WACO football team exposed to chemicals from crop duster

The WACO High School football team got an unwelcome visitor during a practice last week.

“We got a call from a concerned citizen that a crop duster may have accidentally crop dusted the football team at WACO,” Henry County Public Health Director Shelley Van Dorin told the Board of Health Tuesday. “We spoke to the athletic director, and indeed, the crop duster was right adjacent to the football field. They did hear it and smell it.”

Van Dorin said that the smell was bad enough to where the team left the football field.

“There were a few people who had side effects like bloody noses, sneezing and runny noses,” she said.

Identifying the actual chemical the team was exposed to was problematic.

“It took us two days and the county attorney getting involved where they would release the chemicals that they released,” Van Dorin said. “By then, everybody was fine.”

She said that area physicians were notified of the incident and to watch out for any more people who may have side effects from the exposure.

“There doesn’t seem to be any problems as of today,” she said.