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A one-woman health crusade
An Orland Park woman is determined to prove that benzene emissions from a former refinery caused illnesses in her children and in others
By Jennifer Skalka
Tribune staff reporter
February 7, 2005 - Tricia Krause believes her community shouldn't be defined by its roads or creeks, schools or cul-de-sacs. On a map in her Orland Park living room, Krause uses a rainbow of pushpins, about 200, to outline a different kind of landscape.
The yellow pushpins signify people--such as her son--who have been diagnosed with cancer. Blue pins mark residents who have had brain tumors, such as her daughter.
Pink ones indicate those with neuroblastomas, and green pins note the area's cases of aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease.
The black pins, and there are many of them, indicate individuals who have died of these illnesses within the last five years. "All these people suffered, and you know what? It doesn't add up," Krause.
For five years Krause has collected information to support her suspicion that the former Premcor Refining Group plant, which once operated on 170 acres near Blue Island, polluted the environment in surrounding communities and sickened residents.
Premcor, formerly owned by Clark Refining & Marketing, was cited by the state for dozens of environmental violations, many of which involved leaks of benzene, which is known to cause cancer in humans. Premcor ceased refining operations in January 2001, but it is still involved in a lengthy cleanup mandated by the state. A spokeswoman for the Premcor Refining Group did not return repeated requests for comment.
The Illinois Department of Public Health has determined that the cancer rate in six communities near the refinery was not out of the ordinary. The state does not track aplastic anemia cases.
Through word of mouth, friends in the cancer-care community, neighbors and newspaper obituaries, Krause has counted about 200 cases of cancers and eight aplastic anemia diagnoses in a 7-mile radius of the refinery. In an effort to identify more cases, she has organized a community meeting to be held Monday in the Orland Park Public Library.
Krause's data collection methods are not scientific, and much of her research is kept in dusty cardboard boxes. But Krause feels it's no accident that communities near the refinery are home to so many people suffering from cancer or aplastic anemia, which results each year in about 500 new diagnoses nationwide.
So far, however, her quest is just that, despite encouragement from one heavy hitter. California attorney Ed Masry, made famous in the Julia Roberts movie "Erin Brockovich," paid Krause about $1,200 in 2001 to help her continue her research.
But Masry's firm, like others in the Chicago area, ultimately turned down the case, Krause said. Air contamination, especially years after the fact, is harder to prove than water contamination, experts say.
Still, Krause is undeterred.
She is quick to say her life is not as she planned it. Married at 22 and divorced 12 years later, she has spent the bulk of her adult years caring for two sick children.
To make ends meet, Krause, who talks a blue streak and tears up easily, has launched her own embroidery and clothing design businesses from her home.
Before moving to Orland Park, Krause, 40, lived with her husband in Crestwood for eight years, in two homes within about 3 miles of the refinery. During that time, Krause gave birth to her three children.
Early medical problems
Her son Matthew, now a freckled 15-year-old, has had problems since birth. As a baby, his heartbeat was irregular, and he contracted whooping cough. As a toddler, he was diagnosed with viral meningitis and later with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a fast-moving cancer that first exhibited itself with high fevers and night sweats.
"Sometimes, honestly, I could ring out his pajamas," Krause said. "That's how bad it was. I remember how frightened I was."
For six years Matthew was in and out of the hospital for chemotherapy treatments.
According to the National Marrow Donor Program Web site, acute lymphocytic leukemia is caused by changes in the cells in the bone marrow. Those changes may be sparked by environmental factors, such as high doses of radiation or exposure to toxins, especially before birth or during early childhood.
Although it may not be possible to make a direct link between benzene emitted by the refinery and Matthew's disease, benzene has--in workplace studies--been linked with aplastic anemia and leukemia, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Mark Cullen, a professor of medicine and public health and director of the occupational and environmental medicine program at Yale University, said it is hard to study the impact of carcinogens in an ambient environment. Neighbors eat different foods, drink different waters, work in different places.
"Only in extraordinary circumstances in a community can we find a rat, so to speak," Cullen said.
Matthew has been free of cancer for six years.
But just when he was on the mend, Brianne, Krause's youngest, started suffering from debilitating headaches. The pain often would leave her holding her head in her hands, unable to move.
One evening after a bath, Brianne fainted while waiting for her mother to pull her pajamas from the dresser. Krause heard a thud and turned to find Brianne had hit the wall face first, bloodying her nose.
The diagnosis was a brain tumor. Fortunately, it was benign.
Krause would endure another extended visit to the intensive care unit. This time, she'd see Brianne's head shaved. And she would sit, exasperated, through her eight-hour surgery.
"It was the longest time frame anyone would want to experience," Krause recalled, her voice cracking. "They had to put screws in her head to elevate her, to keep her balanced."
A crusade begins
Matthew's and Brianne's illnesses took a toll on her family. They also sparked the crusade that is defining her life.
With her children's illnesses in check, it would seem Krause would want nothing more than to put hospital visits behind her, to stop looking at children hooked up to machines. But she opts instead to reach out to doctors and families for information about sick people.
After talking with a family doctor about the possibility that her children fell ill from pollutants, Krause started researching Premcor and finding other people with stories like hers.
She has taken pages of handwritten notes, in sloping cursive, about sick people. Her data isn't comprehensive, but she insists her numbers are correct.
Robert Rinsky, a benzene expert who worked formerly for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is now a professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said if Krause really has found several area residents with aplastic anemia, she needs to bring it to the attention of public health officials. Aplastic anemia, which is often misdiagnosed, is very rare.
"It's a terrible disease," he said. "It wipes out your bone marrow, and you die."
In April 2002 the U.S. Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state announced a $6.25 million settlement with Premcor for "violations of several environmental laws."
According to a Department of Justice statement, Premcor had violated the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and the Emergency Planning, Community Right-To-Know Act.
Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan filed a complaint against Premcor in January 2004. Madigan cited 64 violations since 1992, many for benzene leaks of various magnitudes, from undisclosed amounts to 20,000 barrels.
Rinsky said benzene is a terrific solvent, and is not offensive to smell. It's used in furniture stripping formulas, for example. When motor cars first came out, they ran on benzene, he said.
But after years of study, experts found the chemical can cause a range of debilitating anemias and cancers of the bone marrow and blood.
The challenge Krause faces is finding someone, an attorney or expert, who can prove that the people represented by pins were exposed to benzene emissions.
It's not an easy task. Especially years after the refinery has closed.
Still, Krause fights on.
"Things of this nature make me want to get to the bottom of the problem," she said. "We are not happy because we've been through hell."
A community meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Room 104 of the Orland Park library, 14921 Ravinia Ave.
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