TCE & autism: Chemical linked to Parkinson's disease - trichloroethylene

[Guest guest]

TCE is associated with autism (1, free online). Note that Windham et al

measured airborne TCE and other airborne pollutants. Imagine what might

have been found if intra-body toxins had been include in the study. -

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photo: Eddie Abney, 51, shown at his home Tuesday in Berea, was

diagnosed after 25 years of working with the chemical TCE. Photo by Matt

Goins

<http://w2.uky.edu/UKPR/videos/parkinsonsandtce.mov>

*VIDEO:* Watch a UKHealthcare production about the Parkinson's research

<http://w2.uky.edu/UKPR/videos/parkinsonsandtce.mov>

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Jan. 09, 2008

Chemical linked to Parkinson's disease

By Vos

SVOS@...

http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/280762.html

In the late 1970s, Eddie Abney cleaned grease from metal gauges at a

Berea factory using a chemical solvent called trichloroethylene, or TCE.

The chemical, which is still used today as an industrial degreaser,

soaked through his cotton gloves and into his skin. It splattered on his

clothes. He breathed in its vapors.

At night, when he came home, he would tell his wife that the smell was

killing him.

It may have been.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky have linked industrial use of

TCE to Parkinson's disease, which Abney has. It was Abney, 51, who

pointed researchers to a possible connection, leading to a study that

was published last month in the online version of ls of Neurology, a

journal of the American Neurological Association.

The study shows a clear link between an environmental contaminant and

Parkinson's, said Don Gash, the lead researcher.

TCE has been suspected before as a cause of Parkinson's, but the UK

study shows a " clear-cut link " from exposure to the chemical to the

disease's development, Gash said. " We've connected the dots. "

The study found that three people who directly handled TCE at the

factory where Abney worked developed Parkinson's disease. An additional

14, who breathed in its vapors, had early symptoms of Parkinson's, but

not the disease itself. And 13 more, who were also exposed to vapors,

didn't show signs of parkinsonism but had slower fine motor skills than

others their age.

As part of the study, researchers gave rats TCE. All of them showed

brain damage to the same cells as Parkinson's patients, damage done

through the same cellular pathway, the mitochondria. Gash thinks the

mitochondria might be the key to finding an effective treatment for

Parkinson's.

" We're now focusing our attention on mitochondrial dysfunctions, looking

at ways to intervene and promote recovery of mitochondrial functions, "

Gash said.

The Berea factory where Abney worked is no longer open. It was owned by

Dresser Industries, which was sold to Halliburton in 1998. In 2001,

Halliburton spun off parts of Dresser Industries, including the Berea

factory, into Dresser Inc., a Dallas-based company.

Rutherford, general counsel for Dresser Inc., declined to comment

on the UK study, because she had not seen it. She noted that the Berea

factory had not used TCE since 2001, when Dresser Inc., took it over.

TCE is a clear liquid, most often used to clean grease from metal. It is

found in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correction fluids and

spot removers, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease

Registry, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

TCE does not occur naturally but it is a common contaminant of water,

air and soil near factories, military installations and hundreds of

waste sites around the country, according to the National Academy of

Sciences.

When Abney was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2001, he and his wife,

, wondered whether TCE could have been the cause. Sometimes

Parkinson's has a genetic tie, but Eddie Abney didn't have family

history of Parkinson's. Environmental factors had been linked to the

disease: exposure to certain pesticides or recreational use of MTPT,

known commonly as synthetic heroin.

But Abney wondered whether, in his case, it was TCE. He remembered the

strong smell of the chemical he had worked with for more than two

decades with little protection.

" I had gloves on, but they were just white cotton gloves, " Abney said.

" If they got wet, they got saturated. "

A year after his diagnosis, Abney participated in a clinical drug trial

for Parkinson's disease at UK. When he told a researcher his medical

history, he mentioned the exposure to TCE, and the fact that others from

the factory had Parkinson's. The researcher, Kathyrn Rutland, thought it

sounded like a cluster of cases.

" We felt like there was enough there to really get started, " said Gash,

the lead researcher.

Eddie Abney stopped working in 2001. Parkinson's had made it impossible

for him to do his job safely.

These days, he has trouble walking. He can move from room to room with a

cane or a walker, but longer distances require a motorized wheel chair.

He has trouble talking, and his words slur into one another. He can't

swallow well, and his body is stiff.

Abney says she and her husband are glad to know that they weren't

wrong, that their hunch about TCE was right. But the knowledge doesn't

soothe what has happened to her husband.

" His life is completely different because of this chemical, " Abney

said. " Nobody told him how dangerous it was. He didn't have the tools or

the gloves or the whatever to keep him from getting sick. "

Reach Vos at (859)231-3309 or 1-, Ext. 3309.

© 2008 Kentucky.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

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Free online:

http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/9120/9120.html

Environ Health Perspect. 2006 Sep;114(9):1438-44.

*

Autism spectrum disorders in relation to distribution of hazardous air

pollutants in the san francisco bay area*.

Windham GC, Zhang L, Gunier R, Croen LA, Grether JK.

Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control, California

Department of Health Services, Richmond, California, USA.

gwindham@...

OBJECTIVE: To explore possible associations between autism spectrum

disorders (ASD) and environmental exposures, we linked the California

autism surveillance system to estimated hazardous air pollutant (HAP)

concentrations compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

METHODS: Subjects included 284 children with ASD and 657 controls, born

in 1994 in the San Francisco Bay area. We assigned exposure level by

census tract of birth residence for 19 chemicals we identified as

potential neurotoxicants, developmental toxicants, and/or endocrine

disruptors from the 1996 HAPs database. Because concentrations of many

of these were highly correlated, we combined the chemicals into

mechanistic and structural groups, calculating summary index scores. We

calculated ASD risk in the upper quartiles of these group scores or

individual chemical concentrations compared with below the median,

adjusting for demographic factors.

RESULTS: The adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were elevated by 50% in the top

quartile of chlorinated solvents and heavy metals [95% confidence

intervals (CIs) , 1.1-2.1], but not for aromatic solvents. Adjusting for

these three groups simultaneously led to decreased risks for the

solvents and increased risk for metals (AORs for metals: fourth quartile

= 1.7 ; 95% CI, 1.0-3.0 ; third quartile = 1.95 ; 95% CI, 1.2-3.1) . The

individual compounds that contributed most to these associations

included *mercury, cadmium, nickel, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride*.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a potential association between autism

and estimated metal concentrations, and possibly solvents, in ambient

air around the birth residence, requiring confirmation and more refined

exposure assessment in future studies.

PMID: 16966102

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