Environmental activists think 1970s train derailment may be to blame for strange New York illness

LE ROY, N.Y. - On Saturday, investigators set out to determine what's causing a mystery illness that's afflicting teen girls in upstate New York.

The teens suffer from uncontrolled verbal outbursts and twitching. Health officials have said the girls' symptoms are consistent with conversion disorder. But now environmental activist Erin Brockovich is involved, trying to determine whether a 1970 train derailment could be the reason for the illnesses.

Brockovich's colleague, environmental investigator Bob Bowcock, collected water and soil samples. He walked the grounds of Le Roy Senior High School on Saturday and traveled to the derailment site.

“But what they actually did was they came out here and the chemical had saturated the soil. And they were like: ‘How are we going to clean this thing up?’” Bowcock said. “They came in and they dug trenches and they took water and they tried to hose it into the ground, is the way they tried to get rid of it. So if if it didn't all spill into that lake, if that wasn't bad enough, they tried to get rid of it by hosing it into trenching.”

One ton of cyanide crystals spilled onto the ground after the December 6, 1970, derailment. In addition, about 30,000 gallons of trichloroethene (TCE), a potentially harmful contaminant, were released from two ruptured tank cars.

"I hate when it happens, because my body is sore. Sometimes it gets me to the point where I want to cry from twitching so much,” said Chelsey Dumars, who is one of at least 15 teens who suffer from the illness. “Like I said, I don't like even going into stores, because I feel like people are staring at me and making fun of me."

Dumars’ parents and others think environmental factors could have caused the illness. The school district and the state health department said that has been ruled out.