Georgia high court weighs long-term health monitoring after BioLab fire

The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday related to the 2024 BioLab fire in Conyers.

Residents are seeking long-term medical monitoring regardless of whether they currently show symptoms.

The fire at the BioLab facility in September 2024 caused more than 17,000 people to evacuate and another 90,000 people to shelter in place.

Larry Cox, a vice president of Dan-Kel Concrete Cutting, told CBS News that his company used to be located near the BioLab facility but the company has since moved because their employees did not feel safe.

“It’s still impacting my business since September of 2024; we have been somewhat displaced because of the BioLab incident,” he said.

Scott Smith, an independent testing expert, told CBS News that the exposure concerns are significant.

“It was a lot of toxic gases, a mixture of very dangerous chemicals,” Smith said.

Smith conducted independent testing of the area that found elevated levels of dioxin at 22 in soil near the site, which is five times more than the federal screening level.

Smith also said symptoms of exposure may not appear immediately.

“It can take years for health symptoms to show up,” he said.

After the fire, the Georgia Department of Public Health said more than 1,000 people sought medical treatment.

Advocates for medical monitoring say that it could help identify problems before they become more serious while critics, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argue that awarding this monitoring to people who are not sick raises legal concerns.