CSI – Edmondson Editorial
By Rick Stubblefield
The release of a report by state Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s office regarding the Locust Grove E. coli outbreak in August 2008 is easily summarized by the first sentence: Edmondson blames chicken manure used as fertilizer near a restaurant for causing a disease outbreak … Only later does Edmondson qualify the initial statement, describing poultry litter as “a possible source” of the bacteria.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, and the Department of Health investigated the outbreak, and were unable to find the source for the rare, specific type of E. coli that caused the outbreak. But Edmondson’s secret sampling resulted in a different conclusion.
If Edmondson was truly interested in assisting state agencies in determining the source of this outbreak, where was the cooperative sampling effort from the beginning?
Edmondson claims the Oklahoma Department of Health now completely agrees with him, although no such statement could be supported by reading the Summary Report.
The Department of Agriculture committed a mortal sin by asking hard questions of Edmondson’s representatives and questioning the sources of the new sampling. Questions asked by the ag department were detailed in an internal AG office report — “They were skeptical”, reported Assistant AG Trevor Hammons.
So Edmondson professionally attacked Agriculture Secretary Terry Peach and his department — the public cannot trust them, since they did not bow before Edmondson’s altar.
Edmondson’s goal is clear: to ban the use of poultry litter as fertilizer in Oklahoma.
Last year Edmondson brought in out-of-state experts to testify poultry litter was a health hazard, despite years of data from state agencies contradicting his claims. The court examined state data as well as Edmondson’s experts, and dismissed the experts, along with Edmondson’s demand for a poultry litter ban.
So now Edmondson is trying to get through intimidation what he could not get in the courts.
Lost in all this is the human toll – this E. coli outbreak is one of several last year in the country that caused many families to suffer. It would be wonderful to know with certainty the source of the outbreak, just as with the 2008 national outbreak that sickened thousands across the country.
The manner in which Edmondson’s office acted smacks of agency intimidation, especially when coupled with Edmondson’s public disparaging comments about the only agency that apparently asked questions.
Edmondson would do well to leave CSI work to professionals — those who follow evidence, not act in a manner that appears to manufacture or manipulate it. After last year’s court decision, one would have thought Edmondson would have learned that lesson.
Rick Stubblefied serves as the Adair County representative on the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission.