For the past hundred years, the chemical trichlorethylene [trichloroethylene, TCE] Used in decaffeinated coffee, metal cleaning and dry-cleaned clothes. The substance itself is known to be a carcinogen, it is associated with miscarriages, congenital heart disease and a fivefold increase in the incidence of Parkinson’s disease
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A common chemical cleaning agent may cause an increase in the incidence of the fastest growing brain disease in the world – Parkinson’s disease.
For the past hundred years, the chemical trichlorethylene [trichloroethylene, TCE] Used in decaffeinated coffee, metal cleaning and dry-cleaned clothes. The substance itself is known to be a carcinogen, it is associated with miscarriages, congenital heart disease and a fivefold increase in the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. According to the US National Cancer Institute (National Cancer Institute), the substance is found in a number of household products, including cleaning cloths, spray cleaning products, paint removers, spray adhesives, carpet cleaners and stain removers.
In an article published a long time ago in the scientific journal the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, an international team of researchers, including from the University of Rochester Medical Center, speculates that the chemical may be an unseen cause of Parkinson’s disease. In the article, the researchers detail the extensive use of the chemical, the evidence for the link between the toxic substance and Parkinson’s disease, and cite as an example seven people, including a basketball player, a naval officer and a retired senator, who developed Parkinson’s disease, either after a lot of dealing with the substance or as a result of Being exposed to it in their environment.
The peak of use was in the seventies and millions were exposed to it
The chemical was a common solvent used in a number of industrial, consumer, military and medical applications, including paint removal, typewriter error correction, engine cleaning and as part of medical anesthetics. The use of this substance reached its peak in the 1970s in the USA with the production of about one kilogram per American every year. About ten million Americans have handled the chemical or similar solvents. Although the frequency of its use has decreased since the 1970s, the chemical is still used to clean metals and remove stains in the United States. The substance has caused countless infections across the length and breadth of the USA – half of the most toxic sites identified by the US Environmental Protection Agency contain trichlorethylene. Fifteen sites are located in Silicon Valley in California where the material was used to clean electronic components and computer chips. In addition, the material is also found in several military bases, including the Lejeune base in North Carolina. In the 1950s and 1980s, approximately one million marines, along with their family members, and civilians who worked within this base, were exposed to drinking water in which levels of trichlorethylene and tetrachlorethylene were detected that were 280 times higher than the levels considered safe. [perchloroethylene, PCE]a similar chemical.
The connection between the chemical substance and Parkinson’s disease was first hinted at in a study conducted more than fifty years ago. Since then, a study conducted in mice and rats has shown that the chemical substance easily penetrates the brain and body tissues, and in high concentrations is harmful to the cell components that produce energy, the mitochondria. In a study in Israel, the substance caused a selective loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine, the same substance that is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease in humans.
In addition, the material can contaminate the soil and groundwater flowing into streams and rivers, which can transport the material over long distances. One such contamination was linked to a space company in Long Island, New York, when the contamination stream was six kilometers long and more than three kilometers wide, contaminating the drinking water of thousands of residents. In addition to the risks to water, the volatile chemical can easily evaporate and enter homes, schools and workplaces, often undetected. Today, it is likely that these vapors of the substance cause the exposure of millions of people who live, study and work near places where dry cleaning was done in the past, military bases, and industrial sites, to the toxic vapors of the chemical substance. Toxic gases were first reported in the 1980s when it was discovered that radon gas evaporates from the ground and enters homes, while increasing the risk of developing lung cancer. Today, millions of homes are tested for radon, but only a few for the dangerous substance trichlorethylene, which can also cause cancer.
The authors note that: “For more than a hundred years, the substance trichlorethylene posed a threat to workers, caused air and breathing pollution – outside and inside homes – and polluted the water we drink. The authors propose a series of actions to address the chemical’s threat to public health. They point out that sites contaminated with the material can be successfully cleaned and that the exposure of the material in the air inside homes can be reduced by air purification systems similar to those that handle radon gas. The authors also call for more comprehensive monitoring of the substance in groundwater, drinking water, soil and the air that surrounds us. In addition, they call for the banning of the use of this substance in the USA. Two states in the USA, Minnesota and New York did ban the use of this substance.
The scientific article
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