SLUDGE VICTIMS

Lime stabilized Class B sewage sludge from Inglewood and Port Charlotte, Florida was spread within about 300 feet of my home. I have two daughters ... Lyndsey will be 5 in June, Taylor will be 2 in May 2001.

The symptoms my children suffered were nausea, vomiting, headaches, strep throat, severe bacterial ear infection. The doctor had to send out a culture -- it took weeks to heal. They had throat irritation, nasal congestion, breathing difficulties, shortness of breath and coughing when they exerted themselves.

Both girls had bronchial irritation, with a lot of thick, choking mucus. When they got fevers, they had heart palpitations. They suffered abdominal distress - their stomachs felt hard. Both girls were diagnosed by the doctor as having Rotavirus. They suffered pain, cramps. diarrhea, and severe dehydration.

I have suddenly developed bad acne and bumps on my back like cysts. There is a lump or cyst on the top of my ear. I never had these skin conditions before the sludge was spread. One of the girls has been breaking out in hives and getting very itchy. I put benadryl on the itches.

I talked with my neighbors. There are about 10 other children in the area also suffering Rotavirus. A couple of the children had vomiting and diarrhea so bad they were hospitalized for dehydration. A family behind me had a child with Rotavirus and an upper respiratory infection which developed into walking pneumonia.

Neighborhood cats, including my own outdoor cat, are getting sick.

I talked with a lady who had a sick child in St. Joseph's Hospital. She said one whole side of the hospital had signs warning of contagion because of Rotavirus.

DeSoto County where I live is the largest sludge dumping area in Florida. I contacted local health officials. They came out, looked the sludge over and found nothing wrong. They even ignored the fact that the sludge was within 50 to 90 feet of a creek, in violation of Florida's 200 foot setback from waterways. They told me the adverse health effects my children and I were suffering were not related to the sludge.

I told them if the sludge isn't making my kids sick, how is it that when I kept my little girls in the house for the last 3 weeks straight, most all of their symptoms and health problems cleared up. One of the local health officials told me my children's health problems could be caused by my Glade plug in air refresher.