Fumigant Foes Find Ally in New Health Chief

For a year, east Ventura residents complained of being sickened by toxic pesticide fumes that had drifted from a nearby strawberry field into their homes. But hardly anyone seemed to listen.

The county’s top public health doctor declared last fall, in fact, that he could find no solid medical evidence linking residents’ vomiting, dizziness, burning eyes and headaches to the potent crop fumigant methyl bromide.

That is why it came as such a relief to residents when the county’s new public health officer ended a recent hearing by declaring that authorities needed to do more to get to the bottom of complaints about the toxic fumigant.

“It is incumbent on us to err on the side of health,” Paul Russell said.

He called on government regulators to extend buffer zones around strawberry fields until more tests could be done locally to measure the potency of drifting methyl bromide fumes.

He also concluded that local doctors know precious little about the signs of pesticide exposure. And he vowed to do something about it. Now, he plans a series of seminars for local physicians at the county hospital.

Russell, a 44-year-old pediatrician, even told residents from neighborhoods in east Ventura and Camarillo that the whole methyl bromide controversy reminds him of the protracted debate over the effects of lead on children.

“About 10 years ago, we felt that a certain level of lead exposure was safe,” he said in an interview. “Then more studies showed the level we thought was safe was not. More studies lowered it again. Now there is no known safe level for children.

“So my concern here is what level of methyl bromide exposure is safe,” he added. “There’s enough uncertainty for me to be concerned.”

That aggressive approach to his new job--which Russell holds on an interim basis--impressed about 200 residents who filled the Buena High School cafeteria Aug. 5 to testify on the issue. Speaker after speaker rose to implore state officials to halt fumigation near their homes, or at least to extend safety buffer zones well beyond the state minimum requirement of 30 feet.

After Russell’s closing comments, some residents even sent him a note of thanks.

“He showed an interest and compassion that people need to hear from their health officer,” said Alisse Weston, community worker for the Environmental Defense Center’s office in Ventura. “People had gotten what they feel was a cold shoulder [from authorities]. But now they’re hearing someone say, ‘This is a real issue,’ ” Weston said. “And they really appreciate that.”

Russell’s comments placed him in the middle of a dispute that pits Ventura and Camarillo residents concerned about their health against state and local officials who insist that methyl bromide has been tested repeatedly and is safe for use near homes.

“I think he came out pretty strongly,” said Dr. Chris Landon, who recruited Russell from Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles in 1990 to help run a fledging children’s clinic at Ventura County’s public hospital. “I hope it doesn’t cause him difficulties, trying to strike the balance between agriculture and the health of citizens. . . . But in that position he will be at the maelstrom of controversy.”

So far, Russell said he has not been criticized for calling for larger buffer zones around fields when farmers apply methyl bromide--a powerful fumigant used on about 4,500 acres of strawberries locally to kill pests and boost productivity.

David Buettner, the county’s deputy agricultural commissioner, said Friday that he disagrees with Russell over the need for more testing, but thinks the health officer had a right to speak out.

“I still feel that the testing that has been done by the state affords the protection needed for both the field workers and the public,” Buettner said. “But we’re each entitled to our opinion, and his job is to protect the public health.”

As it turns out, the state Department of Pesticide Regulation does plan extensive testing for methyl bromide hazards over the next week on a strawberry field in Camarillo.

In a decision Thursday, regulators allowed strawberry farmer Charles Nakama to proceed with fumigation of a field at least 550 feet from the Lamplighter Mobile Home Park. But regulators also promised to monitor the potency of vapors that escape from plastic tarps that cover the fields, to determine the risk to neighbors.

The tests are part of a new six-month series conducted in the prime strawberry regions of California, principally Monterey and Ventura counties. They are the direct result of findings last winter that surprised and troubled state pesticide regulators, since methyl bromide on four of six monitored farms exceeded allowable levels beyond the buffer zones established for human safety.

State officials have downplayed the significance of those tests for areas like Ventura County, where methyl bromide is applied in the summer. They said the tests reflect what may occur in the winter when air is colder and more stable, and not this time of year, when warmer air and stronger winds quickly dissipate the pesticide.

Russell said he still sees those winter studies as a large red flag. “The new studies indicate that what the state felt was a safe buffer zone turned out not to be,” he said. But the 550-foot setback near the Lamplighter park “seems like a reasonable compromise to me,” he said.

In addition to larger buffer zones, Russell said residents’ testimony and correspondence clearly indicate that local doctors were not prepared for the types of complaints that arose last August, when numerous east Ventura residents sought treatment for methyl bromide’s flu-like symptoms after a nearby Montalvo Ranch field had been sprayed.

“Some of their physicians weren’t sure what tests to order,” Russell said. “So I’m going to hold education teaching sessions at the county hospital.”

Such sessions have already been held for doctors in Riverside, Orange and Stanislaus counties, said state officials, who offered to assist Russell with the seminars.

Those who know Russell well say that his position on methyl bromide is typical of how he has jumped into other issues in the past. A pediatrician who specializes in treating children with special problems, Russell has aggressively attacked problems of child abuse, failed parenting, troubled children and inaccurate assessment of students in school by securing federal grants to search for solutions, said local physician Landon.

“Generally, he’s calm,” Landon said. “But he certainly gets quite passionate and outspoken when it’s something he believes in.”

A wearer of many professional hats, Russell is not only the county’s top public health doctor, but teaches young physicians in the residency program at the county hospital. He also helps with special medical clinics for children with spina bifida, cleft palates, muscular dystrophy and those who are victims of abusive parents.

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The son of a homemaker who raised six children and a mechanical engineer for the Department of Water and Power, Russell grew up in Van Nuys, where he excelled scholastically and participated in sports. He still plays city league basketball.

After graduating from UC Irvine in 1976 with a degree in biology, he went to work as a researcher at UCLA Medical Center wanting to specialize in immunology.

But he gravitated to treatment of children, volunteering at a day camp for mentally retarded youngsters and working as an aide to a teacher of autistic children. He considered a career as a special-education teacher or a physical therapist before deciding to become a physician. “I realized I was drawn to children, and wanted to work with them,” he said.

Years later, after his medical training and a stint at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, Russell and his wife, Kate, decided to move to Ventura County after a weekend trip to Ojai.

“We’d come up for the weekend, and on that same day I found out Chris Landon was looking for a pediatrician up here,” Russell said. “It was fate, I guess.”

After the move, the couple started a family, and Kate, a child development specialist, dedicated herself full time to raising two children. She now volunteers at the Cooperative Preschool in Ojai, where she is president of the board of directors.

Russell, meantime, established himself as “a fierce advocate for downtrodden children,,” said Dr. Samuel Edwards, administrator of the county hospital.

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Biography

Dr. Paul Russell

Residence: Ojai

Education: Bachelor’s degree in biology, UC Irvine, 1976; Research assistant, UCLA Medical Center, 1977-78; Attended graduate school in biochemistry, University of Oregon at Eugene, 1978-80; Doctor of Medicine, Oregon Health Services University in Portland, Ore., 1984. Experience: Pediatric residency, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, 1984-87; Emergency room physician, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, 1987-90; associate, Pediatric Diagnostic Center, Ventura, 1990-present; director of Children’s Medical Services, Ventura County Public Health Department, 1993-present; clinical instructor, Family Practice Residency Program, Ventura County Medical Center, 1990-present; interim Public Health Officer, Ventura County, July 1997-present

Family: Wife, Kate, child development specialist; daughter, Mackenzie, 5; son, Matthew, 4.

Community Activities: President, Child Abuse Advisory Board, Interface.