High Miscarriage Rate Reported in Spill Area : Health: Residents of the Dunsmuir region where a derailed train dumped pesticide into the Sacramento River report a wide range of illnesses. Officials caution that the statistics may not be reliable.

Pregnant women who were in the vicinity of the Dunsmuir pesticide spill in 1991 reported a miscarriage rate more than twice as high as the general population, state health officials said Monday.

In addition, a detailed study of the Dunsmuir region found that 29% of the people in the area suffered new health problems after the spill, including mood changes, vision problems, rashes, diarrhea and bronchitis.

The spill, caused when a Southern Pacific train carrying the pesticide metam sodium derailed above Dunsmuir, destroyed virtually all life in a 40-mile stretch of the Sacramento River and sent a cloud of poisonous gas down the sparsely populated river canyon.

Residents of the area reported a wide range of illnesses from the fumes, but the extent of health problems was not fully known until the state Department of Health Services released the preliminary results of its survey.

“The effects of the spill were very wide-reaching,” said Amy Casey, a research scientist with the department. “We wanted to get a more complete picture of the kinds of problems people had.”

At the same time, health officials cautioned that the rate of miscarriages in women exposed to the chemical may not be statistically meaningful because of the small number of women in the survey.

Of 11 women who reported they were in the first trimester of pregnancy at the time of the disaster, five said they suffered a miscarriage--a rate of 45%.

“Those numbers were really small and that makes it hard to be certain about our rate,” Casey said.

In the general population, between 10% and 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage.

Women in the Dunsmuir area who had miscarriages before the spill as well as women who were exposed to the pesticide but became pregnant after the spill reported miscarriages at a rate of 26%. But researchers again cautioned that the number may be skewed because of the relatively small number of women in the survey.

Studies conducted on animals before the Dunsmuir disaster showed that the pesticide can cause miscarriages.

The Dunsmuir survey was hampered somewhat by researchers’ inability to contact four of the five women who reported miscarriages. Casey said researchers did not doubt that the miscarriages occurred, but two of the women reported their miscarriages anonymously and the other two could not be reached for a follow-up interview.

For the survey of health problems related to the spill, 2,521 people agreed to participate--more than 80% of those who live in the study area of Dunsmuir and in homes along the river south of the town.

Of these, 736 said they began to suffer at least one new health problem after the spill. Among the common illnesses were chronic fatigue, chemical sensitivity, arthritis and asthma.

The study also found that many people who were already suffering from the kinds of ailments associated with the spill reported that their conditions worsened after their exposure to the pesticide. For each pre-existing health problem, between 13% and 26% of those surveyed said their condition had taken a turn for the worse.

The surveys were conducted between July, 1991, when the spill occurred, and April, 1992. The Health Department noted that there was no evidence to indicate that people who visit the area or move there now would experience any health problems from the pesticide.