=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #123
—April 4, 1989—
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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STUDY REVEALS PATTERN OF ILLNESS FROM DRINKING POLLUTED WATER.
Twenty-five people exposed to contaminated drinking water in
Woburn, Massachusetts, have developed a pattern of disease
involving skin disorders, damage to the central nervous system,
and heart problems, when compared to a control group of forty
individuals matched for age, sex, and social habits. In Woburn a
public water supply was contaminated with trichloroethylene (267
parts per billion, or ppb), tetrachloroethylene (21 ppb) and
lesser amounts of other industrial solvents such as
1,1,1-trichloroethane and chloroform. People drank the
contaminated water for more than a decade before the pollution
was identified.
The problem first came to light as a cluster of leukemia cases.
Leukemia is cancer of the blood-forming cells, and it is almost
always fatal. Between 1969 and 1972, 12 cases of leukemia
occurred in Woburn, where only 5 cases would have been expected
to occur naturally; Woburn has a total population of 37,000. The
incidence of childhood leukemia in the entire city was 2.5 times
the national average, but in East Woburn–the part of town
principally served by the contaminated water wells–the incidence
of leukemia in male children was 12.5 times what would have been
expected by random chance.
The 25 individuals in the present study were not themselves
victims of leukemia, but were members of eight families in which
at least one member had leukemia. Examination and evaluation of
the 25 individuals occurred 5 to 6 years after the polluted water
wells had been closed. The study looked principally for damage to
the immune system of the 25 people because an earlier study had
reported that children of East Woburn were suffering a higher
rate of pulmonary (lung-related) and urinary infections than
children in West Woburn, where the water pollution was not so
severe.
None of the 25 individuals had a history of unusual exposure to
organic solvents, benzene, halogenated hydrocarbons, heavy
metals, herbicides, or pesticides.
Medical examination of the 25 individuals “revealed a clinical
syndrome including gastroenteropathy, cardiomyopathy and
dermatological and immunological abnormalities.”
In plain English, the study revealed that 13 (52%) of the people
had stomach problems including chronic nausea and recurrent
diarrhea and constipation (a condition known as the “irritable
bowel syndrome”). These symptoms improved markedly after people
stopped drinking the contaminated well water but were still
present more than five years later in all affected subjects.
In thirteen of the subjects (52%), recurrent maculopapular rashes
occurred within a year of the beginning of exposure.
(Maculopapular rashes are a mixture of discolored skin and bumpy
skin.) These occurred at least twice per year for 2 to 4 weeks.
The rashes were poorly responsive to steroid therapy, were not
associated with fever, and occurred most often on the extremities
and face. No obvious cause could be found. In most cases, these
rashes cleared up after one to two years of exposure, but in 4
cases, they continued after cessation of exposure.
Twenty-two of the subjects (88%) had frequent or chronic
sinusitis [inflammation of the sinuses] or rhinitis [inflammation
of the mucous membrane of the nose], and this was not related to
the season of the year. (Chronic sinusitis was defined as two
episodes per year for five years, responsive to antibiotics;
chronic rhinitis was defined as appropriate symptoms for more
than three months per year for five years with no seasonal
component.)
Fourteen subjects (56%) complained of heart problems, including
rapid heart rate while at rest, and palpitations or near syncope
[heart spasms]. Echocardiograms revealed eight subjects with
serious ventricular disrhythmias [irregular rhythms of the
pumping action of the heart].
Immunological damage was measured three different ways. The
findings revealed a “persistent lymphocytosis” [an excess of
white blood cells] and an elevation in the absolute number of T
cells. In addition, the ratio of helper cells to suppressor cells
changed in the subject population, but not in the control
population, as time passed after they stopped drinking polluted
water.
Other studies of the effects of trichloroethylene (TCE) on humans
have documented all of the symptoms reported among the 25
subjects. However, the exposure levels in the present study were
lower than exposures reported in previous studies. The authors of
the present study (two British cancer specialists, a California
dermatologist and a Boston public health specialist, all of them
medical doctors) concluded that “Since neurological [nerve],
cardiological [heart] and dermatological [skin] abnormalities
have been previously seen in humans exposed to TCE, the Woburn
population which has all these abnormalities, probably represents
a true syndrome of toxic exposure.”
This is an important study because it reveals a group of symptoms
besides cancer that can afflict people who are exposed to water
contaminated with industrial solvents. Too often, health studies
focus entirely on cancer. As important as it is, cancer is not
the only symptom of drinking polluted water, and these physicians
have made a significant contribution to the medical study of
chemical victims.
Get: V.S. Byers, “Association between clinical symptoms and
lymphocyte abnormalities in a population with chronic domestic
exposure to industrial solventcontaminated domestic water supply
and a high incidence of leukaemia.” CANCER IMMUNOLOGY AND
IMMUNOTHERAPY, Vol. 27 (1988), pgs. 77-81. For a free reprint,
write to: V.S. Byers, Cancer Research Campaign Laboratories,
University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD,
England. We received a copy from the excellent service,
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH MONTHLY provided by CCHW, the Citizen’s
Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, P.O. Box 926, Arlington, VA
22216; phone (703) 276-7070; a year’s subscription to the Monthly
costs $15 for grass roots activists and $25 for professionals.
Hats off to Linda King, CCHW’s first field organizer, who started
the project that became the MONTHLY; Linda has now left CCHW and
she’ll be missed by the hundreds of groups and individuals she
has helped.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: health effects; drinking water; public health;
woburn, ma; water pollution; trichloroethylene; tce;
tetrachloroethylene; chloroform; 1,1,1-trichloroethane; leukemia;
stomach problems; skin rash; skin rashes; sinusitis; rhinitis;
heart problems; immune system damage; studies;