11-02-2011, 10:04 PM
Former CIA Worker Claims Family Sickened By Toxins from Agency Supplied Double-Wide Home
11 02 2011 Man blames CIA for family illnesses
![[Image: 12974352167158]](http://www.upi.com/r/m/story/12974352167158/)
The cover of Shipp's book, "In From the Cold" via Amazon.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) A former CIA employee says an apparently contaminated trailer at a secret CIA facility in the southwestern United States made his family sick.
Kevin Shipp, 55, said the CIA invoked a "state secrets" claim to hide evidence his family got sick because of environmental contamination at the secret location that was a former weapons depot and disposal site, The Washington Post reported.
The newspaper said it agreed not to publish the location of the facility other than to say it is in the southwestern United States.
Shipp said within weeks of his family moving into the double-wide trailer in May 1999 members started having health problems. Shipp's wife, Lorena, said she suffered from "bleeding gums … mysterious bruises all over my body … continual sinus infections" and headaches "so painful I could not get out of bed."
Shipp said he found mold growing in the trailer, and the government later ordered his family to move into a hotel and destroyed the trailer and all its contents.
David Rueckert, a recognized expert on molds, in a 130-page report, criticized an environmental assessment of the trailer made by a firm hired by the government.
He said the report lacked "important documentation (on) . . . potential sources of biological agents," and found evidence of several "possible contaminants."
Rueckert said several molds could be contributing to the family's ill health, including stachybotrys chartarum, a deadly mycotoxin once developed as a biological weapon and trichothecenes, a mycotoxin produced by a fungus.
Shipp said he filed suit against the government and was offered a $400,000 settlement, only to see the offer withdrawn two days later.
"This is about the Constitution and their grave violation of it," Shipp said. "We suffered horribly. People need to know what they did."
The CIA refused comment specifically on the case.
"Separate and apart from any specific instance, the CIA takes the health and welfare of its employees very seriously," CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said.
11 02 2011 Man blames CIA for family illnesses
The cover of Shipp's book, "In From the Cold" via Amazon.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) A former CIA employee says an apparently contaminated trailer at a secret CIA facility in the southwestern United States made his family sick.
Kevin Shipp, 55, said the CIA invoked a "state secrets" claim to hide evidence his family got sick because of environmental contamination at the secret location that was a former weapons depot and disposal site, The Washington Post reported.
The newspaper said it agreed not to publish the location of the facility other than to say it is in the southwestern United States.
Shipp said within weeks of his family moving into the double-wide trailer in May 1999 members started having health problems. Shipp's wife, Lorena, said she suffered from "bleeding gums … mysterious bruises all over my body … continual sinus infections" and headaches "so painful I could not get out of bed."
Shipp said he found mold growing in the trailer, and the government later ordered his family to move into a hotel and destroyed the trailer and all its contents.
David Rueckert, a recognized expert on molds, in a 130-page report, criticized an environmental assessment of the trailer made by a firm hired by the government.
He said the report lacked "important documentation (on) . . . potential sources of biological agents," and found evidence of several "possible contaminants."
Rueckert said several molds could be contributing to the family's ill health, including stachybotrys chartarum, a deadly mycotoxin once developed as a biological weapon and trichothecenes, a mycotoxin produced by a fungus.
Shipp said he filed suit against the government and was offered a $400,000 settlement, only to see the offer withdrawn two days later.
"This is about the Constitution and their grave violation of it," Shipp said. "We suffered horribly. People need to know what they did."
The CIA refused comment specifically on the case.
"Separate and apart from any specific instance, the CIA takes the health and welfare of its employees very seriously," CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said.
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