[LindaH]

The New York Times ran an article today about a worker at a Kentucky industrial plant who developed Parkinson’s, after having been exposed for more than 20 years to the industrial solvent - trichloroethylene. His workmen’s comp claim was turned down because he couldn’t prove without a doubt it was the solvent that caused his PD.

He participated in a study at the Un of Kentucky,that analyzed the incidence of PD amd Parkinsonian symptoms among workers at that plant . They also conducted a parallel study that showed "feeding the solvent to rats resulted in injured neurons in the same area of the brain whose degeneration causes Parkinson’s in humans."

The study was published in the Annals of neurology (feb 2008) and concluded, “These results demonstrate a strong potential link between chronic TCE exposure and Parkinsonism… Trichloroethylene, used extensively in industry and the military and a common environmental contaminant, joins other mitochondrial neurotoxins, MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) and some pesticides, as a risk factor for parkinsonism.”

But the researchers could not provide the strict proof required by workmen’s comp, and Ed Abney’s claim was still denied.. Do these laws need to be changed? Or should the burden of proof remain on the stricken workers?

BTW, You might recognize the name Ed Abney. He was one of the Kentucky GDNF trial participants, and took part in the patients’ lawsuit against Amgen for reinstatement of their GDNF treatments. Ed lost that one too.
The full text of the article is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/us/25toxic.html

from: New York Times, January 25, 2009
Exposed to Solvent, Worker Faces Hurdles
By FELICITY BARRINGER

Also below is the Pubmed abstract for the Annals of Neurology article, Feb 2008
"Trichloroethylene: Parkinsonism and complex 1 mitochondrial neurotoxicity."
Gash DM, Rutland K, Hudson NL, Sullivan PG, Bing G, Cass WA, Pandya JD, Liu M, Choi DY, Hunter RL, Gerhardt GA, Smith CD, Slevin JT, Prince TS.
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA. dongash@email.uky.edu

"OBJECTIVE: To analyze a cluster of 30 industrial coworkers with Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism subjected to long-term (8-33 years) chronic exposure to trichloroethylene. METHODS: Neurological evaluations were conducted on the 30 coworkers, including a general physical and neurological examination and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. In addition, fine motor speed was quantified and an occupational history survey was administered. Next, animal studies were conducted to determine whether trichloroethylene exposure is neurotoxic to the nigrostriatal dopamine system that degenerates in Parkinson's disease. The experiments specifically analyzed complex 1 mitochondrial neurotoxicity because this is a mechanism of action of other known environmental dopaminergic neurotoxins.

RESULTS: The three workers with workstations adjacent to the trichloroethylene source and subjected to chronic inhalation and dermal exposure from handling trichloroethylene-soaked metal parts had Parkinson's disease. Coworkers more distant from the trichloroethylene source, receiving chronic respiratory exposure, displayed many features of parkinsonism, including significant motor slowing. Neurotoxic actions of trichloroethylene were demonstrated in accompanying animal studies showing that oral administration of trichloroethylene for 6 weeks instigated selective complex 1 mitochondrial impairment in the midbrain with concomitant striatonigral fiber degeneration and loss of dopamine neurons.

INTERPRETATION: Trichloroethylene, used extensively in industry and the military and a common environmental contaminant, joins other mitochondrial neurotoxins, MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) and some pesticides, as a risk factor for parkinson's."

PMID: 18157908 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum

[paula_w]

Don Gash from Univ. of Kentucky presented his findings on this toxin at the Udall Conference in Pittsburgh a year or so ago. Now I see the relevance. At the time, I don't think I knew it was for one of the center's GDNF trial participants.

Here's more on this researcher's work to try to help pwp.

http://www.curehunter.com/public/aut...wordId=D010455


paula

[Ronhutton]

This solvent has been named for years as a toxin liable to cause brain damage. It has been used as a dry cleaning agent and also for degreasing.
Do a search on "dry cleaning" trichlorethylene and Parkinson's, and you get over 1000 references. typical is
http://www.nntpnews.net/f5025/parkin...amage-3697352/

Parkinson; Neurotoxins; Mito Damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neurotoxins such as Trichloroethylene, MPTP and some pesticides, as a
risk factor for parkinsonism.

From wiki: Trichloroethylene is used extensively in industry and the
military and is a common environmental contaminant. Trichloroethylene
was used from 1930s to 1960s as a anesthetic and analgesic in millions
of patients. When it was first widely produced in the 1920s, its major
use was to extract vegetable oils from plant materials such as soy,
coconut, and palm. Other uses in the food industry included coffee
decaffeination and the preparation of flavoring extracts from hops and
spices. It was also used as a dry cleaning solvent until 1950s.
Trichloroethylene has been widely used as a degreaser for metal parts.
It is a common contaminant in soil and groundwater at hundreds of
waste sites across the United States. TCE was first detected in
groundwater in 1977, and is one of the most frequently detected
contaminants in groundwater in the U.S. Based on available federal and
state surveys, between 9% to 34% of the drinking water supply sources
tested in the U.S. may have some TCE contamination. For over twenty
years of operation, the US-based multinational Radio Company of
America (RCA) had been pouring toxic wastewater into a well in its
Taoyuan, Taiwan facility. High levels of TCE 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 tumors among its
members. Until recent years, the US Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (ATSDR) contended that trichloroethylene had little-
to-no carcinogenic potential.
Ron

[LindaH]

Thanks Ron,
So it appears concerns about TCE exposure should be a concern to all of us, as it is still a commonly used solvent. And though there has been some research, there have been no studies that definetly link PD with exposure to Trichloroethylene. Dr. Gash's paper miight open the door to further studies.
Those interested in environmental causes and neurotoxiic contaminants should check out the Collaborative on Health and the Environment -- Parkinson's Disease Working Group at:
http://www.healthandenvironment.org/...ups/parkinsons

It is led by Jackie Hunt Christensen, who many may know from PAN.
There is a wealth of information on this site including a database of toxic exposures and disease, and a number of documents that came out of a 2007 meeting on a Consensus Statement on Parkinson's Disease and the Environment . There is also a
"Parkinson's Disease Public Statement - What Scientists Know and Want to Know". however there is little said about TCE exposure. The document did come out before DR. Gash's study was published.

I attended the 2007 meeting, and was struck by how few definite conclusions could be mmade about environmental causes of PD. The scientists believed more research neewded to be done for nearly all possible neurotoxins. The main problems sited were lack of funding for these type of studies, and lack of PD registeries.
But for those interested in these issues, the cHE website is a good place to start.

[ol'cs]

you don't have to go very far to link TCE with parkinsonism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichloroethylene
Read the reference given in the wikipedia article about TCE

[ol'cs]

This is the ref:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum

[ol'cs]

Same as above. My bad

[ol'cs]

I was heavily exposed to it when i was 18 years old working with an industrial "degreasing machine". Basically you pour TCE into a large "tub" which has cooling coils at the top of it and lower metal parts into the TCE "vapors. You always got a good whiff of TCE every minute of the day that you were uaing the unit.

[paula_w]

Originally Posted by ol'cs

I was heavily exposed to it when i was 18 years old working with an industrial "degreasing machine". Basically you pour TCE into a large "tub" which has cooling coils at the top of it and lower metal parts into the TCE "vapors. You always got a good whiff of TCE every minute of the day that you were uaing the unit.

\

We are thinking about getting an interview with the Kentucky researchers. These were our strongest allies, along with Dr. Hutchinson and Dr. Penn, during the entire GDNF episode. cs, if anyone would like to add your data, are you willing to share it? You can PM your answer if you'd rather.

thanks, this is what I'm talkin about...lol
paula

[Evonne]

I grew up in Glen Avon, CA. It was the dumping ground AKA The Stringfellow Acid Pits. TCE was present in the water I drank, bathed in and swam in. Here is a link to the site that talks about it. Check out page six. It is one of the pages that specifically addresses the TCE in the ground water.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9s...b!OpenDocument