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Ailing Alumni Urge Soil Tests

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By FRANK GLUCK, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: October 27, 2007

BRADENTON - State Rep. Bill Galvano will ask state environmental regulators to begin new soil testing at Bayshore High School to determine what, if any, toxins may be making scores of alumni sick.

Galvano, R-Bradenton, also is compiling a database on the students and staff who think their illnesses and rare cancers are tied to their time at the central Manatee County school.

Ultimately, the list will be turned over to state health officials, he said.

Galvano made the announcement after meeting Friday with more than 60 former students, staff and their families at Blake Medical Center.

'My commitment is not to make a case for one thing or another,' he said. 'I want to understand myself why has this come to such a boil in our community? Why are so many coming up here and making heartbreaking stories?'

The alumni think moldy air and leaking underground diesel fuel tanks at the school caused numerous rare cancers and other ailments. The old school was torn down and the existing Bayshore High School opened on a site nearby in 1998.

Cheryl Jozsa, whose 37-year-old sister died in 1999 from chronic myelogenous leukemia, has spent years compiling information about the deaths and illnesses, and has organized dozens of families to push for further investigation.

'There have been too many alumni dying of rare and aggressive cancers at young ages,' Jozsa said. 'To me, that's not a coincidence. No way, no way.'

The school district removed one 350-gallon tank in 1989 and a 10,000-gallon tank in the mid-1990s from the school in the 5400 block of 34th Street West. The district documented mold problems back to the early 1990s, though some former staff say mold was a problem as far back as the 1980s.

A Herald-Tribune review of school district records in August showed that inspectors found diesel-related chemicals once the tanks were removed. Benzene, a component of diesel, is a known carcinogen.

But they found only trace amounts - levels that were below the threshold the state considers dangerous. State health officials have said they found no evidence of a cancer cluster or other health hazards caused by the school.

Forrest Branscomb, risk manager for the Manatee school district, said officials will cooperate with any new investigation.

District officials repeatedly have said they do not think the tanks posed any health risk.

Members of the Bayshore group have counted 38 cancer deaths and 58 current cancer cases or survivors. Those numbers are too high to be a coincidence, they say.

About a dozen told their stories to Galvano on Friday. Many choked back tears. Some recounted their own cancers, while others told of the deaths of their teenage children.

Some wondered if other family ailments - multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, cataracts - were also the result of attending Bayshore.

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