Mother Of Injured Biotech Davis Agraquest Worker David Bell Appeals To CA Attorney General Jerry Brown To Prosecute Employer/Insurance Industry Fraud
Where Is Jerry Brown?

http://biotechawareness.com/images/11.30.2009ATTORNEY_GEN.Brown_withNOTES.pdf


Sandra (Sandi) Trend
[ADDRESS DELETED FOR ELECTRONIC VIEWING]
November 30, 2009
Attorney General’s Office
California Department of Justice
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
Dear California Attorney General, Mr. Brown,
I have been reading about how you, Mr. Brown have been cracking down on violators
of the workers compensation system. I am relieved to know that someone, in an
official capacity in the state of California, is concerned about the rights of employees
in California. However, I doubt very much that you have been apprised of the illegal
acts that have been and are being committed by state of California government offices
and officials with respect to not upholding the law when it comes to fraudulent
activities being committed against injured workers in this state.
Let me take a quote for a moment from the California Department of Industrial
Relations with regard to the California Workers’ Compensation system;
Workers' compensation is the oldest social insurance program; it was adopted in most
states, including California, during the second decade of the 20th century. It is a no-fault
system, meaning that injured employees need not prove the injury was someone else's
fault in order to receive workers' compensation benefits for an on-the-job injury.
The workers' compensation system is premised on a trade-off between employees and
employers -- employees are supposed to promptly receive the limited statutory workers'
compensation benefits for on-the-job injuries, and in return, the limited workers'
compensation benefits are the exclusive remedy for injured employees against their
employer, even when the employer negligently caused the injury.
This no-fault structure was designed to -- and in fact did -- eliminate the then prevalent
litigation over whether employers were negligent in causing workers' injuries. Litigation is
now over other issues, such as whether the injury was sustained on-the-job or how
much in benefits an injured worker is entitled to receive.
September 2007
What was intended to be a fair and just system for an employee who has sustained
an occupational injury or illness while in the workplace environment has become
nothing more than a sham because although it sounds good, this is not the case.
Within the United States of America, each and every citizen is to be afforded his
or her civil, human and judicial rights. This has not been the case for my son,
David Bell who was exposed to (and became ill from) known and unknown
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hazards in the workplace environment in the research and development
biotechnology company, Agraquest Inc. of Davis, California; while he worked as
a Assistant Researcher (microbiologist).
I would like to add at this point; this is not a letter of complaint solely about my
son’s former employer. This letter is to inform you Mr. Brown that the state of
California is not protecting employees of this state and in fact California
government offices and officials are committing crimes against injured worker’s.
As California is the "hub" of the biotechnology industry; I believe is the reason
there has been continual concealment of human health hazards resulting from
the biotechnology industry and in fact, this continues to this day within the
state of California's governmental offices. Official misconduct should not be
tolerated in any circumstances and is inexcusable.
Are you aware Mr. Brown that there are no doctors at Cal/OSHA? I wish to
direct you to the article, “CalOSHA; Going Down the Tubes” that was written by
the last doctor with Cal/OSHA, Larry Rose, M.D. (28 years as the senior
Public Medical Officer for the statewide Cal-OSHA enforcement program
(recently retired). Within this article Dr. Rose states:
There are over 17 million workers in California. The total number of active inspectors that
are enforcing the health, and safety regulation are at present 187.
The present ratio of actual inspectors (187) to workers (17,219,000) is 1:92,090. The
International Labor's Organization's recommended inspector-to- worker guideline ratio for
developed, industrial countries is 1: 10,000, and as Table A indicates, other West Coast
jurisdictions have come much closer than California to meeting that standard.
Table A: Number of Health and Safety Inspectors per Worker:
Selected Jurisdictions
California: 1:92,090
Washington State: 1:26,904
Oregon: 1:22,239
British Columbia: 1:10,564
The trends at Cal-OSHA show a shocking decrease of 32% in the number of on-site
inspections, and of cited violations over the past 14 years. This alarming trend correlates
with the steady deficiencies in the ratio of the number of functioning enforcement
inspectors to the total number of employees in the entire State of California.
The decline in inspectors has led, not surprisingly to failures by Cal-OSHA to meet the
clear requirements in the labor code: inspections are not being opened within the required
14 day post-complaint period, inspections are not being closed in a timely fashion, and
many serious complaints are being declared "invalid" at the discretion of the 21 district
managers. Worse yet, follow-up inspections for “serious” citations are not being carried
out, there is less onsite verification of the correction of cited hazards, and there are
weakened defenses of legal appeals by employers. Furthermore, existing internal
programs, such as targeted inspections in "high hazard industries", and safety
management are short changed, and a concomitant reduction in previously programmed
inspections in high-risk industries such as agriculture, construction, garment, and
restaurant industries has occurred.
CalOSHA effective enforcement has been essentially eliminated. At its inception under
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Governor Jerry Brown in the 1970s, there were six public health medical officers, and
several occupational health nurses enforcing health standards. The last public health
M.D. position was eliminated two years ago. Medical expertise is of enormous importance
in protecting California's work force from a multiplicity of hazardous chemicals, infectious
diseases, and repetitive strain motion injuries. At present there are only about 80
professionally-trained field active industrial hygienists, that are college-level
professionals primarily trained to measure various hazardous exposures and to apply
mandated exposure limits to airborne hazardous exposures when deciding whether to
issue violation citations.
Unfortunately the existing health standards as mandated are inadequate because they
were set without reference to the possibility of multiple exposures in many work places.
Serious acute, and chronic long term illnesses are frequently caused by synergistic
multiple chemical exposures. Worse yet, a whole universe of new hazards inherent in
nanotechnology, genetic engineering, biotechnology, indoor air quality, infectious
diseases, and new chemicals and pesticides exist that have yet to be adequately studied
in the various workplaces. The importance of toxicologic screening for endocrine
disruption has not yet been applied for chemicals. This has particular relevance for
female employees of child baring age.
Cal-OSHA has the legal authority under the Labor Code to establish new standards and
procedures, and as well to require strict recording of all occupational illness and injuries,
the retention of medical records with certain exposures for up to 30 years, and to require
medical surveillance with certain highly hazardous substance exposures. These
mandated functions have been seriously compromised.
There has been a serious problem with employers not recording an increasing proportion
of occupational illnesses and injuries by setting it up so that most of these injuries are
only categorized as in need of "first aid", and therefore stay at work, or return to the
work place the next day, and legally bypassing the requirement that a injury occurrence
must be recorded on the injury, and illness log. Also, this is often accomplished by
pressuring the physician the disabled worker is sent to, to not recognize the injury or
illness as being caused by the work process. The employer routinely decides what
primary care provider the injured employee is sent to. By not truly recording all injuries,
and illnesses in the log, the employers avoid higher worker's compensation rates, and the
possibility of a Cal-OSHA programmed or targeted inspection.
The Tip of the Iceberg Examples
Several recent dramatic examples illustrate the failure of Cal-OSHA to effectively respond
to serious threats to life and health in California’s workplaces:
1) "Agraquest", a biotechnology corporation, was seeking to turn a selected naturally
occurring microorganism into a pesticide when an exposure to that microorganism
caused a life- threatening illness in a professional employee. That illness was recognized
by the employee’s primary care medical practitioners as a workplace-induced illness. The
Cal-OSHA investigator assigned to Agraquest totally failed to address the problem that
also threatened the surrounding community, and issued only a "laboratory hood" citation.
The real issue was the level of laboratory protection needed to protect the employees,
and the surrounding community. Without knowing all the facts in the case, I would guess
that Level 4 protection—the same required when working with any virulent
microorganism could have been considered in this workplace laboratory considering the
seriousness of this employees illness. Dealing with infectious disease hazards in the
workplace requires the expertise of an independent public health physician, but CalOSHA
sent an industrial hygienist compliance officer.
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2) Over 80,000 new chemicals that have been released and have become the chemicals
that are now in commercial circulation have not been adequately tested for general public
health safety. Only 15% of these chemicals have been barely adequately tested for
acute toxicity. Usually workers exposed to these untested chemicals are the equivalent
of the "canary in the coal mine" who when exposed to carbon monoxide, “sway
noticeably on his perch” thus warning the miners of the danger of an odorless poisonous
gas.
The recent shocking example of "popcorn lung disease" is a good example of a worker
"body count" occurring and alerting the worker and public health community to the
dangers of a particular hazardous chemical. Of course the illness should have been
called "chemical lung destruction disease". Diacetyl is used in processed food and
beverages as an additive to give a buttery taste. It is part of the oily substance chemical
mix that is put on commercial popcorn. A worker at the Foothill Ranch flavor
manufacturing facility had been exposed to the heated fumes, and over a period of a
year and a half developed devastating lung destruction called "bronchiolitis obliterans",
and 80% of his lung function was destroyed to the point that only a lung transplant
offered any life saving hope. It took CalOSHA over six months after the diagnosis of
bronchiolitis obliterans” to fine the employer, and the penalty was only $40,000 for the
destruction of a worker’s life, and the employer failed to report the illness. This fine was
legally appealed by the employer. Nationally there were many more worker cases of lung
disease reported from diacetyl exposures, and one documented case occurred in a
consumer. It makes one wonder about the popcorn fumes that young theater workers
are constantly exposed to.
The Cal-OSHA response was to have an industry physician associated with the Food
and Extract Manufacturers Association do the medical screening and evaluations at the
20+ workplaces which utilized diacetyl. The chemical manufacturers of diacetyl were not
required to provide a list of all of the firms they supplied with diacetyl in California. To this
day, CalOSHA is uncertain whether or not these employers comprised all of the industrial
users of diacetyl in the state. Assembly Bill 816, which would have required that this
information be provided by chemical manufacturers in California, was vetoed by
Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger who declared it it an "invasion of privacy".
The Cal-OSHA response to the “popcorn lung” problem was dictated by Leonard Welsh,
Acting Chief of Cal-OSHA, who sent in non-enforcement “Consultation” agents of Cal-
OSHA to the incomplete list of twenty odd industrial users of diacetyl. CalOSHA’s
treatment of this case illustrates how Mr. Welsh has developed an ever expanding
emphasis on so-called "voluntary compliance" for the large corporations even in life-
threatening cases. Large chemical and electronic companies in California have become
effectively exempt from programmed “enforcement” inspections if they sign “voluntary
compliance” agreements, even where they use dozens of notoriously toxic chemicals in
their operations.
Another example of Cal-OSHA incompetence are the ongoing increasing deaths from
heat stress or hyperthermia in agriculture. Until a death occurs CalOSHA essentially
ignores the requirements for rest periods, drinking water, and necessary rest in the
shade.
Addressing the Cal-OSHA Enforcement Disaster
The insufficient level of enforcement staffing and the elimination of all Public Health
Medical Officers has led to a inability of the agency to meet its mandated responses to
workplace health and safety as enumerated in the California Labor Code.
In 1975 the statewide program had six medical officer physicians, three nurses
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functioning in enforcement, and a much higher ratio of inspectors to workers. In 1975
Cal-OSHA was the strongest state OSHA program in the country. Now, after death by a
thousand cuts, it is one of the weakest enforcement programs in the United States,
despite the increasing numbers of hazardous industries in the state.
The U.S. Court of Appeals decision in AFL-CIO v. Marshall, the established benchmark
had been 805 inspectors for the State of California. Federal OSHA has recommended 334
safety, and 471 health compliance officers Instead under successive Republican
California administrations the enforcement staff numbers have shrunk to a total of only
187 inspectors of all kinds. If an effective committed administration were operating, thirty
vacant field positions would be filled immediately and trained on an emergency basis, and
five times as many inspectors plus 5 physician medical officers would be presented to
the legislators as urgently needed to accomplish an effective Cal-OSHA. Anti-labor
administration policies, plus weak statewide labor support have contributed to this
dysfunctional Cal-OSHA picture.
Aug. 07, 2008
Dr. Rose was quite complimentary to the Brown administration in the video,
"Workers Comp, The Destruction Of Ca-OSHA/EPA And The Case Of David Bell" in
which he said:
When I first came onboard.... it's almost like night and day when I first came onboard
during the Jerry Brown administration we were the prime OSHA... state OSHA program.
We were setting new standards. We were out there really doing excellent work.
Gradually, that diminished and with political appointees from the various governors.
2008
May I respectfully ask you Mr. Brown, what has happened to the California
Department of Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as Dr. Larry
Rose has so admired? Where are the safety and health standards for California
employees now? I am sure you will agree; something is very wrong here.
Not only is there a very serious lack of oversight as to the safety and health of
California employees, there is also corruption within the state of California in
denying employee’s and/or ex-employees their Constitutional civil, human and
judicial rights through the very governmental agencies that are to assure these
rights.
I wish to present to you the two (2) most recent validation's of California's
governmental offices willful violations of not upholding Federal and state laws
with respect to the aforementioned civil, human and judicial rights pertaining
to my son.
On June 17, 2009 and September 9, 2009 I testified before the California
Department of Insurance (DOI), Workers' Compensation Fraud Commission
regarding my opposition to any funding being allotted to the Sacramento and
Yolo County District Attorney's; as neither District Attorney's offices had fulfilled
their judicial obligations to uphold the law with regard to Federal and state of
California Legal Statutes that were violated by [not limited to] Agraquest, Inc.,
the California Workers' Compensation System, Liberty Mutual Insurance
Company, the law office of KATCHIS, HARRIS & YEMPUKU, the California
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the California Department of
Insurance, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office and the Yolo
County District Attorney's office .
My testimony before the DOI on the dates of June 17, 2009 and September 9,
2009 were both video taped. I have transcribed these video's and I wish to
present these transcriptions to you now. Documents that were additionally
given to the DOI on both of these dates involves numerous pages and for the
purpose of not overwhelming you with mounds of documents, I have included
"screen shots" within the pages of the transcriptions. Should you wish to see the
actual documents, I will be more than happy to provide them to you.
My son’s medical bills, as the result of workplace exposure from working at
Agraquest Inc. were in excess of $333,000 [through the end of 2005 only] and
thank God, paid for mostly by MediCare or he wouldn't have survived.
My son has had 4 major sinus surgeries [the last in 2006] with countless in-office
sinus procedures and he lost the ability to produce the required amount of B-cells
for an intact immune system and was hooked up to an IV pump in the hospital
receiving IV immunoglobulin infusions every 28 days for 3 years. There have
been nineteen (19) microorganisms [both fungi and bacteria] that have either
tested positive in my son's blood serum and/or shown positive in his nose or
sputum cultures and/or shown levels of positive to HIGH POSITIVE in
Environmental IgG testing; showing levels of exposure. Each and every one of
these microorganisms can be traced back to Agraquest's research, patents
(and/or patents that Agraquest scientist's are listed as "inventor/s" on other
company's patents) and/or Agraquest's products. Throughout the years my son
has continued to have sinus infections.
Agraquest has not only denied any responsibility with regard to my son's
occupational illness; they have concealed the fact; it was because of the unsafe
workplace environment that made him ill in the first place, due to exposure to
known and unknown health hazards. This concealment was further extended
over to the California workers compensation system in the form of perjury and
fraud.
Contained within the two transcriptions I am enclosing with this letter; you will
note it was at Lt. Stroski's request [of the Yolo County District Attorney's office,
Workers' Compensation Fraud Unit] that I give him an accounting of what had
transpired, with reference to Agraquest's involvement in making my son sick.
This was on September 11, 2007; the following day after my son's extremely
unjust workers' compensation "trial". Lt. Stroski then contacted Susan Crouch of
the California Department of Insurance [whom I had a meeting with]. Susan
Crouch then set an appointment one (1) week later with Dale Kitching, Unit
Supervisor [of the Sacramento County District Attorney's office, Workers'
Compensation Fraud Unit]. Since the initial date in 2007, none of these
California agencies has opened a case against Agraquest on behalf of my son; let
alone prosecute, even though I have supplied them with ample evidence to do so.
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This is R.I.C.O. case if there ever was one and should be immediately
investigated and there should be an immediate remedy for my son, David Bell.
The misdeeds of an unsafe employer are hidden under the umbrella of protection
by the workers' compensation system. The American taxpayer should not have
to foot the bill for an injured worker (Medicare, Social Security, MediCal)
because there is continual corruption and fraud being committed by not only the
employer and the workers' compensation system but the insurance companies
who don't want to meet their obligations of responsibility for medical care for an
occupational acquired injury or illness.
I urge you Mr. Brown, as the California Department of Justice head - Office of
Attorney General, to promptly investigate, prosecute and uphold the national
laws of the United States Constitution and state of California Constitution; civil,
human and judicial rights.
The American taxpayer should not have to foot the bill for an injured worker
(Medicare, Social Security, MediCal) because there is continual corruption and
fraudulent concealment being committed by an unsafe employer and the
workers' compensation system and insurance companies who don't want to meet
their obligations of responsibility for medical care for an occupational acquired
injury or illness.
I would like to know what you, as the Attorney General and possible Governor of
the State of California, are going to do on behalf of the California worker’s and
injured worker’s that have been exposed (and continuing to be exposed) to the
many hazard contaminants.
Sincerely,
Sandra (Sandi) Trend

enclosures:
•Sandi Trend's transcription of Testimony before the California Department
of insurance dated June 17, 2009
•Sandi Trend's transcription of Testimony before the California Department
of insurance dated September 9, 2009