Letters to the Editors

Dear Editors, I used to teach at ACC. My office was Room 221 (1988-1992). Mysterious fluids dripped into my office occasionally from the chemistry lab above. I smelled chemicals reeking throughout RGC. I spent four more years under another RGC lab. I first was tested in 1996 by a toxicologist, who stated that my levels were not just elevated for petrochemicals and mercury but were "very grossly elevated" and "markedly above levels that the average individual would obtain with routine exposure." I immediately gave my results to Dr. Kinslow. Since 1988, I've accrued over twenty medical conditions/diagnoses and have had multiple serious surgeries. My health was fine prior to being in Room 221. Kevin Carmody, the environmental reporter for the American-Statesman, covered my story eloquently in 2001-2002. After his initial 11/25/01 Sunday front-page feature, ACC's union and legislator Elliott Naishtat pressed ACC for testing. The day before testing, ACC maintenance staff suddenly sprayed flammable foam in the holes of 221's ceiling! This obviously compromised test protocol. Carmody then wrote on 12/13/01, "Air testing … has identified mercury levels as much as nine times higher than what federal health officials consider safe for office workers" according to state health officials. When other occupants filed a lawsuit alleging mercury contamination, the judge ordered 221 temporarily sealed, pending plaintiff testing. Both parties' scientific experts agreed in 2004 that mercury was indeed present. 221 remained sealed since then. ACC reported in October 2005 that 221 had been "cleaned" while abating the third floor for asbestos, lead, and mercury. In August 2007, I learned that 221 would reopen and that an ACC worker was on probation for discussing mercury at RGC. Public Citizen then filed an open records request. I am told that the ceiling tiles removed from 221 in 2005 emitted very measurable mercury vapor. Although the tiles were removed, recent anonymous digital photos showed up, and 221 certainly didn't look clean! Surface samples were taken, and the 2007 samples each contained measurable levels of mercury and lead. Truth and health are what count. ACC students and staff should demand independent testing and full public disclosure of the results before 221 is reoccupied. I pray that, when 2008 is over, the efforts of very courageous ACC employees and reporters will have finally made 221 safe, twelve years after I gave Dr. Kinslow my toxicology results. Please don't be deceived by spin, and demand proof. Corinne Irwin

Dear Editors, I am writing in response to Elizabeth Carson's article, "Shooting at NIU raises college security concerns." Clearly, school shootings are a highly relevant phenomenon for the ACCENT, and I commend Ms. Carson for her piece on the recent NIU incident. This incident is, of course, the latest in a long line of school shootings over the last 15 years, from coast to coast, from California and Oregon with Steven Abrams and Kip Kinkel, to the Columbine, Colorado tragedy with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, to Cho Seung Hui at Virginia Tech. Carson raises important questions about safety concerns and the search for underlying commonalities in these many incidents. Not surprisingly, however, as this is common to media reports on school shootings, she misses a huge factor. In each of the incidents I mention above, and in the majority of so-called senseless violence incidents. This common factor is the involvement of psychiatric drugs, most notably the so-called SSRI antidepressants like Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Effexor, Remeron, Celexa and etcetera. Most of these shooters were either taking or had recently stopped taking one or more of these serotonergic drugs. A dangerous and tragic effect of these drugs for a percentage (estimated roughly at 2-8%) of people who take them, both during administration and withdrawal, is that they can exacerbate both suicidal and homicidal thoughts and feelings, and can create a toxic psychosis and sleep deprivation which can make these individuals very dangerous to themselves or others. The FDA was forced just last year to put their most severe Black Box warnings on most of the SSRIs, warning that they can cause suicidal dynamics in young people. It is a shame and disgrace that the violent dynamics continue to be denied. Knowing the dangers of SSRIs and the apparent connection to violence, Carson's well-intentioned suggestion that more mental health counseling could easily address the causes of school shootings must be reconsidered. In addition to being an adjunct professor at ACC, I am a psychologist and a counselor, and I do think counseling can be helpful. However, I also know that my profession, including at college or university mental health clinics, turns all too readily to drugs as a response to those seeking help. It is my firm conviction that this routine practice of biological psychiatry - giving people powerful mood altering drugs, based on the scientifically unsubstantiated belief that those seeking help are suffering from a biological or genetically based defect (their "mental illness," their "chemical imbalance") - causes much more harm than good. Most of the harm is more subtle than suicide or homicide, from the effects of addiction to the effects of internalizing a belief that one is biologically or genetically defective and needs drugs to cope with life. John Breeding, PhD