PUBLISHED MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2002

John Snow wants answers.

Snow spent 27 years working at the old Agrico Chemical Co. fertilizer plant, which is now a Superfund hazardous-waste site. He repaired broken ammonia lines protected only by a flimsy gas mask, and inhaled sulfur fumes that took his breath away.

Today, nearly three decades after the plant closed, his eyes still burn and he has trouble breathing. He has long suspected the pollutants he was exposed to at the plant are to blame, but he's not sure.

"I think it's got to be something from that plant," said Snow, 69. "You can't work in that for all those years and not have it affect you. It's just got to be."

Snow and about 40 other residents met Sunday with a team of physicians from the University of South Florida to discuss an ambitious study to determine whether potentially dangerous toxins at both sites have made them sick.

The university will conduct, during the next 12 months, detailed blood work on at least 300 former residents of neighborhoods near Agrico and Escambia Treating Co., as well as some of the employees who worked at both central Pensacola Superfund sites.

Individuals found to have high levels of pentachlorophenol (PCP), dioxin, arsenic and other toxins in their blood will be referred to health-care specialists who can treat them.

Blood samples already have been taken from 20 residents, including Snow. University of South Florida physicians will meet with residents in private today to discuss the results of those tests and what they might mean.

"I'm very proud to be up here and involved in this project, because I think it's a very important project," said Dr. Rony Francois, a University of South Florida toxicologist.

But many residents on Sunday raised objections to the study and questioned whether it will really determine if toxic exposure contributed to their health problems.

The problem: Many residents near both sites moved away years ago. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency evacuated 358 families near the 26-acre Escambia Treating site - the third- largest permanent relocation in EPA history.

The concern is that the toxic chemicals may no longer be in their systems but did a lot of damage that residents are dealing with today.

"We don't want you to run tests for things that are not there and then say everything's OK," said Margaret Williams, a former resident near Agrico who is president of Citizens Against Toxic Exposure. "We don't want you testing for arsenic and PCP when you know there's no test that will show that in anyone's system because it has already passed through."

Sunday's meeting was held in a conference room at Citizens Against Toxic Exposure's headquarters near the two Superfund sites.

But Dr. Olusola Oluwole, one of three university physicians conducting the study, said these initial blood tests are the first steps of gathering information that will eventually be used to determine whether exposure to toxins from both sites can be linked to illnesses.

"We're doing an assessment of the health of the individuals who lived there," Oluwole said. "What's the status of your health in light of what you've been exposed to."

The Superfund study is part of a broader, congressionally funded effort designed to determine whether high levels of toxic pollution throughout Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are responsible for above-average rates of some cancers and birth defects.

Escambia ranks 14th out of more than 3,300 counties nationwide in the amount of toxic chemicals discharged each year by industry into the air, water, on land and underground.

Congress allocated $1.7 million last year for the program, which is being coordinated by the University of West Florida. Congress is expected to approve an additional $2 million early next year.

The estimated cost of the University of South Florida Superfund sites study: $300,000.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who has been instrumental in obtaining the congressional funding, will be in Pensaocola today to meet with the toxicologists and residents.

Nelson, D-Melbourne, has expressed particular concern about residents near the Escambia Treating and Agrico sites.

For residents who lived near the two sites for decades, they have no doubt that pollution from the site has made them sick.

Melvin Weatherspoon, one of 20 residents who will get the results of their blood tests back today, said he expects the toxicologists will find a lot of toxins in his blood. Weatherspoon, who worked at Agrico nearly 30 years, has Parkinson's Disease.

"If they don't, then there's nothing I can do about it," said Weatherspoon, 73. "But it won't mean I wasn't harmed."