Canada's “Toxic Bus”: The New Challenge for Law Enforcement in the Post-9/11 World/Mass Psychogenic Illness

Abstract

Talk of devil, and is bound to appear. --Proverb Episodes of psychogenic illness are challenging under best of circumstances. Typically incubated an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, initial diagnoses are often contentious, and ir takes time for environmental tests to be processed. Even when results come back negative and a psychogenic cause is obvious assessment, there is often a backlash from victims and community members, who resent mass hysteria label, which is typically viewed as something that happens to others. For this reason, cases are often officially left unresolved under guise of mystery illnesses or possible terrorist attacks, as occurred following Canadian which documents caveats faced by law enforcement and emergency medical personnel, resulting an inefficient use of rime and resources, and unnecessary public anxiety. The Episode On Tuesday 25 May 2004, at approximately 1 p.m., a passenger walked to front of public TransLink bus #98 downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. As the Richmond Express came to a halt at intersection of 49th Street and Granville Avenue, disembarking man made a cryptic remark. As one passenger recalled, said how's your day going ... and bus driver said good. Then man said it won't be for long ('Passenger 2004). As driver continued his route, began to feel nauseated, and later vomited after travelling 10 kilometres from where man had stepped off. He then asked if any passengers felt ill. When one replied affirmatively, steered bus to roadside and radioed for medics, fearing a chemical or biological As two responding paramedics began to treat driver and hear his version of events, they too fell ill. Others arriving on scene also felt sick. The incident made headlines around world as a possible terrorist attack and became focus of a major investigation that would become known as the toxic bus case, or police file #04-128479. Immediately after incident, 19 people, including driver, passengers, emergency personnel, and journalists, were briefly quarantined. Air quality tests and a forensic examination of bus were unremarkable. Vancouver Police searched for suspect: an olive-skinned male his mid-20s, with an average build, pencil-thin moustache, and a 5 o'clock shadow. This description, suggesting that may have been Middle Eastern, likely heightened suspicion and fear of terrorism (Vancouver Police Department 26 May 2004, 28 May 2004). In early June, incident became subject of a public dispute between Vancouver's Chief Medical Health Officer, John Blatherwick, who maintained that cause was mass anxiety, and both police and ambulance agencies, who disagreed. At a police press conference, a spokeswoman rejected Blatherwick's position, noting that he is not involved investigation and is misinformed. The investigation remains active, as toxicology results are still not complete (Vancouver Police Department 11 June 2004). On June 25, Vancouver Police made a startling announcement: When tests of bus by Royal Canadian Mounted Police were unrevealing, they hired a private firm to conduct further tests, which identified methyl chloride as chemical attack. Reporters were told that in high concentrations [methyl chloride] is capable of killing someone. While it is impossible to say how much of gas victims were exposed to or how it came to be delivered into air on bus, it would have taken a fairly high concentration to force gas into some of materials on bus, such as seat fabric and air filters (Vancouver Police Department 25 June 2004). One of lead police investigators publicly defended his department's interpretation of methyl chloride findings, but on emotional, not scientific grounds, implying that elite medical professionals are immune from hysteria: You're talking about two very senior ambulance attendants and they're not going to have psychosomatic symptoms, they've seen everything (Crawford 2004). …