Charles Lake
P.O. Box 1237
Cairo, N.Y. 12413
(518) 622-2097
This letter addresses the issue of the Sanitary Transportation law, Title 49: Transportation, Chapter 57. I am especially concerned with section 5706, which calls for a dedicated fleet of trailers by companies that haul food product. I'm writing to you about how this issue has effected me personally, how this issue has and will effect other people and a solution to the problem that I believe could work with support of our government.
I have enclosed the following documents to explain and support my concern: The envelope marked Congressman Sweeny has the letter I wrote to Mr. Sweeny on June 6, 2000. It has the Trip sheets and the driver's daily log pages for the days that I hauled asbestos for Monsey Products Corp. Included also are spreadsheets labeling the different loads that I have hauled. The letter to Congressman Sweeny explains the highlighted trailer numbers. I am also supplying you with a copy of Chapter 57-Sanitary Food Transportation Laws so that you can see for yourself how these laws are being broken since 1990. I understand that these are 1994 laws but they date back to 1990 (only the numbers were different).
The envelope marked MPC Trucking has to do with Workmen's Compensation and the way I have been treated by the Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Court after being injured in a trailer owned by a company I was contracted to that resides in their state.
I have three letters from Mr. Gallagher (Vice President of MPC Trucking), dated 1/7/91, 1/30/91 and 2/15/91 (please read these carefully). Documentation from Norwood Hospital that shows I was injured at work on 3/6/91 and that the bill was sent to MPC Trucking, (P.O. Box Kimberton Pennsylvania 19442). They paid this bill through miscellaneous insurance.
This was approximately a month after they started taking Workmen's Compensation out of my pay at the rate of 3.5%.
On April 6, 1992, I suffered from an exposure to an unknown substance while unloading a trailer at C&S Warehouse.
On April 7, 1992, after I was told by doctors at the Albany Medical Center, Albany N.Y. that I apparently had suffered either a chemical burn or chemical reaction, I called MPC Trucking and requested a Workers Comp number. I was told to send the bills to MPC Trucking and they would be taken care of like Norwood Hospital.
After filing Workmen's Compensation in Pennsylvania I received this letter marked 2/28/95 (read carefully). Shortly after March 7, 1995, I received a copy of a letter addressed to the judge of the Workmen's Comp Court from James Knot, Assistant General Manager of MPC Trucking, which makes it sound like they knew that the letters sent in 1991 were sent under fraudulent pretences. Where did all the money go?
Enclosed is the Workmen's Compensation decision from Pennsylvania. If you also take time to read this carefully you will see where the Judge admits to a number of things but never upheld my rights or the people's rights. People who were contaminated by this load and myself have never known what could have possibly been in this trailer because MPC Trucking was never made to show documentation of where this trailer was before 4/2/92.
The final decision, I was not an employee of MPC Trucking. The Judge made other rulings mainly from hearsay. This trial was a joke. As an example, a couple of months into the trial, I contacted the Judge due to having problems with my attorney. I did not feel as though I would be adequately represented. The judge told me I could not seek new counsel because it was too far into the trial. The fact that my Attorney never contacted me when this decision was released or ever changed my address with the court shows exactly how I was treated as his client. Yet I did not have the opportunity to appeal this case. I received this decision with four days left to appeal, this was due to my attorney's failure to change my address with the court and it went to the wrong address. I also could not contact an Attorney in Pennsylvania in the allotted amount of time.
I have enclosed the testimony of Dr. Johanning from Eastern New York Occupational Health Program and the results of my evaluation dated July 27, 1993 by Phyllis Marino, MD, Hudson Valley Division of the Mount Sinai-Irving J. Selikoff Occupational Health Clinical Center. Their opinion is clear that my current health is a result of exposure in these trailers.
The envelope marked OSHA, shows that OSHA knew that food product and hazardous waste as well as asbestos were being hauled in these trailers and chose to do nothing. Recently I tried to obtain the pictures that MPC Trucking said they sent to OSHA in their October 9th letter. A representative from OSHA told me because the paper work I had was marked serious health that I would be able to obtain these pictures because these files do not get destroyed. When I gave them my request, invoking the Freedom of Information Act, I was told to wait in their office while they searched their computer database to see where the files were located. When the representative returned, she told me because there was never a physical exam of the trailers the file had been destroyed. Reading these documents you will find that OSHA was so incompetent that they could not get anything right, my name, the company's name, or other information that was critical to this case. I also became aware that OSHA only has 6 months to investigate a complaint from the day of the incident. If you look at the letters from MPC Trucking to OSHA they made sure they waited until after the six months were up to reply. October 9th was the first reply. In his reply to OSHA you will see how Mr. Gallagher said I had an intestinal bacterial infection that was traced back to the well water contamination at my home (then) in Maple Crest, N.Y. This is not true. A test was taken because I did have an intestinal irritation and the doctor who was treating me suggested that I get the well tested so that source could be ruled out. Which it was, attached is the report from the A.C. Stiefel Research Institute which shows that there was less than 2.2 per 100ml, which was the norm for when the test was done.
On October 12th, Mr. Knot says that he researched exactly where the trailer had been prior to April 6, 1992 but never gives documentation verifying this. He also states that he had the trailer swept under his supervision on April 10, 1992 and that the plastic bag of sweepings was stored near him until September 23, 1992. I have a few questions:
In the envelope marked WR Grace I will explain how I figured out and why my doctors agree of what has happened to me:
While driving for MPC Trucking I went to areas where I was exposed to formaldehyde; Paper mills, plastic plants, etc. (see manifest attached). At the time I had no idea that being exposed to these items and the smells of the factories and the plants could be devastating to my health. I also found that Styrofoam in large quantities must be handled in a well-ventilated area as per OSHA and the EPA because for the styrene that leaches from the Styrofoam. In fact in 1994 the EPA admitted in their Styrene Fact Sheet (Case No. 100-42-5) that Styrene enters the body when people breath in air or consume food or water contaminated with it. In fact the EPA knows that food processing companies use small amounts of styrene as a flavoring agent in foods such as ice cream and candy. The ATSDR, (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry), fact sheet states more ways of being exposed to styrene. OSHA now states that styrene is classified a possible human carcinogen by the EPA. The acute health effects outlined by OSHA, EPA and the ATSDR are the same health effects that I suffered. Mr. Gallagher in his letter of October 9, 1992 stated I missed so much work over an intestinal problem, this continuous exposure was producing this symptom. I have the 1990 doctor records to prove the doctor who was then treating me had no idea what was wrong.
In Mr. Gallagher's letter to OSHA he stated WR Grace's personnel loaded the trailer, this was normal as MPC Trucking had a contract with WR Grace. We would drop and empty trailer and pick up a preloaded trailer that had a seal on in. I never waited for a trailer to be loaded.
I believe WR Grace knew about the health effects of being in a non-ventilated area with their product because they had vents on all their machines so that the fumes would be vented outside.
As of February 2000 because of the research I have done my doctors believe, as I do, that I suffer from formaldehyde and styrene poisoning. This is directly due to the loads I hauled for MPC Trucking and the loads that I unloaded for WR Grace in a non-ventilated area.
I have also enclosed other paper work on WR Grace, one of which shows that they knew approximately a year before the Libby, MT, incident what exposure to asbestos could do and how it may effect their company. WR Grace considered buying asbestos insurance. By WR Grace having a contract with MPC Trucking and loading the trailers of MPC Trucking, (especially knowing that MPC Trucking's mother company used asbestos in their products), they willfully violated the sanitation food laws.
MPC Trucking's contract with WR Grace started before I went to work for MPC Trucking and to my knowledge continued after the incident of April 6, 1992. Can we calculate how many people may have been effected by their trucking practices?
Through the commercials that I have seen on TV all politicians are trying to take credit for saving Social Security. After reading all this I would like to get an answer to this question, is Social Security Disability being used as a form of corporate welfare? Can businesses continue this practice and the government foot the bill? With other people being disabled by this type of contamination can we afford not to do something to change it for future generation?
I am proposing an amendment to the Sanitary Transportation Food Laws. It's very simply, and the process is practically in place. To identify a designated fleet of food trailers, when presenting the trailer for inspection, dedicate it. Place an F on the inspection sticker. When DOT pulls the load over they are going to check the manifest. If the manifest states anything other than food, impound the truck and fine the company.
The reason I put all this information into this letter (and I know there is a lot), to show you why we need this amendment to uphold the Sanitary Transportation Food Laws, especially 5706. Dedicated trailers! The health care system of this country could use a break and if we stop these companies from poisoning us it will save millions of dollars in health costs. If this took place in another country, (companies knowingly poisoning people), we would be calling it terrorism. So far here in America it has been considered good business.
I can be of further assistance in raising awareness of this growing problem please contact me.
Respectfully,