Document wDJBXbqppLzv8NXyj8mnYe8m3

Saturday. Feb. 10. 1800 ( ' 6luHasewwerosbbmuirciinietdgnbesy MISSOULA (AP) - Six women from the Condon area who fear that herbicides caused them to have miscar riages filed suit in state dis trict court here Friday against the m anufacturers and the agencies that use the herbicides in Montana. The class-action suit asks for unspecified monetary damages and a court o rd e r-halting use of* the herbicides 2,4,5-T and 2.4 D in Montana. The suit charges that Dow Chemical Co. and other uni dentified companies manu factured the herbicides "in a negligent and reckless man ner, with little or no concern for the effect of these prod ucts on the health of individ uals directly or indirectly ex posed to them." The suit also charges that Burlington Northern Inc., the state Highway Department, Lake and Missoula counties and the counties' weed con trol boards used the herbici des negligently and reck lessly. All of the women live in a 15-mile stretch of the Swan Valley along M ontana 83. The six say they have had seven miscarriages and only one live birth in the past two and one-half years. The pbintilfs arc Virginia Polsen, 34, Colleen Kester son, 31, B arbara Wood, 35, , Melody Nebel, 23, Sheri i Bardo, 31. and Anne Koby- , Icr.ski, 25. * v or i u pregnant:?; w om en'miscarry;O i I * * 9 (V* Try* . . Y-'rv.s'' * : A V - * CONDON (AP) -- Nine of 10 pregnant'women wbd came to this sparsely populated area oi the Swan Valley la Western VS Montana carriages to in eascoanpee-ytehaer hazards period, of big dtjr living tGifered-mb-'.^ arid area residents blame the 1 annual spraying of the herbicide 2,4-D. 2 1 \ , The area's only successful birth during* the 12-month pe riod ending last fall was by a woman wbo had been attending school out of state and returned to the area to have her baby, said Dr. Ralph Campbell, Lake County health officer. Residents of the 10-mile stretch along Montana 209 just north of Missoula County say they are increasingly frustrated by `.`the ho-hum attitude of the bureaucracy" toward the situ ation. "They just don't seem concerned, and they don't like the questions that are being asked," said Virginia Polsen, whose miscarriage in the fall of 1978 was the first Lake County Commissioner Bill Burley said the Swan Valley residents have not contacted the commission directly, but that Campbell had reported their concerns. Commissioner Don Corrigan said he was sure the county would start ar. In vestigation if the residents'asked. Campbell said It has been ajrnost Impossible to find out who has been spraying in the area, and with what chemicals. The state Highway Department contracts with counties to spray "noxious" weeds along roadsides, and the depart ment specifies 2,4-D, said Bill Heoert, field maintenance chitf in the Kalispell office, The herbicide is not restricted ?".d may be boug'-' * y he public, he laid. Heben said ne is certain that Lake County spittyx In the Swan Valley area where the miscarriages occurred, probably each May and June. Campbell said he Is convinced 2,4-D is the culprit, " but it's like all these cumulative poisons -- how do you prove it?" Campbell used questionnaires to interview the families after he and Virginia Reber, county health nurse, met with them last spring. "We found these people to be living the pristine life, growing their own food and watching their eating habits," Campbell said. ` The sinking thing is, without exception, that they all seemed to be healthy, well-informed people with good living habits. They came to live in that area to be way from the hazards of the civilized world."