Adult Cancers and Adverse Reproductive Outcomes from Exposure to PCE-contaminated Drinking Water

摘要

Investigators at Boston University (BU) School of Public Health have conducted a series of epidemiological studies to evaluate the risk of cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes following exposure to tetrachloroethylene (PCE)-contaminated drinking water among residents of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Beginning in the late 1960s, residents were exposed to PCE in their drinking water when it leached from the vinyl lining of asbestos-cement water distribution pipes. The liner, which was used to address alkalinity problems, had been applied to the interior of the pipe surface using a slurry of vinyl toluene resin and PCE. While it was assumed that most of the PCE would evaporate by the time the pipes were installed, more than a decade passed before officials discovered that sizeable quantities of PCE had remained and were leaching into the public drinking water supplies. Because the contamination occurred during the 1960s-1980s, the BU investigators had to estimate each subject's past exposure. To do so they constructed a leaching and transport model based on the initial amount of PCE in the liner, the age of the pipe, and the leaching rate of PCE from the liner. This was coupled with estimates of water flow rate and direction derived from open source water distribution software developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPANet). This was made possible because of the availability of the software's source code. Notable findings from this research include an increased risk of breast cancer among women with high cumulative exposure levels and elevated risks of oral clefts and neural tube defects among offspring of women exposed during pregnancy. BU researchers continue to study adverse health effects stemming from this ubiquitous environmental contaminant. Funding for this research has been provided by the Superfund Research Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P42ES007381).