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Herbicides wreak havoc in
some lives |
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By Trista Steers Four-and-a-half years
ago, Martha and Nicole Gethmann became very sick. Their heads ached. They
had difficulty breathing and experienced nausea, burning throat, upset
stomach and loss of appetite. The Gethmanns
didn’t have the flu. They were being
poisoned. Poisoned by 2,4-D — or
2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid — the same chemical found in herbicides
sprayed in the city of Now, they are both
chemically sensitive. Nicole’s case is much more severe. According to Dr.
Annemarie Welch, chemical sensitivity sets in after individuals experience
intense exposure to a chemical. Exposure combined with genes susceptible to
sensitivity causes people to develop the condition. Welch treats people like
the Gethmanns in Sedona to the best of her ability.
“They’re very difficult
because they’re so ill,” Welch said. “As long as they’re being exposed to the
toxins, there’s not a lot I can do.” Herbicide use by the
city of The Gethmanns
lived in “After about 15 minutes,
my daughter and I could smell those chemicals in our home,” she said. After the fact, Martha
said she did some research and found that because the home sat downhill from
the neighbors, and the wind happened to be blowing toward her house that day,
the droplets became airborne. “I felt as if I was
eating those chemicals,” Martha said. The Gethmanns’
doctor advised them to leave their home until it aired out. They spent five
nights in a hotel before going home. After the incident,
Nicole became very chemically sensitive, Martha said, and would get extremely
sick whenever she came in contact with herbicides. Martha knew they had to
move. They needed to move to a place where people wouldn’t be dousing entire
lawns with herbicides. They chose Sedona. When they first arrived,
Martha said Nicole — now 31 years old — started feeling better. In Things were looking up
for Nicole in the new location, Martha said, until the city started spraying
herbicides. “Right away after that
began she began having some of the same symptoms,” Martha said. Martha’s sensitivity has
subsided since the poisoning, but she was recently treated for breast cancer.
According to Martha, the
doctor told her the chemical exposure was to blame for the cancer. Welch said Martha has a
weaker immune system, making her more prone to cancer. The chemicals also
could have played a part, Welch added. Now, every time the city
sprays, Martha said she has to seal their home as airtight as possible. They
can’t leave for days for fear of the chemical clinging to their clothing or
vapor floating into the house. “They [chemically
sensitive people] get extraordinarily ill every time the city sprays,” Welch
said. Carol Grohs knows how the disease impacts people’s lives. Grohs was poisoned as a child while
canoeing with her father in Now, Grohs
lives in a home in Cornville built by another woman with chemical sensitivity
specifically for her needs. Grohs can’t live in Sedona because of
the spraying and can’t come get groceries when it’s done. In Cornville, “These people have to
find someplace to go every time the city sprays,” Welch said. According to Welch,
chemical sensitivity isn’t a diagnosis recognized by insurance companies, but
she says it’s very real. Welch treats 20 to 30
patients for the condition and some of those over the phone because they are
too sick to leave their homes. “They are the sickest
people I treat,” Welch said. These chemicals, Welch
added, don’t only affect those who are sensitive. Those who aren’t sensitive
just don’t feel the effects until later. The fact that chemically
sensitive people do react should tell others these chemicals aren’t safe,
according to Welch. “They’re the yellow
canaries for the coal mine of our society,” Welch said. Many people move to |