Update: Toxic fume in Shoprite condoned by Englewood fire department

This message from a bewildered consumer arrived in our email yesterday at 4:31 pm

Update: The message was written by a medical Doctor.
 Dr. Sapphire Mann Ahmed  

November 11, 2016, about 10 AM, I went into the Shoprite grocery store in the town of Englewood, NJ and as I walked near the vegetables, a chemical fume overtook me.
I began to feel nauseous and developed a headache in minutes.
I felt sick so I left the store after complaining to 2 managers who said that they were told that the chemical was not toxic.

I told him that it is noxious even if it is not toxic.

Does produce absorb noxious fumes at a level
that may be harmful to humans?

I heard customers and workers complaining.

I went to the health department which was closed wth not even an emergency number.

I went to the police department and picked up the lobby phone and reported my concerns to Sargent Canner (?) who initially tried to brush me off rather than thank me for being a concerned citizen.

Finally, as I persisted, he told me that he would report it to the fire department.
I called the fire department later and I was told that this is an ongoing complaint during the construction in the grocery store.

The firemen supervisor said that their machine had determined that the fumes were from polyurethane and that the levels were not toxic.

I told them that the levels are noxious and doubted if they would allow themselves, their children or parents to be exposed to it for 15 minutes.

When humans are so ignorant that we wait for a machine to tell us if fumes are toxic we need help.

I did not get a satisfactory answer when I asked if the fumes were not toxic from the fire department. The fumes in that store were noxious to me in a few minutes my eyes burned, and I felt that it penetrated my oral and nasal mucous and I developed a headache. Neither customers nor fresh foods should be exposed to those fumes and this would not be acceptable in other communities.
Maybe the fire department doesn't have access to internet to read:

"Uncured polyurethane can cause breathing problems such as asthma. People who are in rooms that have uncured polyurethane floors can also experience health problems including eye and throat irritation, headaches, nausea, vomiting, coughing and shortness of breath." Dr. Sapphire Mann Ahmed 

I like for you to assign some of your staff and some staff of the police department to stand in the back of ShopRite in Englewood for an hour let alone all day long with those fumes.

                              .....And how are the children?

This does raise a very important question. Who is watching out for our health in situations like this?

"...In a 1987 study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked indoor air pollution fourth in cancer risk among the 13 top environmental problems analyzed. The United Nations Development Program estimated that more than two million people die each year due to the presence of toxic indoor air. .. http://renegadehealth.com/blog/2013/03/25/14-plants-that-clean-your-indoor-air-of-toxic-chemicals

I would like to thank this citizen for raising the questions and following them up. People like this are needed  in every Community. I was in Shoprite on Wednesday and Thursday,  but I do not remember if  they removed the leftover mums from the rear of the produce. I had thought the area where the mums were kept was being held for fresh live plants. It was a nice touch for a minute. Now I am wondering if the mums were just doing a fine job of masking the odor. Plants are not  usually allowed to sit and die to that extent in Shoprite. I was not so surprised when I noticed they were gone, but I was surprised to see that a doorway had been cut where they had been displayed. Maybe the store should have closed during the hours of this particular construction and the fumes ventilated outside.