Toxic Affect On Mental Health

Although there is an understandable tendency to believe that such an accident could not occur in an industrialized country, a major train derailment in Mississauga, Ontario required evacuation of approximately a quarter million people. Moreover, many less severe chemical accidents have occurred in the country.

There is the need for such steps as examining the age and construction of local housing stock to assess its adequacy to support sheltering in place, and reviewing land use patterns in neighborhoods along proposed transportation routes to plan effectively for evacuation. It is even more important for planners to consider the possibility of emergencies as they plan land use, to ensure that special facilities such as schools, hospitals and nursing homes are not sited too near hazardous industrial facilities or the transportation routes that serve them. When local industries use chemicals that require evacuation of areas that are miles away from the accident site, close coordination is required between emergency response planning and land use planning.

Results of recent examinations indicated that irrespective of the level of methyl parathion contamination in respondents' dwellings, more than half the victims interviewed reported depressive symptoms at levels suggesting probable clinical depression. Those at greatest risk of depressive symptoms were people who had been exposed to the neurotoxin for the longest period of time, among whom there was an overrepresentation of women and African Americans. Despite high statistical levels of depression, few victims used mental health services.

Until safe alternatives are widely available, other toxic pesticides will find their way into the homes of desperate families who cannot afford anything else. Also, social workers should include survivors of these disasters in advocacy efforts that promote more rigorous regulations regarding hazardous chemicals in all communities to avoid disasters such as this one in south Mississippi.