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Brockovich says she's not done with Le Roy yet

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

Los Angeles – Erin Brockovich today released a statement regarding the growing health concerns potentially caused by contamination in Le Roy, NY.

“Contrary to an erroneous news report, I want to make clear that my investigation into possible sources of environmental contamination in LeRoy, New York that may or may not be linked to the serious illnesses suffered by various members of the community is not complete. In fact, it appears the number of people in the area displaying alarming health issues that can be caused by TCE is growing.

It took the EPA 40 years to investigate the contamination from the train derailment and it will take us more than 40 days to get to the root of the problem in Le Roy. I want to further stress that we have not ruled out the TCE plume from the train derailment as a source of contamination at Le Roy High School. All existing tests are preliminary and we will announce our full and definitive test results in the weeks to come. We will not release them piecemeal.

In the meantime, we have several areas of high concern in Le Roy that we are investigating including, but not limited to, the train derailment site, the local quarry, the six fracking wells at the high school, and the MtBE contamination in local wells.

We have a lot more testing to do before we can rule anything in or out as a cause of toxic contamination in Le Roy and what may or may not be causing the very serious health problems of people and families in Le Roy. While we certainly do not want to cause a panic in the community, we do want to be thorough and get to the bottom of what is going on in Le Roy.”

Eric [Rick] von kramer

BULLSHIT,,,BULLSHIT,,,, BULLSHIT, STAY IN CALIFORNIA, WE AREN'T GOING TO HELP YOU HYPE ANOTHER MOVIE. [UNLESS JULIA ROBERTS WANTS TO STAY IN MY CAMPER THEN WE'LL TALK]

Feb 21, 2012, 6:38pm Permalink
Gerald Robinson

Here's a book about Erin Brockovich and how she misdirected worried families and the media with unfounded allegations. The book is called Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam. I provided a link that gives a brief overview of the book. The author Zager is a freelance journalist who teaches at California State University, Los Angeles. In addition to receiving the honors of Los Angeles Journalist of the Year and Best Investigative Reporter by the Los Angeles Press Club, the Wall Street Journal and the Columbia Journalism Review applauded her work on the Brockovich case. Here's an overview i copied from another website.

Overview
Not far from the glamour of Rodeo Drive, and the playing field of Beverly Hills High, rests the oil well that started a storm of controversy when legal assistant and environmental crusader Erin Brockovich incited public fear by claiming it was the source of cancer-causing chemicals. Beverly Hills Courier journalist Norma Zager investigated the subsequent allegations launched against several oil companies, the city of Beverly Hills, and its school district. Recalling her experience, Zager reveals how Brockovich misdirected worried families and the media with her unfounded allegations then presents the facts of the saga with accuracy, objectivity, and honesty.

Zager's exposé is a candid account of the case that created a media frenzy and played on the fear of anxious residents and students. Courtroom testimonies, excerpts from media personalities, and statements from the "greenscam" queen herself, Erin Brockovich, provide a thorough and engaging account of the lawsuit.

In addition to detailing the legal and personal saga, the book offers guidelines for communities to follow to ensure environmental and public safety and teaches residents how to discern the truth from hype-despite scare tactics. Didn't she say that she doesn't sue School districts? Might be a good read, i haven't received my copy yet but, it shipped the other day.

Read more here: http://findnsave.miamiherald.com/Product/8421586/Erin-Brockovich-and-th…

Feb 21, 2012, 8:25pm Permalink
Tammy Way

Come on folks you can only be lead if you follow -- leave her alone -- you all would do the same if you had the chance -- free world -- i don't have to like the situation -- what if she does find something ?? We are always being lead by someone -- our own government perhaps??

Feb 22, 2012, 7:49am Permalink
John Woodworth JR

Erin Brockovich's team had announced they found possible contamination sources linked to the girls (train derailment site/fracking wells/MtBE contamination in a local well). She announced she has not given up on the train derailment site and the TCE plume. The plume she is referring to is the ground water contamination and once again how in the bloody hell can ground water contaminate piped in water from Monroe Water Authority and travel west against the eastern flow? If, that is the case LeRoy would not be the only town contaminated. Brockovich's statements are misleading, the last I heard they found one (01) local well with a small amount of MtBE which was 4 points lower than the acceptable level the EPA allows. I am still trying figure out where the six (fracked) gas wells are at the LHS.

Oh BTW, some of the girls no longer suffer from Tics and others are just about healed according to Channel 2 News interview with DENT. I know I witness several of the girls in the past weeks and one of them was in the Indoor Track and Field Sectional Championship at R.I.T. and not one twitch, jerk or slurred their speech.

On a high note “Congratulation to the LeRoy Girls Varsity Indoor Track and Field Team for winning their first ever Section V/Division D Championship in school history!”

Feb 22, 2012, 8:41am Permalink
Carol Sidofsky

February 22, 2012 Press Release:

LE ROY, NY TEENS: UPDATE FROM DR. TRIFILETTI

Ramsey, NJ — February 22, 2012 — Rosario Trifiletti, MD issued the following statement today regarding the teens he is treating in Le Roy, NY. National attention was drawn to the plight of the teens when they were suddenly afflicted with uncontrollable bodily movements sometimes described as tics.

“I continue to work with a PANDAS-like diagnosis. The lab work is now complete on all
nine of the patients I examined on January 29, 2012 and has shown evidence of infection by either Streptococcus Pyogenes (the common strep throat bacterium, found in five of nine patients) or Mycoplasma Pneumonia (a bacteria-like agent that is a common cause of a mild pneumonia-like illness, found in eight of nine patients).

Two patients also meet CDC [Centers for Disease Control] diagnostic criteria for Lyme disease. They are being treated appropriately according to the infectious agents found and are responding to treatment.

In my opinion, these objective findings, which would be exceedingly unlikely to occur by chance alone, support my diagnosis of a PANDAS-like illness. I must remain open to another possibility such as mass psychogenic illness, which can never be supported or refuted by objective findings. However, given the clinical and laboratory data, I find a PANDAS-like illness a very likely medical diagnosis in these children.

I hope to see the teenagers again soon, but given that I am doing house calls from some two hundred miles away, it requires extraordinary planning. In the meantime, I remain in close contact with their parents."

"To reach Dr. Trifiletti contact:

Telephone: 201-962-7284
Email: trifmd@gmail.com
Website: http://www.site.neurokidsr.us

For additional Information about PANDAS [Pediatric Auto-immune Neuro-psychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal bacteria]:

http://www.pandasfoundation.org

http://www.savingsammy.net

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/pandas/pandas-frequently-as…

http://ocfoundation.org/PANDAS

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/childhood-illnesses/ocd

http://www.pandasnetwork.org

#########

_______________________________

There can be several things causing the tic disorders, all interacting with eachother, not just one thing. Some possible causes include:

--infections (strep, other bacteria, viruses, Lyme Disease, parasites, etc. etc.)
--vaccination reactions
--poisons (toxins) coming to the surface due to flooding from the hurricane
--maybe an old dump near or under the girls' softball field
--stress makes everyting worse

I hope all the sick folks get well as soon as possible! Parents should keep asking questions.

If anyone ever watches the TV program "Mystery Diagnosis", they will see that many doctors told the patients it was all in their heads, but after a while (sometimes it took years), real answers were finally found. "Seek, and ye shall find." is a good thing to keep in mind.

Feb 23, 2012, 5:21am Permalink
John Woodworth JR

The connection between streptococcal infections and tic disorders is questioned by some researchers, however, on the grounds that most children have a GABHS infection at some point in their early years, but the vast majority (95 percent) do not develop OCD or a tic disorder. There appears to be a closer connection between Sydenham's chorea, which is a movement disorder, and GABHS infections than between tic disorders and these infections. One prospective study done at Yale reported in 2004 that new GABHS infections do not appear to cause a worsening of tics in children diagnosed with OCD or Tourette syndrome.

Neuroimaging studies have shown that tic disorders are related to abnormal levels of neurotransmitters known as dopamine, serotonin, and cyclic AMP in certain parts of the brain. A neurotransmitter is a chemical produced by the body that conveys nerve impulses across the gaps (synapses) between nerve cells. In addition to abnormalities in the production or absorption of these chemical messengers, imaging studies indicate that the blood flow and metabolism in a part of the brain called the basal ganglia are abnormally low. The basal ganglia are groups of nerve cells deep in the brain that control movement as well as emotion and certain aspects of thinking. In contrast to the low level of blood flow in the basal ganglia, the motor areas in the frontotemporal cortex of the brain show increased levels of activity.

I know my daughter has had strep repeatedly but, never suffer from tics, as 95% of children do not. We do not have to worry about hurricane floods and assumption of an old dump by a softball field that even Little League has used for years. Unless our kids eat the soil or grass, I am not sure we should worry anymore than we worry about carbon from vehicles; smoke from cigarettes; chemicals in our food such as artificial sweeteners, yellow dye #5, etc...

Feb 23, 2012, 9:03am Permalink
Carol Sidofsky

I used to be a nurse, and I noticed that if you get any 2 doctors together, and ask them about a medical topic, you usually would get at least 3 opinions from them! If they always agreed with eachother, no progress towards discovering the truth could ever be made.

John, I'm glad that your own daughter has not suffered anything like what the other students have experienced, in the Le Roy area. But, people are different, so that's to be expected, and that's a good thing. Even in Ebola outbreaks in Africa, there are always a few very hardy souls who don't catch that awful infection!

You wrote: "Unless our kids eat the soil or grass, I am not sure we should worry anymore than we worry about carbon from vehicles; smoke from cigarettes; chemicals in our food such as artificial sweeteners, yellow dye #5, etc..."

I agree that it is very annoying to be nagged, forcing us to think about these things.

And worrying about them, is even more annoying.

But, kids don't have to actually eat the soil or grass, to be adversely affected by bad stuff on and in the soil or grass. Bad stuff can mix with groundwater and can also get into the air, and then, kids can breathe the contaminated air, and/or drink contaminated water.

You said you're not sure we should worry about smoke from cigarettes. Why not worry about this? Do you think cigarettes are harmless?

It is true that some old timers smoked a lot of cigarettes in the old days, and yet never got lung cancer: Years ago, a researcher named Dr. Ed Martell found (doing research on drosophila/fruit flies) in Colorado's NCAR (Nat'l Center for Atmospheric Research), that tobacco that was grown organically (in the olden days), didn't seem to cause lung cancer. But, it did cause emphysema in some cases. Why didn't the organic tobacco cause lung cancer? What Dr. Martell found, was that phosphate fertilizers (used on tobacco plants in more modern times) had some radioactive contamination, picked up by the tobacco plants' roots, causing "hot spots" (radioactive molecules & atoms) to "lodge" in the tobacco leaves. Then, the radioactive "hot spots" got inhaled by smokers (in the burning tobacco smoke), causing mutations in their lung tissue cells, leading to lung cancer. Who'da thunk it?

One artificial sweetener, is aspartame (also called nutrasweet & Equal), and aspartame is an "excitatory" neuro-toxin (nerve poison), that causes headaches (including migraines, etc.), weight gain, blindness and seizures (convulsions), not to mention brain damage in those who have an inherited condition called phenylketonuria.

The cause of these nasty effects from Nutrasweet, is thought to be the breakdown products (especially when heated), called phenyl-alanine, and METHYL ALCOHOL, also known as methanol, and wood alcohol. So, artificial sweeteners are not so harmless, after all!

An interesting point, is that some docs who worked for the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), pushed through the acceptance of Nutrasweet, over the objection of other docs, and then the pro-Nutrasweet5 docs promptly left the FDA, and then worked for Searle--the pharmaceutical company who makes...Nutrasweet! Who'da thunk it!

Yellow dye #5 and other artificial dyes, used in food (& even in some medications), can cause hyperactivity in some kids. Getting the kids off these food additives (as recommended in the "Feingold diet"), can bring peace to a family. I think that's a good thing. Also, some spasmodic dysphonia patients noted that they had previously been exposed for years, to some yellow dye in old 1950's "shag" carpets.

However, I do agree with you, that worrying about every toxin can drive us all to distraction. But, doing the ostrich thing may not always be so good either. And, for families affected, where the families want more answers, I say more power to them, for asking uncomfortable questions!

I think that the DENT psychiatrists who are comforting and treating patients having many emotional issues, are doing them a great service. I also noticed, that recently, Dr. McVige is now starting to acknowledge that some of her patients DO have tic disorders, Tourette's, etc.

I also think that Dr. Trifiletti, who did lab work, and who is treating the girls having 1 or more of 3 types of infections (strep, mycoplasma pneumonia & Lyme disease), with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories (trying to re-close the breached BBB/blood brain barrier) is also doing his patients a great service.

So, helping the tic patients doesn't have to be done in only one way. Sometimes a combination of treatments works better.

Keep asking questions! :-)

Feb 24, 2012, 4:12am Permalink
John Woodworth JR

Carol, sorry but, I have little faith in Dr. Trifiletti, after all he was diagnosing these girls before, he even visited and examined them. Not to mention first he stated PANDAS and now it is PANDAS-liked symptoms and Lyme disease. He also argued that Conversion Disorder is not real and recently contradicted that statement. This all makes me believe he is more of a QUACK! Also, it was already mention that three girls were suffering from Tourettes/Tics but, it is the others I am wondering about. At first I did not believe it was Conversion Disorder but, after viewing the facts. I now believe that most of these cases are Conversion Disorder. People can keep asking question but, some of the parents are overzealous in the way they do it.

Feb 24, 2012, 11:12am Permalink

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