-Caveat Lector- > > > =======================Electronic Edition======================== > . > RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #640 . > ---March 4, 1999--- . > HEADLINES: . > CHLORINE CHEMISTRY NEWS . > ========== . > Environmental Research Foundation . > P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403 . > Fax (410) 263-8944; E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] . > ========== . > All back issues are available by E-mail: send E-mail to . > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the single word HELP in the message. . > Back issues are also available from http://www.rachel.org. . > To start your own free subscription, send E-mail to . > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words . > SUBSCRIBE RACHEL-WEEKLY YOUR NAME in the message. . > ================================================================= > > CHLORINE CHEMISTRY NEWS > > Several new studies have implicated chlorinated chemicals in > human disease, including breast cancer and tooth decay. Chlorine > chemistry is clearly the premier example of humans adopting a > new technology without thinking about the consequences. > > BREAST CANCER > > A recent study in Denmark reveals a relationship between breast > cancer and the chlorinated pesticide dieldrin.[1] The > prospective study examined blood taken in 1976 from 7712 women > enrolled in the Copenhagen City Heart Study. In the following 17 > years, 268 of the women developed breast cancer. > > The blood samples drawn in 1976 were analyzed in 1993 for 46 > chlorinated chemicals, including 28 individual PCBs > [polychlorinated biphenyls], and 18 other chlorinated compounds > such as DDT, mirex, aldrin, dieldrin and others.[2] Of the > compounds studied, only dieldrin was significantly elevated in > the blood of women who developed breast cancer. > Beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (beta-HCH) was also elevated in women > with breast cancer, compared to those without breast cancer, but > the finding was not statistically significant. > > In Denmark, about 14% of all women (one in seven) develop breast > cancer, and the incidence of the disease has more than doubled > in the past 30 years. > > Most of the identified "risk factors" for breast cancer indicate > that estrogen (female sex hormone) in a woman's blood plays an > important role in the disease. The major known "risk factors" > for breast cancer are early menarche (early age when the period > begins), late menopause, not having any children, late > conception of the first child, and hormone-replacement treatment > after menopause. All of these factors tend to increase a woman's > lifetime exposure to estrogens circulating in the blood. > > The Copenhagen study found that the risk of breast cancer was > twice as high in women with the highest concentrations of > dieldrin in their blood serum, compared to women with the lowest > concentrations. Furthermore, a significant dose-response > relationship was evident -- the more dieldrin in the blood, the > greater the chance that breast cancer would develop. > > Some previous studies have implicated certain organochlorines in > breast cancer, while other studies have shown no such > relationship. (See REHW #571, #572, #573, #574, #575.) > > The authors of the Copenhagen study say theirs is the first to > properly compare blood levels of organochlorine compounds > because they adjusted completely for varying levels of serum in > the blood of each individual. They conclude that, "These > findings support the hypothesis that exposure to xeno-oestrogens > may increase the risk of breast cancer." Xeno-oestrogens are > industrial chemicals (such as pesticides) that can mimic estrogen > in the human body. > > The use of dieldrin in Denmark and in the U.S. was banned about > 20 years ago but, in the industrialized world, nearly everyone's > body still contains small amounts of stored dieldrin, along with > several hundred other industrial poisons, many of them > chlorinated. > > DIOXIN > > For several years, U.S. and European health authorities have > been hinting that the general public is being exposed to levels > of dioxin that are probably causing harm in sensitive people. > (See REHW #390, #391, #636.) Now the federal Agency for Toxic > Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has confirmed the bad > news. > > The term "dioxin" encompasses a family of 219 different toxic > chlorinated chemicals, all with similar characteristics but > different potencies. > > Because some dioxins are more toxic than others, scientists have > established a way of comparing the toxicities and the quantities > of various mixtures of dioxins. The technique is called TEQ, or > toxic equivalents. The TEQ system takes into account the > variations in toxicity, expressing toxicity in terms of the most > toxic dioxin, which is TCDD, or 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p- > dioxin.[3] > > Dioxin is a highly toxic, unwanted byproduct of many industrial > processes, including incineration of municipal, medical and > hazardous wastes; metal smelting; the burning of fossil fuels; > the manufacture of many pesticides and other chemicals. (See REHW > #636.) We are all exposed to dioxin through our diets, mainly by > eating fish, meat, and milk products. Vegetarians get much less > than the average, but they do not get zero because dioxin falls > out of the air onto vegetation. > > Last December, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and > Disease Registry (ATSDR) in Atlanta published the long-awaited > final report, TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR CHLORINATED > DIBENZO-P-DIOXINS.[4] The report had been circulating in draft > form since 1991. In the final report, ATSDR establishes a > Minimum Risk Level (MRL) for chronic (long-term) exposure to > dioxin. An MRL is the amount of total dioxins (expressed as > TEQs) that ATSDR believes people can take in day after day > without suffering adverse health effects. > > ATSDR's official MRL for chronic (long-term) exposure to dioxin > is one picogram of dioxin TEQ per kilogram of body weight per > day.[4,pg.264] The new ATSDR report says that the average > exposure of U.S. citizens is currently three to six times as > high as this "safe" level.[4,pg.253] (A picogram is one > trillionth of a gram, and there are 28 grams in one ounce.) > > Thus ATSDR gives us reason to wonder whether people are being > harmed at current background levels of dioxin. > > Shortly after ATSDR released its final dioxin report, a new > study was published showing that some people have defective > teeth as a result of exposure to current background levels of > dioxin.[5] > > The new study was conducted by dentists in Finland who have been > studying dioxin for a decade. In the early 1980s, they noticed > that many children had poorly developed molars -- discolored and > soft. The normal hard enamel coating was partially missing, > making the teeth subject to decay. > > The researchers hypothesized that the children were being > exposed to some toxin early in life and this was interfering > with normal growth and development of their teeth. > > Chinese children born to mothers who were accidentally exposed > to high levels of dioxins showed tooth problems similar to those > in Finnish children.[6] Taking this as a clue, the Finnish > dentists began exposing rats to low levels of dioxin. They found > that they could produce the same kind of tooth defects in the > rats that had been seen in the Chinese and Finnish children.[7] > > Next they studied 102 Finnish children, ages 6 to 7, whose > mother's breast milk had been tested for dioxins when the > children were four weeks old. Seventeen of the 102 children > (16.6%) had soft, mottled molars, with insufficient enamel to > protect the teeth from decay. If a tooth fails to develop a > proper enamel coating, the tooth is subject to decay for the > rest of the person's life because enamel never develops later. > > The Finnish study found that children with the worst teeth were > born to mothers with the highest levels of dioxin in their > breast milk, thus establishing a dose-response relationship. > > The researchers examined PCBs separately from the other dioxins > and dioxin-like compounds and they found that the PCBs did not > contribute to the children's tooth problems. > > The Finnish researchers' new findings "are very exciting in a > scientific sense--and very concerning in a public-health > sense--because they demonstrate effects from [dioxin] exposures > at background levels," says Linda Birnbaum, a well-known dioxin > researcher with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency > (EPA).[8] > > According to ATSDR, many people in the U.S. and elsewhere have > dioxin exposures that exceed the average. These > include:[4,pgs.485-497] > > ** People who are exposed at work, or through environmental > contamination, such as people living in Times Beach, Missouri; > > ** People living near incinerators that are burning municipal, > medical or hazardous wastes, or people living downwind from > coal-burning power plants; > > ** People living near any of the 110 Superfund sites where > dioxins have been identified. (Superfund sites are > chemically-contaminated places that the federal government has > identified as dangerous to human health.) > > ** Sport fishers in the Great Lakes regions are very likely to > have high exposure to dioxin, with Lake Huron the highest, Lake > Michigan next highest, and Lake Erie the lowest. > > ** Currently 66 fish advisories have been issued by 21 states > because of dioxin-contaminated fish. Three states -- New York, > New Jersey, and Maine -- have statewide fish advisories in > effect for all of their marine coastal waters, warning people to > limit the amount of fish they eat because of dioxin > contamination. > > ** Many indigenous people eat far more fish than the average. > Under these circumstances, even low levels of dioxin > contamination in fish can add up to a hazard. > > ** Subsistence farmers who consume their own farm-reared meat > and dairy products may be highly exposed if they live downwind > from an incinerator or a metal refinery or other source of > dioxins. > > ** People eating food grown on soil treated with sewage sludge > may be in danger. ATSDR says, "Exposure to [dioxin] from land > application of municipal sewage sludge or paper mill sludge also > can occur through the dietary pathway if people consume food > grown or animals grazed on sludge-amended lands."[4,pg.497] And: > "Most recently, MacLachlan... reported that the prolonged use of > sewage sludge as a soil amendment on English farms under some > conditions can lead to an increase in the concentrations of > [dioxins] in both the soil and in cow's milk."[4,pg.497] > > The question is, can humans do things differently in the future, > or are we doomed to stumble from one uninformed decision to > another? Are there social mechanisms (such as environmental > impact analysis) that could help us avoid massive mistakes like > chlorine chemistry? > > ========== > [1] Annette Pernille Hoyer and others, "Organochlorine Exposure > and Risk of Breast Cancer," LANCET Vol. 352 (December 5, 1998), > pgs. 1816-1820. > > [2] The 18 organochlorines are: mirex; dieldrin; aldrin; endrin; > alpha-chlordane; gamma-chlordane; heptachlor; heptachlor > epoxide; oxychlordane; transnanochlor; gamma-hexachlorocyclo- > hexane; beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (beta-HCH); hexachloroben- > zene (HCB); o,p'-DDT; o,p'-DDE; p,p'-DDT; p,p'-DDE; p,p'-DDD. > > [3] M. Van den Berg and others, "Toxic equivalency factors > (TEFs) for PCBs, PCDDs, PCDFs for humans and wildlife," > ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES Vol. 106, No. 12 (December > 1998), pgs. 775-792. > > [4] Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, > TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR CHLORINATED DIBENZO-P-DIOXINS > (Atlanta, Ga.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, > Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease > Registry, December, 1998). Available from ATSDR; telephone > 1-888-42-ATSDR or (404) 639-6357. > > [5] Satu Alaluusua and others, "Developing Teeth as a Biomarker > of Dioxin Exposure," LANCET Vol. 353 (January 16, 1999), pg. > 206. > > [6] B.C. Gladen and others, "Dermatological findings in children > exposed transplacentally to heat-degraded polychlorinated > biphenyls in Taiwan," BRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY Vol. 122, > No. 6 (June 1990), pgs. 799-808. > > [7] A. M. Partanen and others, "Epidermal growth factor receptor > as a mediator of developmental toxicity in mouse embryonic > teeth," LABORATORY INVESTIGATION Vol. 78, No. 12 (December > 1998), pgs. 1473-1481. > > [8] J. Raloff, "Dioxin can harm tooth development," SCIENCE NEWS > February 20, 1999, pg. 119. > > Descriptor terms: dioxin; chlorine chemistry; pesticides; breast > cancer; dieldrin; studies; fish; meat; milk; food safety; > incineration; > > ################################################################ > NOTICE > Environmental Research Foundation provides this electronic > version of RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY free of charge > even though it costs our organization considerable time and money > to produce it. We would like to continue to provide this service > free. You could help by making a tax-deductible contribution > (anything you can afford, whether $5.00 or $500.00). Please send > your tax-deductible contribution to: Environmental Research > Foundation, P.O. 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