Famous environmental activist Erin Brockovich’s team faced resistance as they tried to test the area around an upstate New York school for clues to a case involving more than a dozen teens plagued by mysterious Tourette's-like symptoms and seizures. One neurologist who has seen most of the affected girls has diagnosed their illness as psychological in origin, but some parents and members of the community have disputed that diagnosis.
Brokovich had sent the team at the request of local parents. The team went to the LeRoy High School Saturday to investigate possible environmental causes for the illness that has caused a group of girls to develop tics and involuntary verbal outbursts.
The State Health Department has tested the school and ruled out environmental factors. But Brockovich plans to do more testing near the school in LeRoy, N.Y. Brockovich said her suspicions were pointing towards a 1971 train accident that spilled cyanide and an industrial solvent called trichloroethene close to the site of the school. Brockovich said, “In 1971, there was a very serious train derailment that caused one ton of cyanide to spill, and 45,000 gallons of TCE.” TCE, trichloroethylene, has been associated with neurological disorders. “Family has reported that there's an orange-yellow substance that almost kind of oozes from the ground and that is on the children's clothing, their shoes,” added Brockovich.
Bob Bowcock, a member of Brokovich's team, came to LeRoy from California. Bowcock looked at ground water and soil at a nearby park for anything out of the ordinary. “I'm just looking at the environment. I'm trying to see where things drain to. What types of soils they are,” Bowcock explained. “It will probably take six weeks before I could have definitive results that could say that contamination migrated under the school and would be a cause of concern for me, or if it didn’t and was not in the groundwater, then I’m going to rule the groundwater out,” Bowcock said. “If I rule the groundwater out, then I have to wait until the first thaw to rule out the soil and the air.”
However, the school placed locks on all the entrances to the sports field. Local police and a school security guard initially refused to allow the Brokovich crew on school grounds until the school superintendent and a district spokesman arrived. Officials agreed to let parents, Bowcock and his team walk the grounds, without media, as long as they didn't take any samples.