tce poisoning 5

8/3/2019 TCE Poisoning 5

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TCE POISONING

Why Should You Care?Trichloroethylene (TCE) is one of the most common man-made chemicals found in the environment and it cancause cancer. It is a volatile hydrocarbon chemical and is a widely used chlorine containing solvent. TCE in theU.S. has been identified in various degreasing operations, silk screening, taxidermy, and electronic cleaning. Whenit comes to groundwater pollution by manmade chemicals, TCE is the single most common industrial chemicalfound in US groundwater which has been reported in 761 Superfund sites (60%) and over 250 Toxic ReleaseInventory facilities in 2009. Just one 55 gallon drum of TCE can contaminate 11 billion gallons of water abovethe 5 ppb drinking water standard.

TCE is commonly found leaking near dry cleaners, waste dumps and military bases and has spread through communities across theUS. Indiscriminate (and often illegal) dumping has allowed it to inevitably contaminate our homes, our schools and our workplaces.



The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a survey of various industries from 1981 to 1983 andestimated that approximately 401,000 U.S. employees in 23,225 plants were potentially exposed to TCE each year.

The following occupations have increased likelihood of TCE exposure:• dry cleaners, • mechanics, • oil processors, • printers, • resin workers, • rubber cementers, • shoemakers, • textile and fabric cleaners,• varnish workers, and

• workers reducing nicotine in tobacco.

It is most often used as a cleaning solvent or degreaser, but it is also an ingredient in adhesives, paint removers, typewritercorrection fluids, and spot removers. TCE pollution has been discovered in nearly every state, but in California it is the mostwidespread. Military bases including Camp Pendleton and Edwards Air Force Base have Superfund sites with TCEcontamination. According to the LA Times, the Los Angeles metropolitan area overlies a checkerboard of underground plumesof TCE, and has high ambient levels of the chemical in the air. More than 30 square miles of the San Gabriel Valley lie in one of four Superfund sites that contain TCE. The San Fernando Valley overlies a large plume grouped into three separate Superfundsites. The former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Orange County sits over a plume several miles long. The public can be exposed to TCE in several ways, including by showering in warm, contaminated water and by breathing air

in homes where TCE vapors have intruded from the soil. TCE's movement from contaminated groundwater and soil into theindoor air of overlying buildings is a major concern.

The Department of Defense has about 1,400 military properties nationwide that arecontaminated with trichloroethylene. Twenty three sites in the Energy Department's nuclearweapons complex — including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the San FranciscoBay area, and NASA centers, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge



are reported to have TCE contamination. The U.S. military has virtually eliminated its use of the chemical, purchasing only 11 gallonsin 2005 compared to millions of gallons in past decades.

Trichloroethylene as a cleaning solvent was also used to clean military weapons during the Gulf War. There are veteran‘s reportsassociating exposure to this solvent with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS], and also with a neurologic syndrome resemblingParkinson's disease. An international study of twins published in Nov 2011 has found a six-fold increase in the risk of developingParkinson's in individuals exposed in the workplace to trichloroethylene. The study found a lag time of up to 40 years betweenexposure to TCE and the onset of Parkinson's.

TCE rapidly crosses the placenta in both humans and animals, and can accumulate in the fetus. Recent studies in laboratory

animals and observations in human populations suggest that exposure to trichloroethylene might be associated with congenitalheart defects.

Research has shown that inhalants - particularly volatile solvents (like TCE), gases, and aerosols - are often among the first drugs thatyoung children use. One national survey indicates that about 3.0 percent of U.S. children have tried inhalants by the time they reachfourth grade. About 17% of US youth has ever tried to get ‗high‘ from inhaled solvents, including TCE. National surveys



indicate that more than 22.9 million Americans have abused inhalants at least once in their lives. Inhalant abuse can becomechronic and extend into adulthood. Sudden death due to TCE abuse has been reported.

Although the legal limit for TCE in drinking water is 5 ppb, About 100 tons of it is used annually in the U.S. as of 2006.Historically, production of TCE increased rapidly in the US from just over 260,000 lbs. (130 tons) in 1981 to 320 million lbs.(160,000 tons) in 1991. TCE releases into the environment have ranged from 55.6 million pounds in 1987 down to 7.2 millionpounds in 2003. One plastics manufacturing site in Indiana emitted more than 1 million pounds of TCE into the air in 2000which is now down to a mere 250,000 pounds per year.



Proven and Probable Carcinogens In September 2011, the EPA reclassified TCE as carcinogenic to humans and as a humannoncancer health hazard. The EPA final risk assessment for trichloroethylene found that theindustrial solvent TCE causes kidney and liver cancer, lymphoma and other healthproblems. The Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for TCE in our public watersupplies currently stands at 5 parts per billion. The MCL is likely to be lowered due to thesenew findings in the final risk assessment.

Sources and Occurrence

It is most often used as a cleaning solvent or degreaser but it is also an ingredient in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correctionfluids, and spot removers.

In Europe Trichloroethylene is called trichloroethene and this name is frequently found in the scientific literature. Industrialabbreviations include TCE, trichlor, Trike, Tricky and tri. It is a clear non-flammable liquid with a sweet smell. Perhaps the greatestuse of TCE has been as a degreaser for metal parts. It has been sold under a variety of trade names. Under the trade names Trimar andTrilene, trichloroethylene was used as a volatile anesthetic and as an inhaled obstetrical analgesic in millions of patients untilalternatives were introduced in the late 1950’s. TCE was used in place of the earlier anesthetics chloroform and ether in the 1940s, but

was itself replaced in the 1950s by the newer halothane, which allowed much faster induction and recovery times. TCE use was soonfound to promote cardiac arrhythmias, and prolonged neurologic dysfunction when used with soda lime. The use of trichloroethylenein the food and pharmaceutical industries has been banned in much of the world since the 1970s. Fetal toxicity, adult hepatotoxicityand concerns for carcinogenic potential of TCE led to its abandonment as an anesthetic in the 1980s.



Pollution History The first known report of TCE in groundwater was given in 1949 by two English public chemists who described two separateinstances of well contamination by industrial releases of TCE. Based on available federal and state surveys, between 9% to 34% of thedrinking water supply sources tested in the U.S. may have some TCE contamination, though EPA has reported that most watersupplies are in compliance with the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 5 ppb. In addition, a growing concern in recent years atsites with TCE contamination in soil or groundwater has been vapor intrusion in buildings, which has resulted in indoor air exposures.

TCE has also been used in the United States to clean kerosene-fueled rocket engines and caused major groundwater contamination.TCE was especially a problem at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (RocketDyne) in the Simi Valley in California.

In 1999, scientists at Lawrence Livermore Labs in San Francisco analyzed more than 55 TCE plumes which had contaminatedgroundwater in the U. S (including Lawrence Livermore Labs). They concluded that pore water velocity was the major factordetermining plume length.

RCA Taiwan

For over twenty years of operation, the US-based multinational Radio Company of America (RCA) had been pouring toxicwastewater into a well in its Taoyuan, Taiwan facility. The pollution from the plant was not revealed until 1994, when former workersbrought it to light. Investigation by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration confirmed that RCA had been dumpingchlorinated organic solvents into a secret well and caused contamination to the soil and groundwater surrounding the plantsite. High levels of TCE and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) can be found in groundwater drawn as far as two kilometers from the site.

An organization of former RCA employees reports 1375 cancer cases, 216 cancer deaths, and 102 cases of various tumorsamong its members.



Symptoms Acute

Breathing small amounts may cause headaches, lung irritation, dizziness, poor coordination, and difficulty concentrating. Breathinglarge amounts of trichloroethylene may cause impaired heart function, unconsciousness, and death. Cranial nerve dysfunction(especially the fifth cranial nerve) was not uncommon when TCE anesthesia was given using CO2 absorbing systems. These nervedeficits could last for months. Occasionally facial numbness was permanent.

The symptoms of acute non-medical exposure are similar to those of alcohol intoxication, beginning with confusion and progressingwith increasing exposure to unconsciousness. Respiratory and circulatory depression can result in death.

Drinking large amounts of trichloroethylene may cause nausea, liver damage, unconsciousness, impaired heart function, ordeath.

Skin contact with trichloroethylene for short periods may cause skin rashes.



Chronic

When inhaled, trichloroethylene produces central nervous system depression resulting in general anesthesia. Beyond theeffects to the central nervous system, workplace exposure to trichloroethylene has been associated with toxic effects in theliver and kidney.



In a study of 73 workers employed from one month to 15 years in various industrial cleaning and degreasing operationsusing TCE, complaints due to chronic exposure included:

• a reduced number of word associations, • ataxia, - ;a lack of coordination and muscle movements• decreased appetite, • headache, • short-term memory loss,• sleep disturbances, and • vertigo- dizziness

Drinking small amounts of trichloroethylene for long periods may cause liver and kidney damage, impaired immune

system function, and impaired fetal development in pregnant women, although the extent of some of these effects is notyet clear. One study found neurobehavioral deficits from exposures to drinking water contaminated with TCE. Otherstudies found links to childhood leukemia and non-Hodgkin‘s lymphoma

Recent studies in laboratory animals and observations in human populations suggest that exposure to trichloroethylene might beassociated with congenital heart defects.

There are reports on the Gulf War veterans associating exposure to this solvent with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) andalso with a neurologic syndrome resembling Parkinson's disease. An international study published in 2011 has found a six-foldincrease in the risk of developing Parkinson's in individuals exposed in the workplace to trichloroethylene. The study found a

lag time of up to 40 years between exposure to TCE and the onset of Parkinson's. According to WEBMD, TCE Chemical exposurehas been reported to trigger Lupus. Suspected chemical toxins include trichloroethylene in well water.



Diagnosis and Testing The most convenient biologic indicators of TCE exposure are the urinary metabolites, trichloroethanol and trichloroacetic acid.However, these metabolites are not specific to TCE. If you have recently been exposed to trichloroethylene, it can be detected inyour breath, blood, or urine. The breath test, if it is performed soon after exposure, can tell if you have been exposed to even a smallamount of trichloroethylene.

Exposure to larger amounts is assessed by blood and urine tests, which can detect trichloroethylene and many of its breakdownproducts for up to a week after exposure. However, exposure to other similar chemicals can produce the same breakdown products,so their detection is not absolute proof of exposure to trichloroethylene. This test isn't available at most doctors' offices, but can bedone at special laboratories that have the right equipment.



Treatments There is no antidote for TCE poisoning. Treatment consists of support of respiratory and cardiovascular functions.

In the case of dermal contact with liquid TCE, contaminated clothes should be removed and the affected areas washed withcopious amounts of soap and water. Direct eye splashes require irrigation for at least 15 minutes. Corneal epithelium damageusually resolves spontaneously after irrigation.

Patients should be removed from the contaminated environment as soon as possible; begin artificial ventilation, if needed.Those with altered mental status or apparent respiratory insufficiency should receive supplemental oxygen. If the patient's pulse isabsent, cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be initiated.

Gut decontamination (emesis, lavage, or saline cathartic) is recommended if it can be initiated within two to three hours afterthe ingestion of more than a swallow of TCE. However, the effects of these measures have not been clinically evaluated. If emesisis considered, administer the emetic only to patients who are fully conscious and have an intact gag reflex. Activated charcoal has notbeen proven to absorb TCE, but, in general, it effectively decreases absorption of most ingested toxic agents.

No known treatment for chronic exposure to TCE exists. Potentially involved organ systems should be independently evaluated,and supportive measures should be initiated.



Map Distribution

US Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sitesOverlain to Liver Cancer Death Rate in Males

(Bluer Colors are Higher Rates)



US Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sites Overlain to Liver Cancer Death Rate in Males



Midwest Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sitesOverlain to Liver Disease Death Rate in Males




Case Studies

Western US Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sitesOverlain to Liver Disease Death Rate in Males




Western US Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sitesOverlain to Liver Cancer Death Rate in Males




California

Rocket Dyne

Location Map of Santa Susana Lab (Rocket Dyne)

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory (Rocket Dyne) is a complex of industrial research and development facilities located on a 2,668acre portion of the Southern California Simi Hills in Simi Valley, California, used mainly for the testing and development of Liquid-propellant rocket engines for the United States space program from 1949 to 2006. The site is located approximately 7 miles northwest



from the community of Canoga Park and approximately 30 miles northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Sage Ranch Park is adjacenton part of the northern boundary and the community of Bell Canyon along the entire southern boundary.

Since 1947 the Santa Susana Field Laboratory location has been used by a number of companies and agencies. The first was Rocketdyne, originally a division of North American Aviation-NAA, which developed a variety of pioneering, successful and reliable liquidrocket engines. Some were those used in the Navaho cruise missile, the Redstone rocket, the Thor and Jupiter ballistic missiles, earlyversions of the Delta and Atlas rockets, the Saturn rocket family and the Space Shuttle main engine.

In 1996, The Boeing Company became the primary owner and operator of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory and later closed the site.

Today, more than 150,000 people live within 5 miles (8 km) of the facility, and at least half a million people live within 10 miles

North American Aviation (NAA) began its development of liquid propellant rocket engines after the end of WWII. The Rocket dyne

division of NAA, which came into being under its own name in the mid-1950s, designed and tested several rocket engines at thefacility. They included engines for the Army's Redstone (an advanced short-range copy of the German V-2), and the Jupiterintermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) as well as the Air Force's counterpart IRBM, the Thor. Also included were engines for theAtlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), as well as the twin combustion chamber alcohol/liquid oxygen booster engine for theNAVAHO, a large, intercontinental cruise missile that never became operational. Later, Rocket dyne designed and tested the huge F-1engine that was eventually used as one of a cluster of engines powering the Apollo booster, as well as the J-2 liquid oxygen/hydrogenupper stage engine also used on the Project Apollo spacecraft.

More than one million gallons of trichloroethylene ,(TCE), was used to degrease and clean engines and parts etcetera at the Rocketdyne Field Lab,(SSFL), for 30 years, (1954-1983). Engines were flushed with TCE and more than one half of one million gallons of

trichloroethylene seeped from the soil to the groundwater beneath the lab, and the Agency For Toxic Disease Registry,(ATSDR), hasexpressed concern regarding potential deep fracture flow of this highly toxic contaminant discovered at the groundwater and surfacewater level which the agency considers a greater danger than perchlorate, because it sticks to soil particles, moves more slowlythrough fracture spaces, and remains in sandstone. (Rocket dyne officials state that half a million gallons of the solvent were lost to thesoil during the flushing process.



During its years of operation widespread use occurred of highly toxic chemical additives to power over 30,000 rocket engine testsand to clean the rocket test-stands afterwards, as well as considerable nuclear research and at least four nuclear accidents, whichhas resulted in the SSFL becoming a seriously contaminated site and offsite pollution source requiring a sophisticated multi-agencyand corporate Cleanup Project. The joint project between NASA, Dept. of Energy and Boeing was begun in 2010. The cleanup isprojected to be completed in 2017

In October 2006, the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Advisory Panel, made up of independent scientists and researchers from aroundthe United States, concluded that contamination at the facility resulted in between 0 and 1,800 cancer deaths (the average estimate was

300 deaths).



Western US Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sites

Overlain to Kidney Cancer Death Rate in Males(Bluer Colors are Higher Rates)



Location Map for Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA

JPL, CA

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a 176-acre site in Pasadena, California. The area isprimarily residential with some light commercial operations. The site is bordered by theSan Gabriel Mountains on the north, an equestrian club and the local Fire Station on thesouth, a residential neighborhood on the west, and the Arroyo Seco Dry Wash on the east.The Army developed and operated JPL between 1945 and 1957. In 1958, jurisdiction wastransferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The CaliforniaInstitute of Technology conducts research and development at JPL under a NASA contract

in the areas of aeronautics, space technology, and space transportation. JPL's primaryactivities include the exploration of the earth and solar system by automated spacecraft andthe design and operation of the Global Deep Space Tracking Network.

Areas of Impaired Water Quality



Sources of contamination at the site include approximately 35 seepage pits where liquid and solid wastes were reportedly disposed of,a settling chamber in the JPL storm drain system, contaminated soil excavated from part of that system, and an area where waste

solvents were dumped into three separate holes. Hazardous substances located at JPL include waste solvents, solid rocket fuelpropellants, cooling tower chemicals, sulfuric acid, freon, mercury, and chemical laboratory wastes. In 1990, JPL detectedsignificantly elevated levels of contaminants in the groundwater underneath and down-gradient of the site. Due to volatile organiccompound (VOC) contamination in the groundwater, four municipal wells were shut down between 1989 and 1990 and two LincolnAvenue Water Company wells were shut down in 1987. NASA installed treatment systems, and municipal wells began operatingagain in October of 1990. The Lincoln Avenue Water Company also has installed a treatment system on its wells, which are againoperational. Approximately 120,840 people live within 4 miles of the site; an estimated 68,000 people obtain drinking water frommunicipal wells within 4 miles of the site. The Pasadena wells were shut down again in 2001 because of perchlorate (a component of solid rocket fuel) contamination. The perchlorate plume reached the Lincoln Avenue wells at levels above the State of Californiastandards in 2004 and NASA paid for the installation of an ion-exchange/carbon filter treatment system. NASA has agreed to install a

treatment system on the City of Pasadena wells.



Lawrence Livermore, CA

Location Map for Lawrence Livermore Labs

Located about 45 miles east of San Francisco, the Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory was established in 1952 to develop nuclear weapons. Livermore Lab andthe Los Alamos Lab in New Mexico are managed by the University of California, andtogether they have designed and tested all nuclear warheads in the US arsenal. The USDepartment of Energy (DOE) has declared the fifty mile radius around Livermore Labas the population directly affected by toxic and radioactive pollution coming from theLab. This includes more than seven million people. Over fifty years of weaponsresearch and poor environmental practices have caused severe contamination of our

air, water and soil.

There is severe soil and groundwater contamination at the Livermore Lab main site in Livermore, as well as its Site 300 testing rangein nearbyTracy. Both locations are on the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Superfund” list of the most contaminated sites in thecountry due to a toxic stew of pollutants ranging from chemical solvents to high explosives to radioactive debris. If the groundwater isnot cleaned up, the EPA estimates cancer risks in Livermore as high as one in every thousand residents. The EPA’s estimated cancer risk for one of the off-site contaminated areas at site 300 tops one in one hundred.



In 1987 the site was declared a Superfund due to the 12 plumes of TCE and other

groundwater contaminants underlying 85% of the site. The main plume was more than½ mile long, as much as 200 ft. thick and moving westwards towards Livermore’s

municipal drinking water wells.

A 1995 California Department of Health Services’ investigation of childhood cancer

incidence among Livermore children and young adults, as compared to children andyoung adults in the rest of Alameda County, found six times the incidence of malignantmelanoma in children and young adults born in Livermore, and elevated levels of braincancer among children born in Livermore in the 1960s.

Arizona

Tucson Index Map



Tucson – Az.

Tucson, Arizona, is the largest city in the United States that receives all of its drinking water from underground sources. In 1981, TCEand other contaminants were detected in several City of Tucson drinking water wells near the Tucson International Airport. In Tucson

a few incidents of health problems have occurred due to water pollution. The best documented incident involves the occurrence of aplume of trichloroethylene (TCE) in groundwater that extends northwest from the Tucson International Airport. In 1981, an unusualcluster of health problems was identified in the area west of the airport. Tests indicated a high level of TCE in the water. Healthofficials investigated to determine if a connection existed between the polluted water and the reported diseases. They found sufficientevidence to cause Tucson Water to shut down wells in the area and supply residents with water from other parts of the system.

After identifying the Tucson International Airport Area as a Federal Superfund site in 1982, subsequent sampling identified a mainplume of groundwater contamination approximately one-half mile wide and five miles in length. A total of 11 City drinking waterwells and several more private household wells have been shut down to date as a result of contamination



Map of TCE Plume (in Purple) Around Tucson AIrport



Officials then took on the issue of what to do about the contaminated area. They first had to determine who was responsible for the

cleanup and what methods were best to use. Most of the aircraft companies responsible for the problem had ceased operations yearsearlier. Ultimately, Hughes Aircraft (since purchased by Raytheon) built a treatment plant to deal with the problem beneath itsproperty. A total of more than 40 billion gallons of groundwater has been treated and more than 130,000 pounds of VOCs removedfrom soils and groundwater throughout the site. Groundwater cleanup actions continue in all areas with additional cleanup systemsscheduled for the future

A study comparing neurophysiological (NPH) and neuropsychological (NPS) tests of 170 TCE- exposed residents of Tucson with twogroups of subjects who had been studied for similar investigations. The NPH battery consisted of body balance, eye closure and blink reflex, simple and choice reaction time, and finger pad number recognition. The NPS battery consisted of immediate recall of stories,visual spatial memory, intelligence, attention span, psychomotor speed, dexterity, and affective status. Exposed subjects were

significantly impaired compared to referents for both NPH and NPS tests.

In 2006, the last of three insurers agreed to terms with plaintiffs' attorneys (representing 1600 residents), pushing the total settlementbeyond $130 million. The residents were reportedly told when they started getting sick that it was because of the chilies and beansthey ate



Camp Lejeune, NC

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune is a 246 sq. mile US military training facility in North Carolina. From at least 1957 through 1987,Marines and their families at Lejeune drank and bathed in water contaminated with toxins at concentrations 240 to 3400

times permitted by safety standards, and at least 850 former residents filed claims for nearly $4 billion from the military. Themain chemicals involved were trichloroethylene (TCE), a degreaser, perchloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent, and benzene;however, more than 70 chemicals have been identified as contaminants at Lejeune.

A 1974 base order required safe disposal of solvents and warned that improper handling could cause drinking water contamination.Yet solvents were dumped or buried near base wells for years.



The base's wells were shut off in the mid-1980s, but were placed back online in violation of the law. In 1982, Volatile organiccompounds (VOCs) were found to be in Camp Lejeune's drinking water supply. VOC contamination of groundwater can cause birthdefects and other ill health effects in pregnant and nursing mothers. This information was not made public for nearly two decades

when the government attempted to identify those who may have been exposed.

As many as 500,000 people may have been exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune over a period of 30 years. Although no official studies have definitively connected the contamination with illness, former residents of Camp Lejeune suffer froma high rate of cancer and other diseases. Children from the Marines have also shown signs of brain cancer and leukemia.

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina may be the largest TCE contamination site in the country. Legislationcould force the EPA to establish a health advisory and a national public drinking water regulation to limit trichloroethylene ingroundwater to less than 5 ppb.



Texas

Southern US Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sitesOverlain to Liver Disease Death Rate in Males




El Campo, Wharton County, Texas

Location Map of El Campo Texas



Location Photo of Alcoa Aluminum Site (left) and TCE Plume (right) at El Campo



Recently, elevated levels of trichloroethylene (TCE) have been found in residentialdrinking water wells in the West Hills subdivision of El Campo, Texas. The sourceof the TCE is suspected to be a 48-acre former aluminum extrusion plant.

Ownership of the plant has changed several times since it was built in 1963. Alcoacurrently owns the facility. Forensic hydrology established the source fingerprintby the isotopic ratio found in the TCE plumes. TCE manufactured by the chemicalcompanies vary in isotopic carbon constituency depending upon the source of theethylene; i.e., whether theethylene was cracked from gas, distillate, or heavy oil.

On April 26, 2002, Alcoa asked the Texas Department of Health (TDH) to provideinformation on liver and kidney cancer rates for the area as there have been somereports in the literature of associations between exposure to TCE and these types of cancer. The TDH Cancer Registry Division (CRD) evaluated cancer incidence andmortality data for the zip code 77437, which encompasses the area of concern. CRDexamined cancer incidence data for the years 1995-1998 and cancer mortality datafor the years 1995-2000. Both the incidence and mortality rates for kidney cancer infemales living in this zip code were significantly higher than expected. Thestandardized incidence ratio (SIR) for kidney cancer was almost four times higherthan the state rate while the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for kidney cancerwas over three times the state rate. Regardless of the cancer findings, TDH andATSDR have concluded that the TCE in the residential well water poses a public healthhazard.

Map of El Campo Plume Outline



NORTHEAST

Northeastern US Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sitesOverlain to Liver Disease Death Rate in Males




MA

Massachusetts Map for Woburn(arrow) and Cape Cod (lower right)



New England Map of TCE Superfunds and TRI sitesOverlain to Liver Disease Death Rate in Males




MMR – Cape Cod, MA

MMR Map showing location of TCE Plumes

The Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) is a military reservation created by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the

United States War Department in 1935. MMR covers nearly 21,000 acres — approximately 30 square miles. Since the early 1990‘s,over 16 groundwater plumes contaminating the Upper Cape‘s sole source aquifer have been identified as well as almost 80 soiland sediment source areas. The contamination, resulting from landfills, sewage treatment plants, fuel pipelines, fire training areas,truck motor pools, and other sources, is the result of standard practices prior to environmental legislation in the 1970s and 80s.Military training at the site began in the 1940's, and toxics from these activities have polluted large portions of Cape Cod's solesource aquifer that provides drinking water for 200,000 year-round and 500,000 seasonal residents of Cape Cod. Parts of theaquifer have been contaminated by fuel spills and other past activities at MMR's Otis Air Force Base. As of 2002, the government and



the military have treated 50,000 tons of soil, installed 8 treatment systems for groundwater plumes, and have completed 31% of their2034 cleanup goal. The water treatment systems are currently treating approximately 14 million gallons of groundwater per day.

Possible Model of Plume Development



Woburn, MA

Photograph of Woburn Dumping Ground

Woburn is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. located 11 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts, During the mid to late 1970s,the local community became concerned over the high incidence of childhood leukemia and other illnesses, particularly in the Pine

Street area of east Woburn. After high levels of chemical contamination (max. greater than 250 ppb TCE) were found in City of Woburn’s Wells G and H in 1979, some members of the community suspected that the unusually high incidence of leukemia,cancer, and a wide variety of other health problems were linked to the possible exposure to volatile organic chemicals in thegroundwater pumped from wells G and H. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) began investigating theproblem in December, 1979. A higher than expected rate of childhood leukemia was confirmed by the MDPH in April, 1980.



In May 1982, a number of citizens whose children had developed or died from leukemia filed a civil lawsuit against twocorporations, W. R. Grace and Company and Beatrice Foods. Grace's subsidiary, Cryovac, and Beatrice were suspected of contaminating the groundwater by improperly disposing of trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (perc or PCE)and other industrial solvents at their facilities in Woburn near wells G and H. In the CIVIL ACTION case (made famous bythe book and movie), Beatrice was acquitted and Grace only paid $8 million.

A follow-up study by the Massachusetts Department of Health (1996) found an elevated risk (8 times higher) of childhood leukemia in a group exposed to TCE in uterus.



Location Map of Twin Cities Plant and TCE Plumes

MIDWESTTWIN CITIES ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT

The Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) is an inactive United States Army ammunition plant located in the RamseyCounty, Minnesota. The site was added to the National Priorities List as a Superfund site on September 8, 1983. The soil, sediments,groundwater, and surface water surrounding the plant were contaminated with chlorinated solvents (incl. TCE), base neutral acids,metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, cyanide, and explosives.Between 1941 and 1981, wastes were disposed at 14 areas, or sites, within TCAAP. The total area of the Superfund site, includingthe offsite contaminated groundwater plumes, is approximately 25 square miles.



The remedies selected include:

pumping of the plumes to prevent further migration (containment);

treatment with granulated activated carbon (GAC); discharge of treated water to the New Brighton municipal distribution system; alternate water supplies to affected users of private wells; and drilling advisories and monitoring.

Approximately 1.2 billion gallons of groundwater are treated each year with over 35.5 billion gallons of groundwater treatedto date. Approximately 226,445 lbs. of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including TCE have been removed from the deepgroundwater. A date of 2040 is projected for the completion of groundwater restoration. The site is scheduled to be delisted fromthe NPL in 2040.



Dayton Ohio – McCook Field Neighborhood

A former Chrysler Airtemp factory in Dayton, Ohio was a producer of auto heating and cooling systems, run by Chrysler from at

least 1937, was taken over by Behr in 2002. In fact, that’s the name under which U.S. EPA placed the property on the ―Superfund‖National Priorities List (NPL) in 2009.

Site cleanup is clouded by the auto company‘s bankruptcy. Even before restructuring, Chrysler disputed responsibility for aportion of its off-site plume of trichloroethylene. This is a seriously contaminated area. Trichloroethylene (TCE) has beenmeasured as high as 17,000 parts per billion (ppb) in groundwater. In the 500-home McCook Field, mostly low income,residential area south of the plant, TCE reached 3,900 ppb in shallow groundwater, about 20 feet below the surface. Ohio EPAfound soil gas readings as high as 160,000 parts per billion by volume (ppbv), the equivalent of 860,000 micrograms per cubic meter(µg/m3). (Normally soil gas concentrations are anywhere from 50 to 10,000 times indoor air levels, the basis of exposure.)

The first eight homes tested showed TCE in indoor air above the local residential action level of .4 ppbv (2.2 µg/m3), and threeof those exceeded 100 ppbv (537 µg/m3), the emergency action level. One reached an astounding 260 ppbv (1397 µg/m3)! Residents of the McCook Field neighborhood only learned about the contamination in 2002. Neighbors were told that Chryslerknew of the TCE release as early as 1989, and that it had entered Ohio‘s voluntary cleanup program in 1998 — withoutnotifying the neighbors.

In the summer of 2007, after high levels of TCE (as high as 25 ppbv or 134 µg/m3 ) were found at the Van Cleve at McGuffeyschool, about a half-mile downgradient from the plant, Dayton Public Schools moved the entire school to a vacant schoolbuilding about a mile away. The TCE plume — which the feds have designated to be among the worst environmental messes inthe country — is about 1,600 feet from one of the wellfields that supplies the region‘s drinking water



NIBW -Scottsdale, Arizona

Location Map of Scottsdale AZ (upper right) and TCE Plume Area (outlined in red on left)

North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site Scottsdale, AZOne of the largest Superfund Cleanup sites in the nation, was designated NPL in 1983. The TCE "released" here occurred prior toits appearance in the municipal drinking wells in 1982. As of 2007, 57,000 pounds, or roughly 19 tons of TCE have been removedfrom the system of wells that once supplied drinking water to the residents of Scottsdale. One of the three drinking water wellspreviously owned by the City of Phoenix and ultimately sold to the City of Scottsdale, tested at 390 ppb TCE when it wasclosed in 1982



Chart Showing High Levels of TCE in Scottsdale Wells

Groundwater contamination at NIBW was discovered in 1981 when elevated levels of VOCs including trichloroethylene (TCE),tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and chloroform were found in several Scottsdale-area drinking water wells. As a result, local waterproviders stopped using those wells for drinking water.



Beaverton, Oregon

In 1998, the View-Master factory supply well in was found to have been contaminatedwith high levels of TCE. This included levels of TCE which were over 300 times the federal

drinking water standard. The various concerns who owned the View-Master franchise in the1950s through the 1970s (Sawyer's and GAF), acknowledged using TCE to clean and de-greaseparts and equipment, and disposed of the chemical on-site. Former GAF employees report thatwaste TCE from the degreaser was routinely placed in 55-gallon drums, transported by truck toother sites on the premises, and discharged to the ground. This disposal was legal at the time.

It was originally estimated that 25,000 factory workers had been exposed to it from 1950 –

2001. However, further investigation showed that the actual number of employees who can beidentified from employment records for the site is approximately half that number. In addition,the number of employees identified as having worked at the site for more than five years is

likely to be less than 1,000. The site is now considered safe.

A preliminary mortality analysis by the Oregon Department of Human Services indicatedhigher than expected percentages of deaths from pancreatic and kidney cancers and lowerthan expected levels for liver and lympho/hematopoetic cancers among the factory's formeremployees.

Location Map of Beaverton OR

In October 2011, Amanda Evans, a resident/activist with Victims of TCE Exposure, released the results of her neighborhood study.Out of 633 former employees surveyed, more than 200 were diagnosed with cancers, according to the study. Women who drank

the contaminated water at the plant were six times more likely to have kidney cancer than the general Oregon population.Men were 14 times more likely to have gall bladder cancer.



Naval Air Warfare Center – Trenton NJ

The NAWC Research Site, West Trenton, NJ, is located 4 miles north of Trenton, NJ. The fractured bedrock at the site has been

contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE)--a chlorinated solvent. The plume of TCE was caused by leakage of TCE fromaboveground service lines and storage tanks. The TCE was used as a heat transfer agent during jet engine tests. An estimated100,000 gallons of TCE was lost through leakage and spills at the site

In 1984 New Jersey enacted legislation requiring that all public community water systems monitor semiannually for 14 VOCs,including many chlorinated solvents. In the first year of mandatory testing, approximately 110 water supplies out of 620supplies in the state had detectable levels of non-THM VOCs. These 110 water supplies were primarily those withgroundwater sources. The most commonly occurring contaminants were TCE, PCE and 1,1,1-trichloroethane. Many of thesources include improper disposal by commercial and individual users, as well as groundwater pollution at hazardous wastesites.

A New Jersey study found TCE associations with childhood leukemia among females and with non-Hodgkin‘s lymphoma. Thearea of the study encompassed 1.5 million people. The study concluded; ―Because 5 ppb is the maximum contaminant level(MCL) allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.E.P.A) for both PCE and TCE, the observed association of these cancers with contaminants above this level supports maintaining the stringent New Jersey MCLs of 1 ppb.‖



Things to Avoid! There are some things that can be done to minimize exposure to TCE.

Avoid dehydration with increased consumption of uncontaminated water

Reduce use of acetaminophen (and other drugs that lower GSH levels)

Decrease Alcohol Consumption

Eliminate cigarette smoking

Use appropriate respiration protection with TCE containing products

Use Paint removers, Spot Cleaners and Degreasers only in well ventilated areas

Manufacturing facilities should continue to install scrubbers or air strippers on stacksto reduce emissions.



For More Information – see websites. http://wereyoupoisoned.yolasite,com

www.wereyoupoisoned.com

Community Websites

Camp Lejeune (NC): The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten Cheshire (CT): Cancer in Cheshire Ithaca (NY) and Neighbors: South Hill Industrial Pollution Simi Valley (CA): Clean Up Rocket dyne

Viewmaster (OR): Victims of TCE Exposure

http://wereyoupoisoned.yolasite%2Ccom/


http://www.wereyoupoisoned.com/


http://www.tftptf.com/


http://www.cancerincheshire.com/


http://www.ithaca-ship.org/


http://cleanuprocketdyne.org/


http://www.victimsoftceexposure.org/









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