More than 10 months after BioLab fire, nearby residents still seek answers

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Environmental advocate and Government Accountability Project whistelblower Scott Smith presents preliminary testing data at a BioLab townhall in Covington on August 16.

Credit: Pamela Kirkland/GPB

More than 10 months after a chemical fire at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Ga., residents say their questions about health and safety remain unanswered. At a town hall this weekend in nearby Covington, dozens of residents gathered in a hotel conference room to hear the latest results from the testing of soil and crop samples that have been collected since the fire. 

For Virginia Crawford, who lives about ten minutes from the BioLab site, the health concerns are personal. She recalled evacuating from her home with her two-month-old last September. Days later, the infant was hospitalized with breathing problems. 

“They had him hooked up to IVs, oxygen in his nose. They had him all taped down so he couldn't pull the tubes out,” she said. 

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Na'Miko Harrison was hospitalized after the fire at the BioLab plant in Conyers. Ultimately diagnosed with RSV, his family has doubts his symptoms were unrelated to the chemical plume.

Credit: Virgina Crawford

Doctors diagnosed Na’Miko with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and told her it was unrelated to the fire, but Crawford wasn’t satisfied with that answer.  

“We went to the ER, because even with the antibiotics that the pediatrician put him on, he still continued to cough and couldn't sleep,” Crawford said. “We were giving him Tylenol because he acted like he was in pain all over.”

Environmental advocate Scott Smith presented preliminary results from his independent testing of debris and soil samples taken from Rockdale, Gwinnett, Newton and DeKalb Counties.

Smith said his analysis shows a “fingerprint” of potentially harmful chemicals. He says the lab he sent the samples to also recorded measurements of metals like lead and nickel turning up in gardens, vents, and residue samples. 

BioLab had offered assistance through a Community Assistance Center in downtown Conyers, processing resident and business owner claims until the end of last year. 

In May, the company announced they would stop manufacturing and shift to a distribution-only model. 



For more on the BioLab fire impact, check out GPB's podcast, Manufacturing Danger: The BioLab Story,