TITLE: 6 states to study water toxins; Mid-Atlantic officials to meet in Annapolis to chart response plan; `Concerted effort'; More relaxed attitude of Virginia may upset degree of cooperation
BYLINE: Timothy B. Wheeler and Marcia Myers
CREDIT: SUN STAFF
EST. PAGES: 3
DATE: 09/19/97
DOCID: BSUN533771
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun; BSUN
EDITION: FINAL; SECTION: NEWS; PAGE: 1A
NOTES: SEE HARD COPY FOR MAP
(Copyright 1997 @ The Baltimore Sun Company)
Officials from six mid-Atlantic states gathering in Annapolis
today are expected to pledge cooperation in seeking to combat
the toxic microorganism that Maryland officials suspect has sickened
people and killed fish in three Chesapeake Bay tributaries.
But the extent of that cooperation remained in doubt on
the eve of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's regional summit on Pfiesteria,
as Virginia and Maryland officials continued to differ over the
health threat posed by the single-celled organism.
While Glendening's spokeswoman spoke yesterday of seeking
"concerted effort" to curb outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida
in coastal waters, Virginia Gov. George F. Allen released a statement
stressing his interest in research that will help "prevent
premature conclusions that may unnecessarily frighten our citizens."
Virginia health officials also insisted yesterday they have
no intention of closing the Rappahannock River to fishing or swimming,
despite finding menhaden with lesions and preliminary evidence
of Pfiesteria-like organisms in the water. Maryland has closed
portions of three bay tributaries after fish kills or after finding
fish with lesions typical of those caused by Pfiesteria.
Scientists at Old Dominion University informed Virginia health officials Wednesday that they had tentatively identified Pfiesteria or similar organisms in water samples taken last week in the Rappahannock. Up to 75 percent of the hundreds of fish caught then had lesions.
But Dr. Randolph L. Gordon, Virginia's health commissioner, said he was not alarmed by those preliminary findings, or by a medical study he received from Maryland the same day suggesting strong links between the microorganism and serious human health problems, notably confusion and memory loss.
"We're concerned about it, but I think we have a long way to go to say that exposure to the toxin causes these problems," Gordon said.
Maryland officials closed a 7-mile stretch of the lower Pocomoke River in Somerset County on Aug. 29, after receiving a preliminary report from medical experts suggesting that watermen and state workers exposed to fish kills on the river were suffering health problems.
Virginia closed its portion of the Pocomoke the same day.
Without waiting for evidence of Pfiesteria in water samples, Maryland this month closed portions of Kings Creek, a tributary of the Manokin River in Somerset, and the Chicamacomico River in Dorchester County after finding more sick and dying fish with lesions that are typical of those caused by Pfiesteria.
Maryland officials voiced alarm Wednesday over a medical study that indicated strong links between the microorganism and serious human health problems, but Virginians were upbeat.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins University medical schools, finds a credible link between exposure to Pfiesteria and neurological problems, such as confusion and memory loss. However, it finds no consistent link between Pfiesteria and the lesions, burning skin and abdominal cramps that some people who came in contact with the water had reported.
"Even if there is a toxin, which we're a ways from establishing, at this point we're not ready to say that water which contains lesion fish will lead to these more serious neurological symptoms," Gordon said. "We're reassured that there were so many normal tests."
Gordon also complained about Maryland's refusal to release the test data on which the medical team based its conclusions.
"We need more information," he said. "To really get to the bottom of this problem, other scientists need to be able to examine their data."
Dr. Martin P. Wasserman, Maryland's health secretary, said patients involved in the study were promised confidentiality.
"I am not going to violate my pledge to them," he said yesterday. Representatives from the Maryland and Virginia health agencies are expected to meet soon to discuss that issue.
Despite Virginia's unwillingness to close waterways, Allen announced Wednesday that he would devote $2.3 million to study the organism and to improve methods for detecting it. Pfiesteria has proven elusive because it shifts among more than 20 different forms, four of which are known to emit toxins that can stun fish and disintegrate their flesh.
In Annapolis today, Governors Allen, Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Cecil H. Underwood of West Virginia are expected to join Glendening at the State House, along with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol M. Browner, to review what is known about Pfiesteria and its effects on fish and people.
North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. is in Europe on a trade mission but is sending his secretaries of health and natural resources, according to a spokesman. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge plans to remain in Harrisburg but has dispatched a deputy environment secretary to represent him.
"We're looking for some kind of concerted effort to come out of this and a concerted understanding," said Judy Scioli, Glendening's press secretary.
Pfiesteria has been blamed for massive fish in North Carolina, and has been linked to the deaths of more than 100,000 fish in Delaware a decade ago.
The officials are to be briefed behind closed doors by JoAnn Burkholder, the N.C. State University scientist who helped identify Pfiesteria, and by Dr. J. Glenn Morris Jr., the University of Maryland physician who has led the medical team that found neurological problems among 11 watermen and state workers who have worked on the Pocomoke during fish-lesion outbreaks.
Then, after a lunch of Maryland seafood, the principals are scheduled to talk privately for about an hour before emerging to hold a press conference.
The governors and their representatives are expected to sign a one-page statement drafted by Glendening's staff calling the suspected Pfiesteria outbreaks "a serious threat to public health, the regional economy and the environment."
The draft agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Sun, pledges the states to share information on Pfiesteria-like organisms, what triggers them to become toxic and possible measures for preventing or curbing the problem. Officials also promise to notify neighboring states immediately of any outbreaks or of any findings that might help combat the menace.
The pact also sets up a "regional technical team" to recommend by year's end what states can do to evaluate the risks and reduce the occurrence of Pfiesteria outbreaks.
It is unclear whether officials will agree to any joint actions on reducing nutrient pollution, which has been implicated by researchers as a key factor in triggering toxic outbreaks of Pfiesteria. Though not directly on the Chesapeake, nutrients from sewage plants and farmland in Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia all drain into the bay, and the decade-old effort to curb nutrient pollution is lagging.
"We've done a lot of things in Delaware already," said Sheri Woodruff, Carper's press secretary.
William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, called on EPA's Browner to set federal limits on nutrients in the nation's waters, citing evidence that runoff of manure from chicken farms is the dominant source on the lower Eastern Shore, where the outbreaks have occurred.
Baker also called on the states to place a moratorium on new poultry or hog farms in the bay watershed until federal nutrient limits are in place.
But Glendening's spokeswoman said expectations from this summit were much more modest.
"I don't think anyone expects to walk out of here with an answer to this problem," said Scioli. "The whole reason they're assembling is for recognition of the problem, which is the first step to solving a problem. It's a very important step."
Maryland maintains a combined hot line for reports of sick
and dying fish and for people who believe they have Pfiesteria-related
health problems: 1-888-584-3110.
Pub Date: 9/19/97
ART: MAP;
Caption: Troubled waters;
Credit: EMILY HOLMES : SUN STAFF