On Brookline

The TAB has posted an on-line story on the Baker School evacuation that is downright frightening. Brookline’s Health Director, Dr. Alan Balsam - who has a Ph.D. in Nutrition - is on the case, and that’s what’s frightening.

The story says:

Despite the illnesses students reported on Monday, Health Director Dr. Alan Balsam said the concentrations of ingredient in the antifreeze that caused the sicknesses, propylene glycol, were not high enough to pose serious health risks.

Balsam said the chemical is more of an irritant and not toxic.

“Propylene glycol is generally not a problem,” Balsam said. “The smell is a nuisance.”

Okay, how does our Ph.D. in Nutrition know the material is propylene glycol? There’s been no testing of the material to characterize it, that I know of. It could be another chemical entirely. Instead of testing the material on the ground, our health department runs air sampling to test for who knows what?

The smell is a nuisance? Propylene glycol is odorless. Maybe it’d be a good idea to run samples on the ground contaminant to determine what’s causing the smell.

Here’s the real kick in the pants. Balsam says that the levels of propylene glycol were not high enough to pose serious health risks and the material is generally not a problem. He’s right. In fact, it’s unlikely that people will get sick at all from the material, except through ingestion or inhalation of very large amounts.

But people did get sick. Thirty-one kids were sent to a hospital. And the Town’s Health director is doing the same at Baker as he did when contaminants were found at town-owned land in Brookline Village - opting for public relations over public health.

Is there a doctor in the house?