Medical Personnel Say Coca-Cola Symptoms

Were Real

BERT ROUGHTON Jr.
c. 1999 Cox News Service

July 1, 1999

GHENT, Belgium Medical workers who treated adolescents who touched off the Coca-Cola scare said Tuesday that they don't buy the soft drink giant's explanation suggesting the illnesses may have been emotionally induced.

``These kids were sick, medically sick,'' said Win Van Voorsselaere, a licensed nurse who was on duty on June 14 when 30 teenagers were rushed by ambulances to St. Lucas Hospital here. The teens said they were sick from drinking canned Coke products from a vending machine at a nearby school.

Prompted in part by this incident, the Belgian government banned all Coke products the following day. Nearly 250 people reported the beverages made them sick. The ban was lifted June 23, even though scientists hadn't yet established a clear cause for the illnesses.

Van Voorsselaere said the adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 were suffering with vomiting, stomach pains and headaches. Some reported slight fevers.

Eight were sick enough to remain in the hospital overnight. ``They were presenting reliable symptoms of food intoxication,'' he said. ``They ate or drank something that gave them those symptoms.''

Blood and urine tests proved negative, he added.

A similar story was told by one of three physicians present June 8, when 39 students from a school 30 miles away arrived at the emergency room at St. Joseph's Hospital in Bornam.

Veronique Verdonck, an expert on gastroenteritis, said at least 15 of them were seriously ill and remained in the hospital overnight. They also reported headaches, nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting.

``These were objective symptoms we could see,'' Verdonck said. ``With so many symptoms, I can't imagine that this was hysteria or something like that.''

Coca-Cola spokesman Paul Pendergrass responded by saying the company believes that a bad smell and taste came from two sources: faulty carbonated gas and a fungicide that was on wooden pallets where cans of Coke were stacked.

Experts hired by the company acknowledged that neither contaminant was present in toxic levels, but they suggested that the ``rotten egg'' smell and taste could have prompted the physical reactions.

Verdonck dismissed Coke's explanation as inadequate. Instead, she believes the soft drinks may have been tainted with something else.

The small bottles of Coke, which were sold at lunch time by St. Mary Presentation School, smelled of ``petroleum or turpentine,'' said Verdonck, who tested them personally. ``It definitely didn't smell like rotten eggs.''

Pendergrass said such smells would be within the range of odors the tainted Coke may have given off.

Chemical tests have shown no such substances, but Verdonck believes this could be because such compounds dissipate when exposed to air.

Unopened bottles are being tested at the University of Antwerp, she said. The tests should be completed soon. Additionally, the Belgian government is awaiting an epidemiological report from the Louis Pasteur Institute.

Ann De Man, 14, one of the Bornam students, also described experiencing a petroleum smell. Tuesday was her first day back at school since she went to the hospital June 8.

Kristof Fleurackers was also one of the four students who returned to school for the final day of classes for the year.

Both said they still suffer fatigue and muscle pain two weeks after the incident. Kristof, also 14 and normally active, fears his symptoms will ruin summer camp. ``I hope I will make it to summer camp, but even then I won't be able to take part in all of the activities,'' he said.

Coca-Cola has offered to pay medical costs, and both hospitals are preparing bills to submit to the soft drink giant's Atlanta headquarters.

Meanwhile, Coke dismissed as irrelevant a story in The New York Times that said the company acknowledged to the government in May that four adults had experienced similar symptoms after consuming Coke products at a bar at a village outside Antwerp.

Pendergrass said the company reported the complaints to the government, which inspected the plant in Antwerp and found nothing wrong.

``This story has been thoroughly reported in the Belgian press for a long time, but there's nothing more to it,'' Pendergrass said.

Government officials could not be reached for comment.