=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #267
—January 8, 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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POPULAR SOLVENT, TCE, SEEMS TO CAUSE
SERIOUS BIRTH DEFECTS IN ANIMALS, HUMANS
The solvent trichloroethylene or TCE is the contaminant found
most often at hazardous waste dumps and in groundwater
(underground water supplies). The federal government has found
TCE at 614 (47%) of the nation’s 1300 official Superfund sites.
[1, pg. 1] TCE causes leukemia and liver cancer in laboratory
animals and it may cause leukemia in humans, though the studies
showing this have been challenged. [2, pgs. 185-187.]
There is substantial recent evidence that TCE causes birth
defects in newborn animals and is associated with similar defects
in humans; specifically, TCE exposure causes heart defects in
baby chickens and rats [5], and is associated with similar
defects in human newborns [6]. Heart defects are the
fastest-growing type of birth defects in the U.S. population [3].
TCE is mainly used as a degreasing solvent in the metal products
and automotive industries, though it can also be found in some
typewriter correction fluids, paint removers/strippers,
adhesives, spot removers, and rug-cleaning fluids. [1, pgs. 69, 71]
Humans invented TCE; it does not occur in nature, so the human
body has not had an opportunity to develop detoxifying or other
protective mechanisms specific to TCE. In 1990 only two U.S.
companies manufactured trichloroethylene (Dow Chemical in
Freeport, TX, and PPG Industries at Lake Charles, LA) but each of
the 50 states has large industrial users of TCE–some 878 major
users in all [1, pg. 70], plus countless smaller users. Total
U.S. estimated use of TCE exceeded 200 million pounds in 1990.
All 200 million pounds entered the general environment sooner or
later.
When it gets loose, TCE has a strong tendency to enter the
atmosphere. Average air concentrations for TCE range from 0.04
ppb [parts per billion] in Portland, Oregon in 1984, to 0.29 ppb
in Philadelphia in 1983-84, and 0.1 to 0.225 ppb in 10 major
cities across the country in 1980-81. The air over six landfills
in New Jersey ranges from 0.08 to 2.43 ppb TCE (maximum: 12.3
ppb). But even remote, unspoiled areas have TCE in their air; in
the Arctic in 1982-83 air averaged 0.008 to 0.009 ppb TCE. In
other words, the whole atmosphere is contaminated with TCE at low
concentrations.
Any particular molecule of TCE only remains in the atmosphere a
few days. Rain brings TCE back to the ground where it then moves
into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Once it enters water,
much of it moves back into the atmosphere quickly, but some of it
enters plants, then small animals, then fish. Fish from various
waterways contain TCE in the range of 10 to 100 ppb. Clams and
oysters in Louisiana contain TCE (0.8 to 5.7 ppb). Snow in Alaska
contains TCE (0.03 to 0.039 ppb). Rain contains TCE. So
naturally, fresh tomatoes, potatoes, apples and pears contain TCE
(1.7, 0-3, 5 and 4 ppb, respectively). [1, pgs. 77-85]
It helps to understand that EPA [U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency] has set 5 ppb as the maximum allowable concentration in
drinking water–so finding 5 ppb in a fresh apple should give us
pause. Many processsed foods contain TCE because they are often
made with water contaminated with TCE. The federal Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry [ATSDR] reports:
Chinese-style sauce (28 ppb), quince jelly (40 ppb), chocolate
sauce (50 ppb), grape jelly (20 ppb). Fresh bread contains 7 ppb,
various brands of margarine contain 440 to 3600 ppb. These are
not national averages, so the foodstuffs in your refrigerator
may contain less or more than these values.
In sum, we industrial humans have managed to spread TCE
everywhere.
Humans ingest TCE by drinking fluids, by breathing, and through
their skin. In 133 American cities, TCE averaged 0.47 ppb in
water samples at the tap. If you take a shower in such water, you
inhale considerable TCE but you also absorb an equal amount
through your skin. [2, pg. 117]
All of this explains why Americans have measurable amounts of TCE
on their breath.
There is no doubt that TCE causes leukemia in animals. But the
evidence for leukemia in humans is not so clear. People at
Woburn, Massachusetts, drinking a TCE-contaminated water supply,
did get leukemia in unusually high numbers but some people in the
communty also got leukemia even though they had a different water
supply, so the picture is not crystal clear. [1, pgs. 35-36]
In 1990, two studies were published linking TCE to heart defects.
A large group of people in Tucson, Arizona, drank
TCE-contaminated water for up to a decade. A careful study of
children born to these families revealed an unusually large
number of birth defects of the heart. Among these children, the
chances of being born with a heart defect were three times the
normal chances of having such a defect. [6] Earlier studies of
baby chicks, and in 1990 of baby rats [5] revealed that TCE
causes heart defects in these species. Although cause-and-effect
has not been shown to a scientific certainty by the Tucson study,
after reading the available evidence, pregnant women will almost
certainly want to minimize their exposure to TCE. The families in
Tucson were drinking water that contained from 6 to 200 ppb of
TCE.
Another long-term effect of TCE exposure was revealed in a 1988
study of nerve function in people in Woburn, Massachusetts who
had been drinking water contaminated with TCE (118 to 267 ppb).
The people had stopped drinking the contaminated water six years
prior to the test, yet there was unmistakable evidence of damage
to their cranial (brain) nerves. [4]
In addition, there is now a growing body of medical and
scientific literature showing associations between exposure of
men to solvents (including TCE) in the workplace, and birth
defects and cancers in their children. [8, 9] Damage to the men’s
sperm is the suspected mechanism for effects in the children.
TCE evaporates easily and is difficult to control. It is
representative of a large number of chlorinated chemicals that
now appear to be more dangerous than we previously knew. Subtle
but important health effects, which were never looked for during
previous decades, are now being discovered. The more we look, the
more bad news we learn.
Our present industrial patterns–called loosely “business as
usual”–do not appear to be sustainable.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: tce; birth defects; health; reproductive
hazards; trichloroethylene; hazardous waste landfills; heart
defects; dow chemical; ppg industries; nj; arctic; clams;
oysters; la; ak; snow; epa; atsdr; leukemia; cancer; carcinogens;
woburn; ma; occupational safety and health; occupational
exposure; solvents;