TCE HEALTH EFFECTS

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

TCE ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE HEALTH
The medically conservative federal Agency for Toxic Substances and 
Disease Registry (ATSDR) has found that TCE is associated with adverse 
health effects, but it stopped short of concluding a causal 
relationship. In its fall, 1995 newsletter (Hazardous Substances and 
Public Health), ATSDR reported, "People expose to trichloroethylene 
(TCE) through drinking contaminated water reported a higher rate of 
some adverse health effects than did a national comparison population, 
according to Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) 
scientists. The agency gathered data on 3,915 people with long-term, 
low-level exposure to the chemical ..."
TCE, for years the "universal solvent," is one of the most prevalent 
contaminants at military and other hazardous waste sites in the U.S. It 
was also used in many glues, spot removers, and typing correction 
fluid. Though TCE is considered by many to cause cancer in humans, some 
scientists representing military agencies and military polluters 
believe that cleanup standards for TCE are too stringent. Vast amounts 
of money are spent - needlessly, they argue - removing a few gallons of 
TCE from underground aquifers.
However, the ATSDR study shows that the some subgroups (age and gender) 
of the exposed population in its TCE "subregistry" hide a higher rate 
of adverse health effects than a comparison population. Those effects 
included:
speech and hearing impairment
stroke
liver disease
anemia and other blood disorders
diabetes
kidney disease
urinary tract disorders
skin rashes
ATSDR said that its finding do not imply "a cause-and-effect 
relationship," but they "suggest an association and reinforce the need 
for additional information." Additional study should be undertaken to 
explain why people exposed to TCE have greater health problems, but 
every effort should be made to prevent additional exposures while those 
studies are underway. We don't need more human guinea pigs!
The full ATSDR analysis is published in the International Journal of 
Occupational Medicine and Toxicology (4[2]:237-257 [1995]).

Lenny Siegel