HOSPITALS JAMMED AS BANNED PESTICIDE IS SPRAYED FROM THE SKIES

[Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>]

HOSPITALS JAMMED AS BANNED PESTICIDE IS SPRAYED FROM THE SKIES

                                               by William Thomas
                                      posted February 15,1999

                    http://www.islandnet.com/~wilco/investsky.htm

             SEATTLE, WA.... As formations of unmarked tanker aircraft
continue to
             criss-cross American skies on a mission authorities refuse
to disclose, an
             environmental laboratory has identified an extremely toxic
component of the
             spray drifting over cities and countryside.

             ENS has learned that samples of oily fallout collected by
farmers, truck
             drivers and pilots in Maryland and Pennsylvania were tested
by Aqua-Tech
             Environmental of Marion, Ohio in September, 1997 and found
to contain
             ethylene dibromide (EDB). An extremely hazardous pesticide,
EDB was banned
             by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1983.

             But in 1991, the composition of jet fuel used by commercial
and military jet
             aircraft in the U.S. was changed from JP4 to somewhat less
flammable JP8. A
             Department of Defence source says the move "has saved some
lives" in air
             crashes. Ethylene dibromide is a key component of JP8.

             The 1991 Chemical Hazards of the Workplace warns that
repeated exposure to
             low levels of ethylene dibromide results in "general
weakness, vomiting,
             diarrhea, chest pains, coughing and shortness of breath,
upper respiratory
             tract irritation" and respiratory failure caused by
swelling of the lymph
             glands in the lungs. "Deterioration of the heart, liver and
kidneys, and
             hemorrhages in the respiratory tract," can also result from
prolonged
             contact with JP8.

             According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
hazardous materials
             list: "Ethylene dibromide is a carcinogen and must be
handled with extreme
             caution." A seven-page summary of this pesticide's extreme
toxicity notes
             that EDB may also damage the reproductive system. According
to the EPA,
             "Exposure can irritate the lungs, repeated exposure may
cause bronchitis,
             development of cough, and shortness of breath. It will
damage the liver and
             kidneys".

             Mark Witten, a respiratory physiologist at the University
of Arizona in
             Tucson where an official US Air Force study on JP8 was
carried out, told
             Scientist in March, 1998 that crew chiefs "seem to have
more colds, more
             bronchitis, more chronic coughs than the people not exposed
to jet fuel."

             EDB is 6.5-times heavier than air. Unlike normal contrails,
the thick white
             streamers being sprayed from downward-pointing tailbooms
over at least 39
             states does not dissipate, but spreads into an overcast
that refracts a
             purple color in sunlight and appears suddenly as an oily
film in puddles and
             ponds.

             Hundreds of photographs and videotapes made by ground
observers show pairs
             or larger formations of aircraft spreading a white mist
that thickens and
             drifts toward the ground. More than 200 eye-witnesses -
including police
             officers, pilots, military and public health personnel -
have provided
             detailed accounts of aerial spraying in characteristic "X"s
and east-to-west
             grid patterns, followed by occluded skies - and acute
auto-immune reactions
             and respiratory infections throughout affected regions.

             "I keeps coughing phlegm that tastes bad," 50 year old Mary
Young of
             Sallisaw, Oklahoma told ENS after an aircraft sprayed her
home at rooftop
             level one night last January with something that struck the
windows like
             sand. "My eyes hurt, my joints hurt. I'm not catchin' my
breath right. I
             can't get rid of this cold. I've had this bad headache -
it's not just a
             headache. My eyeballs hurt so bad - way in the back - I
just wish they would
             fall out."

             Severe headaches, nosebleeds, shortness of breath, joint
pain and a dry
             hacking cough "that never leaves" are being reported by
countless Americans
             jamming hospital Emergency Rooms from coast to coast. While
December and
             January are traditionally bad months for asthma sufferers,
patients, doctors
             and nurses across the U.S. report hospital wards filled to
overflowing with
             bronchitis, pneumonia and acute asthma admissions at up to
twice normal
             winter rates.

             Early last month, The News and Observer of Raleigh, North
Carolina reported
             that respiratory admissions to Durham regional hospital
jumped from the
             usual 184 patients a day to 247. Ambulance drivers were
told that the
             hospital was not receiving any more patients.

             In New York City, doctors are calling a flood of
respiratory cases an
             epidemic. "We have people double- and triple-parked in the
ER on
             stretchers," Dr. Elliot Friedman, associate director of
emergency medicine
             at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, told the New
York Times on
             January 31. "And there have been times when upwards of 40
people have been
             admitted but are waiting for someone to be discharged,"
Friedman added.

             "This high fever is not typical of other flus," Dr. Sigurd
Ackerman, the
             president of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center told the
'Times shortly
             after a TV cameraman panned up to frame lingering
"X"-shaped contrails over
             Times-Square. Dr. Robert Saken, a partner in the Soho
Pediatrics Group, told
             that newspaper,  "It was surprising to me how sick they got
and how quickly
             it happened."

             Dr. Ilya Spigland, Montefiore hospital's director of
virology, doesn't know
             the reason for the sudden epidemic of respiratory cases. It
is, Spigland
             told the New York Times, "very possible that the increase
in respiratory
             infections may not be due to the flu."

             That same day in Lake Havasu, California, headlines in
Today's News Herald
             announced: "Victims curse unnamed bug, but can't call it
the 'flu'." MD Mary
             Lou Callername told the Herald "that a nameless virus is
bringing at least
             10 patients a day into her office and driving some into the
hospital, but
             laboratory tests show only a few are suffering from Type A
or other
             identifiable strains of influenza."

             The previous weekend, after San Francisco resident Curtis
Schumann noticed
             "sky grids in the making," and Melanie Zucker watched nine
contrails being
             woven over Berkeley, local TV stations reported Bay area
emergency rooms
             inundated with flu-like cases.

             In Seattle - where a resident reports "I've lived here for
26 years never
             seeing this number of contrails at once" - pneumonia
patient Lowell Barger
             told ENS that in the hospital where he was admitted in late
January, "their
             respiratory ward was overflowing with people, and they were
having to put
             respiratory patients in other wards." At that time, a
resident of Spokane
             listening to a police radio scanner told ENS he heard "many
rescue calls for
             people with breathing difficulties."

             In Palmyra, New Jersey, shortly after Lucrecia Moon watched
unusual
             lingering contrails from a McDonald's restaurant, a nurse
reported "many
             people ill." In Las Vegas, Nevada, TV news coverage told of
area hospitals
             being filled with people experiencing breathing problems.

             After a resident of Lexington, Kentucky watched helicopters
circling the
             city for several days, flying low overhead at 3 a.m., "the
sky looked like a
             giant checkerboard from the planes criss-crossing it, and
the air still had
             the steel mill smell." According to this eye-witness,
"Everyone here is
             sick. So far six counties have closed all the schools
because all the
             students were sick with 'flu-like symptoms'.  I've been
having headaches, a
             sore throat, and an annoying, hacking cough for the past
four months and it
             seems to get worse after I see these aircraft circling the
area."

             Similar "chem trails" sightings continue to be reported
over Phoenix,
             Arizona. The January 28, 1999 edition of Arizona Republic
reported that "The
             incidence of bronchial problems in Phoenix this month is
237
             hospitalizations vs. last year at 160 or so."

             At the same time, hospitals in Portland, Oregon; Marietta,
Georgia;
             Chandler, Arizona, Bakersfield, Santa Cruz, Redding and
Salinas, California
             - and other cities across the nation - were jammed with
bronchitis,
             pneumonia and other acute respiratory cases after repeated
spraying and
             cobweb-like fallout was reported in those regions.

             "We're getting sprayed real heavily with the contrails," a
south
             Pennsylvania resident told ENS. "It's just total
saturation." As overfilled
             Pennsylvania hospitals were forced to divert respiratory
emergencies to
             other facilities with bed space, another south-central
Pennsylvania
             resident, Deborah Kammerer, looked out her window and
watched aircraft
             "flying and dispersing over the city. It was supposed to be
a clear sunny
             day. It became more overcast as the day progressed. I
observed how the white
             trails widened out and settled down creating a haze over
everything."

             South Florida resident Karen Okenica told ENS she has
watched on several
             occasions as contrails "criss-crossed or ran parallel to
each other. They
             did not dissipate but got thicker and stayed in the sky for
quite a while."
             Okenica says she became frightened after gazing through
Nikon binoculars and
             noticing an all-white jet with "plumes" coming from the
rear of the plane.
             In early December, local newspaper reported that Bethesda
Memorial and
             Delray Community hospitals were full and could not
accommodate any more
             patients.

             The January 7 Philadelphia Daily News reported that
"Emergency Room
             patients overflowed into the hallways at West Jersey
Hospital in Berlin,
             New Jersey, and ambulance crews were temporarily diverted
to other
             institutions as a wave of respiratory illnesses swept the
area." At
             Northern Westchester County Hospital, "there was a 24 hour
waiting
             period to get in."

             In Manitou, Michigan, Registered Nurse Kim Korte was
driving north on
             M52, when she noticed "stripes" in the sky. "It appeared as
if someone
             took white paint on their fingers and from north to south
ran their fingers
             through the sky. These contrails were evenly spaced and
covered the
             whole sky!" from east to west.

             Within 24 hours, Korte became very weak and feverish. After
her
             boyfriend told her that "many in his family started coming
down with the
             same complaints," the RN "started noticing alot of my
patients and
             their family members were coming down with these symptoms
at the
             same time." On checking with her colleagues, the former
hospital
             supervisor learned that other nurses and physicians were
complaining
             "of being extremely busy with respiratory diagnoses."

             In Austin, Texas - where Richard Young reports that "The
skies here are
             filled almost daily with trails crossing each other" - a
school nurse
             told a worried parent that she had seen over 100 sick
children in a single day.

             Where is the mass media's reporting of this mass
phenomenon? Indications of
             a concerted cover-up came on February 11, when a retired
Southern Baptist
             preacher named Everett Burton finally succeeded in reaching
C-span. After
             voicing his opinion on the Clinton impeachment trial, this
former minister
             told Americans to get a copy of the Constitution and read
it to realize what
             they have lost. Rev. Burton then advised viewers not to
take his word for
             what was happening in the US -  but to "just look up in the
skies as the
             planes regularly spray contrails across the skies, spraying
people and
             making them ill." At this point, Rev. Burton was cut off.
The screen flipped
             from C-span to the Tennessee state seal, remained silent
for several minutes.

             Americans are not alone in their anxious bewilderment and
suffering. In
             England, after lingering contrails and cobweb-like fallout
were reported
             over London and Birmingham, the BBC reported on January 14
that
             more than 8,000 people - mostly elderly - died from
pneumonia and
             other respiratory complications in the last week of
December and the
             first two weeks of January, 1999.

             According to the BBC, in early January of this year, more
than 97,100 people
             in England and Wales were stricken with respiratory
ailments in a single
             week - almost double the usual rate. Ambulances in the
Greater Manchester
             and Mersey region were each dealing with more than 1,000
calls every day -
             almost twice the norm. Norfolk and Norwich suffered such an
unexpected
             increase in deaths, a refrigerated semi-trailer capable of
holding 36 bodies
             was pressed into service as a temporary morgue.