Olympian found poisoned by chlorine

[CCHW <cchw@essential.org>]

  >From the Nov. 12th Los Angeles Times:
  
  "Rod Milburn, who won a gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1972
  Munich Olympics, was found dead late Tuesday in a rail car full of bleach
  solutions at the Louisiana paper plant where he worked.  He was 47.
  
  "There was no indication of how Milburn, 47, wound up in the car at the
  Georgia Pacific plant near Baton Rouge.  Authorities said they did not
  suspect foul play.
  
  "Preliminary autopsy results showed that Milburn died after inhaling the
  solution and from the massive burns to his body, the parish coroner said.  
  
  "Milburn had been assigned to unload a rail car containing liquid sodium
  chlorate, a chemical used in the bleaching process of paper making, said
  Patty Prats-Swanson, a spokeswoman for Georgia Pacific.
  
  "He was found about 10:45 pm Tuesday in the rail car by a supervisor who
  went looking for him when he failed to answer a page, Prats-Swanson said.
  
  "Milburn, a star for Southern University in Baton Rouge, won the gold
  medal in 13.24 seconds, a record that was not broken for five years.
  
  "The year before the Olympics at Munich, he went undefeated and won 27
  consecutive finals."
  
  
  CCHW  Center for Health, Environment and Justice
        P.O. Box 6806  Falls Church, VA 22040
        (703) 237-2249   (703) 237-8389 (fax)