(2 of 2)
Now, in the case of the 49ers, a new suspect has emerged: a fertilizer used on the team's practice field. Pasco Balzarini, a retired maintenance worker, remembers using a product called Milorganite on the field from 1947 until the mid-'50s (though he does not believe he used it in Waters' era, and neither the 49ers nor the local parks department can confirm it was ever used). Milorganite, made by the Milwaukee metropolitan sewerage district, is a heat- dried residue of sewage sludge and is used on lawns nationwide. Prior to 1978, it had a high content of cadmium, a heavy metal.
Last week the Milwaukee Sentinel reported that since 1961, two of 155 deaths among people who had worked in the plant where Milorganite is produced resulted from ALS. The Sentinel has also turned up 25 ALS patients in Wisconsin who say they have been exposed to the fertilizer. Neurologist Benjamin Brooks, who directs an ALS research clinic at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, considers these numbers "unusual" and feels any possible tie to heavy metals should be investigated. But he stresses that as yet "there is no established link between Milorganite and ALS." Late last week the sewerage district announced that medical experts would investigate the alleged connection between heavy metals, Milorganite and ALS.
Whether or not Milorganite is to blame, Bob Waters is convinced that the 49ers' cluster is not a coincidence. He has launched a personal crusade to find the cause. Over the past two months, with help from Dr. Appel, Waters has written and mailed questionnaires to 114 former 49ers inquiring about their physical condition, medications they have taken over the years and any unusual environmental exposures they had while on the team. Waters himself remembers taking anabolic steroids, to add muscle bulk, and other drugs.
Waters has been frustrated in his quest by what he perceives to be the 49ers management's lack of cooperation in providing addresses and his own medical records. "They have been reluctant to help and unfeeling of the situation," he charges. He is particularly bitter because, he says, he received the addresses too late to get the questionnaires to Hazeltine and Lewis, who might have provided some valuable clues before they died. As his physical condition deteriorates -- he has dropped 20 lbs. and has lost the use of both arms -- his search becomes more urgent. "If we can trace back to what caused this 22 years ago, maybe we can find a cure," he says. "If we can't find a cure for me, I hope I can last long enough to make it possible for someone else to be helped."