daughter on their

vacation to Sacramento,†he explained.

Three years ago, workers’ compensation Judge Suzanne F. Dugan threw out

Bell’s claim, saying it had not been filed in a timely fashion. She further

denied that the AgraQuest workplace caused Bell’s injuries. Bell tried to

appeal the ruling and lost.

Bell’s mother, Sandi Trend of Citrus Heights, has since become a tireless

investigator of the biotech industry.

On her website, _www.biotechawareness.com_

(http://www.biotechawareness.com/) , Trend has documented nearly two dozen

micro-organisms that her son

worked with at AgraQuest—which were also found in his body—and the diseases

that they can cause. She will present evidence she and Bell believe show

bias and conflicts of interest in his case before the state Commission on

Judicial Performance on August 25.

In late May, The New York Times reported that “the estimated 232,000

employees in the nation’s most sophisticated biotechnology labs work amid

imponderable hazards.†The Times told the stories of government and

private-sector scientists exposed to bacteria who later suffered comas, lost

limbs and

even death.

One of the scientists profiled, Becky McClain, a molecular biologist, who

worked for Pfizer from 1995 to 2005, became ill with a condition that

causes occasional temporary paralysis. After taking a medical leave and failing

to return to work by Pfizer’s deadline, the drug giant fired her.

“I lost my career and I lost my health,†McClain told SN & R, adding that

it took years to discover what caused her illness.

In April, a federal jury awarded McClain $1.37 million, saying Pfizer

violated whistle-blower laws by firing McClain after she made claims of unsafe

working conditions.

But the judge in McClain’s case ruled that there was a lack of sufficient

evidence to prove that her exposure to genetically engineered viruses made

her sick. And the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Pfizer

didn’t have to turn over exposure records that might have proved McClain’

s claim because they are trade secrets.

McClain and Trend recently spoke at a biotech-safety conference in San

Francisco.

“I’m hoping that with my case, a national discussion begins on public

health and safety and workers’ rights about the dangers and exposures that

can

occur in biotech labs,†McClain said.

Bell was one of those biotech workers 12 years ago. Today, “I don’t have

the money for an attorney,†he said. “I’m in a lot of trouble.â€