DOH: LeRoy illness not from environment

LeROY, N.Y. (WIVB) - The New York State Health Department has issued a report ruling out environmental or infectious causes behind the illnesses in LeRoy.

For the past week, Erin Brockovich has been bringing attention to barrels stored near the site of a 1970 train derailment in LeRoy where a chemical called TCE was spilled. It is still a Federal Superfund Cleanup site, and all the attention this week was enough to get the EPA to promise the barrels will be moved soon.

But Lewiston Porter School Superintendent Chris Roser got a late Friday afternoon courtesy call from CWM that three truckloads of those barrels were going to be sent to the CWM Landfill in Porter.

Assemblyman John Ceretto said, "In fact it was closer to our children in the schools because it was only one mile away rather than four or five miles away, so it just didn't make any sense."

State Senator George Maziarz says he has since convinced CWM not to accept the barrels from LeRoy.

"We have no idea where it's going to go. We're more concerned where it's not going go," said Sen. Maziarz.

The situation in LeRoy has caught national attention because 18 teens have been showing tic-like symptoms.

Dr. Laszlo Mechtler of the Dent Neurologic Institute said, "We're the ones that are treating the patients."

The Dent Neurologic Institute in Amherst has treated most of the 18 patients and Dr. Mechtler is convinced their twitches have nothing to do with chemicals in the environment.

"If you live in a dormitory setting and one individual starts yelling, 'There's bedbugs!' I promise you, that night, you'll be itching, twitching, looking for bedbugs," argued Dr. Mechtler.

He calls it Conversion Disorder, and most of the girls have been treated without medication.

Dr. Mechtler stated, "The individuals that go on TV, the individuals that are put on stage are the ones that are not doing well. The ones who have kept to themselves and come to their office visits, I'm very pleased to say that they're doing much better."

The LeRoy Central School District is having a c ommunity meeting at the high school Saturday morning at 9 a.m. to discuss which tests have been completed and their results.

You can find a link to the full report from the State Health Department here.