Cop Cleaned Up Seattle Homeless Site. Dangerous Chemicals There Triggered Him To File This Lawsuit.

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This week, a Seattle policeman who had cleaned up a homeless camp in January filed suit against the city, claiming he had been exposed to toxic chemical compounds polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Officer Timothy Gifford was cleaning up a camp in a gravel lot in the Sodo neighborhood when he was allegedly exposed to the chemicals. As the Seattle Times notes, “City records and officials have acknowledged the homeless-encampment removal occurred, and separately, that the city-owned industrial lot where the camp stood was later found to be contaminated, requiring ongoing environmental remediation.”

The Seattle Times added, “Gifford was among the city’s Navigation Team of police officers and outreach workers assigned to coax homeless campers into shelters and remove encampments the city has deemed unsafe. The city formed the team in February 2017 as it intensified efforts to clean up and remove dozens of homeless encampments.”

Giffords filed a $10 million claim, saying exposure to the chemicals had triggered early onset Type 2 diabetes. The lawsuit cites a medical research study that linked exposure to PCBs as a possible trigger for increased diabetes. The lawsuit also notes that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “banned the production of EPAs in the United States in 1977.” – read more

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