=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #274
—February 26, 1992—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
——
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CHEMICALS CAUSE CANCER IN WORKERS
AND NEARBY RESIDENTS, 9 MORE STUDIES SHOW
When citizens attend public hearings to learn about a new dump
planned for their neighborhood, they often encounter a hired
consultant with a college degree in science or engineering who
ridicules the idea that chemicals harm humans. Such a person,
wearing an expensive three-piece suit, will stand at the
microphone and look over the top of his spectacles, putting on
his best “expert” look, and say something like, “We know you
little ladies are concerned, and you have a right to be, but if
you could just study the scientific literature, as I have done,
you would realize that there is no evidence of harm to humans
from chemical exposures.”
The question to ask such a person is, “Are you merely uninformed
or are you lying?” for in reality there are numerous scientific
studies showing that exposure to chemicals harms humans. Last
week we reviewed 10 such studies. This week we briefly report on
nine more.
The dozen chemicals found most often at toxic waste sites are
trichloroethylene (TCE), lead, chromium, toluene, benzene,
tetrachloroethene, trichloroethane, chloroform, arsenic,
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), cadmium, and zinc. [1] If you
look at a list of the top 200 chemicals found at hazardous waste
sites, you quickly see that these dozen are representative: a few
metals, and many chlorinated compounds made from petroleum.
Petroleum products and chlorine can be combined in a host of
interesting ways to make “chlorinated hydrocarbons,” which do not
ordinarily occur in nature, which tend to be toxic, which tend to
persist in the environment once they are created, and which
enter food chains and concentrate as they move from small plants
to small animals and then into bigger animals. In general, the
bigger the animal (fish, bird, or mammal), the more chlorinated
hydrocarbons can be found in its flesh.
It seems natural, therefore, to ask ourselves what is known about
health effects from exposure to hydrocarbons (petroleum products)
and especially to chlorinated hydrocarbons.
A study [2] of 8418 white male workers in rubber factories in
Akron, Ohio, revealed an excess of deaths from cancers of the
stomach, the respiratory system, the lymph system
(lymphosarcomas), and leukemias (cancer of the blood-forming
cells). In addition, the researchers found excess deaths from
diabetes (a disorder of the immune system), cerebrovascular
disease (stroke), arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries),
and suicide.
A study [3] of 1015 male workers at a Canadian oil refinery
revealed an excess of cancers of the brain, bone, skin, kidneys,
lymph system, and blood-forming cells (leukemia), as well as
fatal diseases, including cancer, of the digestive tract.
A study [4] of 2509 active and retired workers at three oil
refineries in Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas, revealed an excess of
brain cancer, stomach cancer, leukemia, multiple myeloma (cancer
of the bone marrow) and lymphomas.
A study [5] of 1099 white males exposed to tetrachloroethane in
the manufacture of clothing to protect soldiers against mustard
gas in World War II revealed an overall cancer rate 26% higher
than among the general populace of white males of the same ages.
A study [6] of British pathologists revealed an excess of deaths
by suicide, and brain cancers which the authors of the study
attributed to exposure to solvents, or possibly to an infectious
agent.
A study [7] of 501 North Carolina men who died of non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma showed an increased risk associated with occupation in
the rubber, plastics and synthetic chemicals industries.
A study [8] of 184,641 people listed in the New Jersey cancer
registry between 1979 and 1984 found several associations between
specific cancers and specific occupations. For example, in the
printing industry where people are exposed to ink (carbon black
and oil) and to solvents cleaning the presses, white males show
an excess of cancers of the rectum and large intestine, black
females show an excess of breast cancer, and white females show
an excess of lymphomas and of Hodgkin’s disease. White female
workers in the petroleum products industry show an excess of
stomach cancers. The chemical industry produces an excess of
mesothelioma (a cancer of the lining of the chest cavity
associated with asbestos exposure) among white workers of both
genders, breast cancer among black females, prostate cancer among
white males, lymphocytic leukemia among black males, and
lymphomas and Hodgkin’s disease among white females. The rubber
and plastic products industries produce an excess of cervical
cancers among white females, cancers of the urinary bladder among
black males, and liver cancer among white males.
A study [9] by the National Cancer Institute in the mid-1970s
revealed a pattern of excess cancers in white males in 139 U.S.
counties where the chemical industry is clustered. Cancer of the
urinary bladder showed a strong association with exposure to
dyes, dye intermediates, and organic pigments, pharmaceutical
preparations, perfumes, cosmetics and other toilet preparations,
industrial gases, soaps and detergents, paints, glue, gelatin,
and “chemicals not elsewhere classified.” Lung cancer was
associated with the manufacture of industrial gases,
pharmaceutical preparations, soaps and detergents, paints,
inorganic pigments, and synthetic rubber.
Liver cancer was associated with the manufacture of synthetic
rubber, soaps and detergents, cosmetics and other toilet
preparations, and printing ink.
Besides cancers of the bladder, liver and lung, white male
residents of the 139 heavy-chemical counties showed excesses of
cancers of the nasal sinuses, larynx (voice box), skin, and bone.
In those counties, white females showed excesses of cancers of
the nasopharynx (where the nasal passages join the throat), the
uterus, the cervix, and skin.
A study 10 of lung cancer in all U.S. counties revealed a
pattern of excessive cancers associated with four manufacturing
industries: paper, chemicals, petroleum, and transportation (in
which workers are exposed to solvents and paints).
Is there valid evidence that exposure to chemicals can harm
humans? Is the Pope Catholic?
                
                
                
                
    
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
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[1] Anthony B. Miller and others, ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY;
PUBLIC HEALTH AND HAZARDOUS WASTES (Washington, DC: National
Academy of Sciences, 1991), pgs. 144-146.
Descriptor terms: cancer; hydrocarbons; national cancer
institute; oil industry; petroleum; rubber; plastic; liver
cancer; lung cancer; nci; occupational safety and health;