[CPEO-BIF] TCE and cancer

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Dr. Daniel Wartenberg of UMDNJ also submitted written testimony to the
November 15, 2004 New York State Assembly hearings on TCE. I have not
been able to obtain an electronic copy, so I am re-keying his one-page
statement from the public record. - LS


***

My name is Daniel Wartenberg. I am Professor and Director, Division of
Environmental Epidemiology, Department of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey, and Leader, Population Science Program, Cancer
Institute of New Jersey....

I apologize for not being able to be present in person at the Hearing,
but other commitments prevent my travel at this time. I write to offer
my opinion about the public health risks from exposure to
trichloroethylene (TCE). I have been studying the health effects of TCE
for about 8 years and am increasingly concerned about the likely
carcinogenicity of TCE and its impact on the health of those exposed to
even low levels of this chemical. In general, any exposure to a
carcinogen increases an individual's risk of developing cancer.
Therefore, on the basis of the available evidence, and in the interest
of preventing unnecessary cases of cancer, I urge you to limit exposures
to the minimum amounts reasonably achievable. While the evidence is not
as clear and consistent as one might wish, prevention and/or reduction
of exposure is the prudent action to take at this time. Because the
studies conducted did not collect sufficient data on length and
magnitude of exposure for rigorous modeling of the likely carcinogen, we
should err on the side [of] overprotection rather than underprotection.
In addition, the research on other outcomes is somewhat limited, again
suggesting the need for more stringent rather than less stringent
exposure limits.

In 1997, as part of their reassessment, I was awarded a competitive
grant by the US Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate the
epidemiological evidence for making inferences of cancer hazards and
risks for exposure to TCE. With colleagues, I conducted a detailed
review of more than 80 relevant scientific publications and summarized
the results in a peer reviewed paper that was published in Environmental
Health Perspectives. We concluded that evidence of excess cancer rates
among occupational cohorts with the most rigorous exposure assessment is
found for kidney cancer (RR=1.7 95% CI 1.1-2.7), liver cancer (RR=1.9,
95% CI 1.0-3.4, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (RR=1.5 95% CI 0.9-2.3) as well
as for cervical cancer, Hodgkin's disease, and multiple myeloma. In
2000, I summarized these data for the 10th Annual Report on Carcinogens
issue[d] by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences'
National Toxicology Program, with similar conclusions. Since my review,
there have been several additional publications on the possible
carcinogenicity of TCE. Although I have not reviewed them all in detail,
one notable was a report on a new cohort in Denmark ... that use[s]
measures of biological material to document exposure to TCE. In general,
the results of that study provided addition[al] support for the findings
we presented in 2000, which suggested that TCE exposure causes cancer in humans.

I acknowledge limitations of some of these studies, and imprecision of
the assessments of exposures, but believe that the evidence points
strongly towards carcinogenicity  and that exposure should be minimized
to the degree reasonabl[y] possible unless and until evidence to the
contrary can be developed. In short, based upon the evidence, we believe
that TCE should be considered a human carcinogen until proven otherwise.

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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