In the air — Carbon monoxide crusade: Duo's war against HUD

In his retirement Rodgers runs a nonprofit organization called LifeSave Biological Research, and he has many Web sites, on topics ranging from veganism to vaccines. Passionate and sincere, he tends to start his harangues in the middle, leaving his listeners struggling to catch up, often exhausted by his details. And sometimes his lobbying is unorthodox. Standing in Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's office one day, hoping to get an audience, he told the receptionist to tell Shurtleff he needs to "clean up his diet." He readily admits that he has angered ranchers and public health officials for his stances on veganism and fluoridation. Because some of the HUD trailers house illegal immigrant farm workers, his efforts to call attention to the venting problem has resulted in death threats, he says.

Rodgers and Bishop believe they do have one piece of evidence: the case of a baby named Daniel, the son of Dave and Mary Conrad of Manti. The Conrads live in a manufactured home, one of 9 million such occupied units nationwide.

Last winter, Daniel, then six months old, was sluggish and spit up constantly. He eventually ended up at Primary Children's Medical Center. Daniel was not tested for carbon-monoxide poisoning and was instead diagnosed with malnutrition, a thyroid problem and a rare genetic disease, Kabuki Syndrome, according to Dave Conrad.

Before Daniel was hospitalized, neighbors had contacted the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, concerned about Daniel's wan appearance. The Conrads believe that the neighbors were concerned because the Conrads are vegans.

The Conrads are friends of Rodgers. When he came to the hospital to visit Daniel, he says he knew right away that the family had been exposed to carbon-monoxide poisoning. Dave Conrad's face, Rodgers says, was jaundiced and showed signs of rosacea, two symptoms of the poisoning.

The division ordered the Conrads to adopt a treatment plan for Daniel that included extensive tests. When the Conrads failed to comply, they were initially charged with contempt of court, but the case was later dismissed following a hearing.

While not willing to comment on the specifics of the Conrad case, Dr. Ed Clark, medical director of Primary Children's Medical Center, says his hospital does not routinely test all patients for carbon-monoxide poisoning. "The cost-benefit level (of testing everyone) would be questionable," he says. "We do carbon-monoxide testing when it's indicated … It's something we do on a fairly frequent basis, especially in the winter and depending on symptoms."

Rodgers says he helped the Conrads fix the carbon-monoxide problem before Daniel was brought home from the hospital by tying a plastic bag over the air intake and instructing the Conrads to open a window one-half inch, on the side of the house opposite to the exhaust vent. (Carbon-monoxide detectors are helpful, says Bishop, but aren't foolproof: Some only go off when the carbon-monoxide level reaches 400 ppm, and by then a baby may already be dead, he says.)