MPCA scientist says bosses tried to silence her

KARE-11, NBC Minneapolis, Mark Daly
Published October 24, 2005

A Minnesota pollution control researcher says she was simply trying to do her job, studying the health effects of a possible harmful chemical when, she says, her superiors, tried to stop her. On Tuesday, Dr. Fardin Oliaei brought her troubling testimony to state lawmakers. Researchers say for decades 3M dumped tons of PFCs, the chemicals that gave Scotchguard its stain-resistant quality, directly into the Mississippi River. PFCs are on the list of agents suspected of causing cancer. When Dr. Fardin Oliaei, a scientist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, found alarming levels of PFCs in the livers of small mouth bass living in the river she tried to publicize her findings. But she says, her bosses at the Agency attempted to silence her. "I have only wanted to do my work and my science, Instead MPCA management has harassed me, reprimanded me and threatened to take my livelihood away for doing the right thing," said Oliaei, who is suing the MPCA. At a legislative hearing at the state capitol on Tuesday, Dr. Oliaei told lawmakers that MPCA officials denied her repeated requests to expand her research on PFCs and instead tried to bully her into quitting. "They lost all of their professional integrity and have become a battering ram for a totally corrupted system. They abused their authority so much that they have used their entire weight of the state machinery to crush one individual," said Dr. Oliaei. Citing a pending lawsuit against the agency, pollution control officials declined to answer any questions about Dr. Oliaei's allegations. "It also touches into personnel matters that are subject to the data practices act and so there are some specifics that we cannot speak to," Kristin Applegate told lawmakers on Tuesday. MPCA Commissioner Sheryl Corrigan, a former 3M manager appointed to the agency in early 2003, wasn't at the hearing. Applegate said Corrigan has removed herself from all decisions involving the Maplewood-based company, including the chemicals. "It was clearly understood by those who were working for her that she does not make decisions on 3M issues," Applegate said. For their part, 3M officials have long said PFCs do not pose health risks to humans. But they took the PFCs out of the Scotchguard currently sold in stores, anyway. While the pollution control agency might be mum on the issue, Dr. Oliaei certainly is not. "This is a very serious issue." The 3M plant in Cottage Grove is one of only three producers of PFCs in the entire world and yet the chemicals have been detected in fish and animals as far away as the Arctic Circle. That's because PFC don't breakdown or biodegrade but they do accumulate up the food chain.