Winchester -- Frederick County, Virginia Page 1 of 2
Sludge victims choke on ammonia fumes, suffer headaches, sore throats, itchy eyes, hives and swelling -- Synagro
says illnesses are "Psychosomatic" -- VA. sludge "regulator" Cal Sawyer blames internet and "mass hysteria"
What Synagro and Cal Sawyer don't want you to know is that odors are killers. ODORS FROM SLUDGE BIOSOLIDS
DISPOSAL SITES
VIRGINIA - THE WINCHESTER STAR - SEPT. 28, 2002
Biosolids: 'Education Is the Big Key'
By Jodi L. Sokolowskj
Some Frederick County residents are wondering: "What is that smell?" Poor House Road resident Diana Hainesrwho
grew up around chicken, hog, ajid cattle farms, knows the smell of manure, and this isn't it. "To me, this is worse. It's
overwhelming." she said. "The ammonia is choking."
The culprit? Biosolids.
"Many people don't know biosolids exist until it goes down near their backyard," said Dr. Clay Simmers, who added
there are times when he can't sit outside of his home in southern Frederick County.
Kelly Love, Synagro's on-site supervisor for Frederick, Clarke, and Loudoun counties, said the real problem is that
most residents aren't willing to get past their adverse reactions to understand biosolids.
"Education is the big key," said Love, who has been with the biosolids contractor for five years. "It's such an emotional
thing, and then the education goes right out the window." Synagro's public affairs manager, George Clarke, said the
cause for concern is mostly psychological. "If it smells bad, it must not be good for me," he said rhetorically.
Not only is the odor nauseating, residents say, they also suspect that it causes headaches, sore throats, eye
itchiness, hives, arid swelling, Haines and her husband, Phil, who work at home, think the biosolids are the cause of
their unexplained illnesses. "I can't honestly say my headaches are a result, just that they were more severe" after the
application of biosolids, Diana Haines said.
Phil Haines won't eat the fish out of his stocked pond because of their concerns. They have noticed birds circling over
the biosolids-applied areas but not landing, and cows avoiding the treated grass when they are allowed back on the
fields. "This stuff has got something in it that is repulsive to nature," Phil Haines said.
Cal Sawyer, of the Virginia Department of Health's Division of Wastewater Engineering, said these medical mysteries
are worrisome. "If these people are alleging that biosolids are causing all these problems, some of these people might
have health problems that aren't being looked into," he said.
Blaming biosolids "is not doing them a favor. They're not looking at what really might be the problem."
He added that the department did not start to receive complaints about biosolids until Internet use
became more common.
"It's mass hysteria. If you suggest they will get ill, they will get ill," he said.