Neck Deep in Toxic Gumbo

As the government drags its feet, the unknown number of human bodies decomposing in the New Orleans floodwaters are becoming hosts for a horde of diseases. The bodies continue to fester and rot, potentially contaminating the city they used to call home.

For now, clean-up efforts focus on the essentials: removing bodies and debris and draining the floodwaters. Health and human services secretary Mike Leavitt has declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf region, where bacteria and viruses are the most immediate threat to rescue personnel and residents, caused in no small part by all the hurricane's decomposing victims.

The Centers for Disease Control has reported four fatal instances of vibrio vulnificus, a cousin of cholera. Red Cross and other relief workers are struggling to prevent outbreaks related to salmonella, e. coli and other bacteria that cause nausea, diarrhea, and can lead to severe dehydration. There is also cause to fear the spread of hepatitis A, a virus that causes liver disease. But a real plan to assess the health problems that could plague the Gulf Coast for decades is noticeably absent.

Polluted Past

Pollution has been a major problem in Louisiana for decades before Hurricane Katrina hit. Reporter Ron Nixon coined the term "toxic gumbo" to describe the potent mix of waste that courses through the state. The Big Easy, perched at the mouth of the Mississippi River, is located at the narrow end of a funnel siphoning immense amounts of industrial, agricultural and human waste every day.

"Virtually anything could be in the water," said Jim Elder, the EPA's former National Director of Drinking Water and Groundwater. "I'm not sure that anywhere has ever seen all these chemicals put together in the same place. That's why people are referring to this as a toxic soup. I think that's a simple but apt description."

Elder says the many heavy industries based in Louisiana have been leaching chemicals into the soil and groundwater for decades. But Katrina stirred up an even deadlier mix of waste: submerged automobiles are leaking oil, gasoline and other chemicals into the floodwater; asbestos that may have been contained in old buildings has been released by the flooding and the collapse of buildings; raw sewage, decaying body parts, offshore oil rigs and possibly ruptured pipelines all pave the way for a myriad of serious and potentially fatal medical conditions.

Hazards to Heroes

Hugh Kaufman, who helped found the EPA and has worked for the agency for 35 years, was the chief EPA investigator for the post-9/11 emergency response. He's now a senior policy analyst for EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, and he's concerned about the millions of residents who may return to the new, toxic Louisiana and the rescue workers wading into the lethal stew.

"After 9/11, because the government did not do its job properly and provide the responders with the proper clothing and equipment -- like respirators -- now over 75 percent of the responders are sick as dogs," he said. "And they're starting to die off, four years after their heroic efforts in responding to 9/11.

"And I'm concerned the same thing is happening down in that region of the country," he continued, "where the responders are not provided respirators and the proper equipment to protect them from their exposures."

Given the government's already shoddy response to the disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi, Kaufman's concerns should raise many alarms. Where the World Trade Center became a deathtrap of poisonous chemicals, at least the site was relatively safe before the towers came down. Louisiana, however, has long been one of the country's most polluted areas.

The ongoing pollution of Louisiana's air, water and soil by oil refineries, hazardous waste, and whatever else has been dumped into the Mississippi River over the years have given the 85-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans the nickname "Cancer Alley."