NY Town: tics, Erin Brocovich

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/03/us/new-york-students-illness/index.html

This CNN article first struck me as something out of a modern horror movie. In LeRoy, New York, 16 people (14 teen girls, one teen boy, and one 36-year old woman) have suddenly developed strange symptoms: uncontrollable twitching and verbal tics. Most patients have been diagnosed with "conversion disorder" and their doctors are saying stress is the most likely cause. Nothing can account for that number of patients in such a small town though.
The 15 teenagers all attend the same high school; school and EPA officials guarantee everything is safe there. However, environmental groups have doubts. Erin Brockovich, famously portrayed by Julia Roberts in a 2000 film detailing her early activism/investigative career, got involved after hearing about a toxic spill (1 ton of cyanide and 30,000 gallons of trichloroethylene) from 41-years ago.
The article goes on to detail the symptoms and experiences of some of the patients.

Reading this article leaves me horrified. I have to stop to challenge myself to shut down my emotional reactions, but the parallels to Brockovich's early work, combined with her involvement, make it difficult for me to read this and remain neutral.
There are two glaring moral areas I see, and they both deal with responsibility and duty. One is in relation to each other, to children specifically. The other is in relation to the environment, our planet.
Environmentally we all have a responsibility to protect our world and our resources. We have to be concerned with what chemicals we use and allow to get into our water, soil, etc. To read about a spill is just a devastating disappointment. However the spill may have occurred, someone and some corporation bears the moral burden of being at fault. More recently, this reminds me of the Gulf Coast oil spill. Accidents happen, but when they destroy natural habitats, the ripple effect is widespread.
In relation to our children, students, this is just horrifying. Adults have a responsibility to the youth and the school system especially. I coach at a public high school and know that my first and foremost job is to help these students. I am responsible for their well-being when they are with me and I am supposed to teach them and help them have better lives. Coaching a sport is really a secondary or tertiary responsibility.
Though I'm not a moral absolutist, I have no problem saying that other school system employees ought to feel the same responsibility, because it is one that you volunteer for. To read that school officials want to promise that everything is safe does not surprise me. They are obviously concerned with covering their own butts, but it's disappointing. There are some instances where I believe the right thing to do is focus on the well-being of others, and this is a perfect example of such a time.