Tuesday; April 19,1977
THE MIGHIUAN DAILY
Pagi
Tuesday, April 19, 1977 THE MICHI(iAN DAILY Pag
One farm family's
e Three
mm]
battle against the blight of PBB
r- ---
(Convinued from Page 1)
"They hear all this stuff that
goes on," she says, gesturing
with a:wide sweep of h'er arm,
meant to encompass the whole
state of Michigan, the whole
tragedy. "My family had to live
with the cows, seeing them die
all the time . .
Even more frightening to the
Trombleys, but not as apparent
to the public, are the health
problems experienced by farm
families who unknowingly con-
tinued 'to consume their own
highly contaminated beef and
dairy products for years, be-
cause they had frozen food in
their freezers. Farmers handled
the feed itself, wore it on their
clothes next to their skin, and
ate home-grown vegetables nur-
tured in soil rich in PBB.
SINCE 1973, the chemical has
been accumulating in humans'
fat tissue. Most dangerous of
all, women's breast milk, high
in fat content, is laced with
PBB.
Similarly, milk produced by
cows is often unsafe for human
consumption and milk is ex-
pected to conform, like meat, to
legal PBB content levels.
"Michigan Milk Association,
which I sold to at one time,
shipped to Livonia Krogers,"
Trombley recalls. "They told
me, 'we'll take your milk, it's
good, it's underneath the quar-
antine level, we'll buy it.' Well,
I said 'no."
Trombley has lost his faith
in the state's ability to assess
his milk accurately. He found
he would send samples off to
the state labs marked .with the
cow's state identification num-
ber and the test results would
come back lettered: "A", B"
"C'",, and so on but carrying no
numbers.
"So one time we sent 'em out
marked ABCD and what hap-
pened? Carol asks.
"They refused to test them,"
Trombley answers.
TROMBLEY'S OWN sons
have suffered. symptoms of
PBB poisoning not unlike those
the cows displayed. When they
broke out in mysterious rashes
and lesions, the doctors treated
the boys as if they had ring-
worm. The medicine had no ef-
fect. When their joints became
painfully arthritic, they were
prescribed Moltron or aspirin.
"Craig, he's the oldest one,
you could hear him walk the
full length of the upstairs from
-down here - his joints squeak-
ed just like our cows."
Trombley and his family par-
ticipated in a research program
designed by a New York doc-
tor, Irving Selikoff to measure
PBB levels in human beings and
assess the effects df- the chemi-
cal. The PBB in Trombley's fat
measured over the level that
would quarantie ai cow. "If I
were a cow" he says, "they'd
have me in ,alkasia (a cattle
burial site); by now."
Perhaps as damaging as the
stomach problems and head-
aches the Trombleys endured
are the pychological wounds
sustained by all of them.
"Kids (at school), they found
out that we had PBB on the
farm and they were making fun
of them (the Trombley boys)
saying 'Don't touch me, you've
got PBB.' Even the teachers
called the kids 'PBB kids',"
Carol says.{
BUT MANY of those. same
children's parents themselves
own large herds of cattle. Rath-
er that allow their stock to be
tested and possibly quarantined,
they have chosen to ignore the
situation. Their complacency is
further protected by govern-
ment laws which require testing
for dangerous PBB levels only
at slaughterhouses and milk
packaging plants.
Recalls Trombley: "I had a
guy sitting here saying, 'I ain't
checking my cows. I'm gonna
sell,'em - I'm going to get $10,-
000 out of 'em. Why should I
lose $10,000? Let the next guy
worry about. I'm not going toL
eat them, somebody else is'."
Attitudes as polar as these
sharply divide the community.e
"People who have been friends
for years don't even speak any
more," he continues. "A neigh-
bor over here, right across the
street - we shared work back
and forth and done everything
for years - he wouldn't even
wave if he drove by."
Still, Trombley is not going to
sit back and let the issuemfade
with time as so many do. In
fact, he- has toted his briefcase
packed with documents, tests,
research articles and photo-
graphs to countless hearings
and meetings designed to deal
with a situation already spread-
ing out of control.
Trombley is determined to ex-
pose what he believes to be a
widescaletstate governmentbcoy-
erup of the severity of the PBB
problem, especially in the ear-
lier episodes of the drama.
"I asked the governor, last
fall, to fire (Michigan Dept. of
Agriculture Director B. Dale)
Ball and he said he would if I
could prove there had been a
cover up," Trombley says.
"And I did. It's beenproven a
hundred times over - there's
been a cover up and the govern-
ment still hasn't acted."
THE CORPORATIONS in this
scenerio go by names that
cause them to be easily mistak-
en for governmental agencies
(Michigan Farm Bureau, Farm
Bureau Services). Many sneer 200 head of cattle buried here."1
at the irony-they contend the "They (the state) didn't even
private and public parties in- go according to the D&R buriel
volved are so intimately linked laws. There's got to be 9-11 feet
in favor-swapping, they might of burial room (per cow) these
as well be joined under the cattle can not touch. My cattle
same title. are all in trenches, all touching
"What right has a bunch of
state legislators, trying to save
a corporation, got playing Rus-
sian Roulette with our lives?"
asks Trombley.
The Michigan Department of
Agriculture (MDA), the gover-
nor and the state's elected of-
ficials - all are under scrutiny
for their roles in the PBB situa-
tion and for their failure to fur-
nish state aid or secure feder-
al funds for stricken farmers.
"Every disaster that happens
- cherries get hit by frost or a
tornado goes through - our
governor can go to Washington
and ask for federal disaster
funds," explains Trombley.
"But the Michigan Chemical
and the Farm Bureau poisoned
the farmers and there's been
no disaster fund, even under the
ChemicaltToxic Subsidy Act."
When the Trombleys realized
the governor was not going to
head up a fighting brigade to
Washington, they organized one
themselves.
"THESE PICTURES have
been in Washington," Trombley
says, flipping through a pile of
black and white and kodacolor
prints.
"This is the day when our
beloved governor sent the coun-
ty sheriff in to bury these cat-
tle on my farm rather than take
them to the Kalkaska burial
site. Against my wishes, I've got
with three feet of dirt over
'em.
"Now here," he says, tossing
another picture on the table, "is
320 sheep, shot. They were all
affected with PBB as well.
"And here," he says, his tone
growing more sardonic, his
eyes squinting with anger,
"here's a picture from the day
the Federal government came
out here to serve papers on me,
telling me I couldn't shoot these
It's no yolk
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -
Early Christian societies took
their Easter eggs seriously, re-
ports Hallmark researcher Sal-
ly Hopkins.
In Europe, it was believed
that the yolk of an egg laid on
Good Friday would turn into a
diamond in 100 years. Other.
folk tales credit Easter eggs
with protecting people against
sudden death, making trees and
crops fertile, and exorcising de-
mons.
The name Easter - from
Eostre, goddess of spring and
fertility - recalls another egg
legend. Eostre had a brightly
colored pet bird, . which she
changed one day to a rabbit
and that, supposedly, is why
the nonplussed Easter bunny
builds Dests and fills them with
eggs.
cattle, that' I had to sell them;i
for human consumption.
"Well, I shot 'em. They
wasn't fit for my family to'
eat, why should I let somebody
else's family eat 'em? They or-t1
deredhmehto turn them over toI
the Michigan Chemical and!1
Farm Bureau and they would?
sell 'em. I shot 'em.."
What kind of impact did
Trombley's photographs have on1
the people on Capitol .. Hill?1
"They feel bad about it."
MEAN WHILE, as the
state deliberated over whether1
the farmers will get compensa-I
tion for their losses, Trombley
is breaking in a new herd of,
cattle.
"With testing " in (private)
laboratories with something liket
40 or 50 cows, now I have spenti
something like $10-12,000 plus1
$15,000 to clean these barns up.I
And I went to Indiana, Vermont, i
Connecticut, New York, Penn-
sylvania and Ohio and brought
new cattle back."
But Trombley can't go on
footing the bills for maintain-
ing that kind of vigilance much
longer. "Next year, if we don't
get some relief from some-
where, from a settlement, I'm
going to have to sell out.
"Farmers can't even get wel-
fare," he explains. "Can't even
get foodstamps cause they own
too much land. If you sell out
your equity, you're stuck, what
are you gonna work with?
You're just in a terrible bind.
"There are farms being shut-
down now all over," Trombley
continues , punctuating every
other word with a rap of his
fist on the table. "I'd say if
they don't do something in the
next five years, you're going to
have to go to the Detroit Zoo
to see a cow. That's how bad
it's going to be . .."
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THE MICHIGAn DAI -V
Volume 1XXXVII, No. 159
Tuesday, April 19, 1977
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