We are a group of suburban Chicago physicians who are very concerned about the health risk to the general public, our families and ourselves posed by the exposure to Canada geese droppings.
In a recent issue of the “Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology,” an article by the chairman of the Department of Allergy and Immunology at Northwestern University Medical School documented that exposure to Canada geese droppings can cause a serious lung disease known as hypersensitivity pneumonitis, popularly known as “bird fanciers’ disease.” We are concerned about evidence that goose droppings enter building ventilation systems, circulate in the air and are inhaled by everyone inside.
We are also concerned about the large numbers of suburban residents who work or live in buildings near ponds or parks inhabited by ever-increasing numbers of Canada geese, and alarmed by the fact that 40 percent of all these people will form antibodies against Canada geese droppings.
Approximately 10 to 20 percent of the people exposed to Canada geese droppings could develop hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
We are even more concerned about a number of people who will not develop any symptoms until many years later when they develop a permanent and irreversible lung fibrosis. Canada geese droppings also could be the cause for undiagnosed lung diseases in many other patients. We noted that many of our “sick buildings” are located in areas rich in Canada geese droppings.
We are unable to advise our patients to avoid the cause of their allergy because Canada geese droppings are everywhere in suburbia. We are unaware of any location where we can send our patients that is an environment free from Canada geese droppings. The problem will get much worse with the Canada geese population growing exponentially.
We ask our elected officials at all levels to protect our citizens as well as they protect the Canada geese. We believe that prevention is always much better than cures.
