A Civil Action: TCE & PCE Finally Banned.

After Years of Political Interference, Supported By Industry, Regulators Have Done The Right Thing.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Ding-dong! The Witch is dead.
Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding-dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.

That’s the song that went through my head when the U.S. EPA announced on Monday that is has finally banned TCE and PCE.

Many believe that the Munchkins, the small inhabitants from the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum’s 1900 book, represent the real-life, working class in their struggle against the power of big business.

Banning these toxic chemicals is good news for the communities who have been harmed by them. It’s important to remember that corporations profited from the production and manufacturing of these toxic compounds, while people suffered.

I think of the cluster of children with leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts, made famous by the book and movie A Civil Action, showing the toll that TCE has taken, especially on young people’s bodies. Incidentally, a civil action is also a type of legal proceeding, which is not criminal in nature brought by a person or an entity that has been harmed.

I think of Camp Lejeune, a North Carolina military base that is considered one of the worst toxic sites in the U.S. TCE was found in the drinking water at the 240-­square-­mile base as part of what was described as “a toxic cocktail of industrial solvents, dry-­ cleaning chemicals, and gas.”

And of course, I think about the people who don’t know they’ve been exposed. TCE contamination is a problem affecting community water systems serving at least 19 million people across the U.S., according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

“U.S. communities large and small have tap water with potentially harmful levels of TCE, and they may not be aware of this risk,” said Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D., EWG senior scientist. “People can be exposed to this toxic solvent at home not just by drinking TCE-contaminated water but also by inhaling it when bathing and washing dishes.”

For more context, let’s identify these chemicals:

Trichloroethylene (TCE)

TCE is a colorless, nonflammable liquid solvent used in both industrial and household items to make hydrofluorocarbon chemicals. Its widespread use in multiple industries means that most of us have been exposed to it. In 2011, total estimated commercial production of TCE in the U.S. was 270 million pounds. But as more information about this man-made chemical has come to light, production has gone down.

Starting in the early 1900s, it was used to remove grease and dirt from metal parts and was a favorite in the aircraft industry from the 1950s to 1980s. TCE was used as an industrial solvent in the rubber industry— in paints, varnishes, adhesives, and paint strippers—­ and to produce agricultural chemicals such as fungicides and insecticides. It was also used in the dry-­cleaning industry and in spray fixatives for arts and crafts.

“From getting stains out of favorite shirts to baking cookies and everything in between, Whirlpool® appliances are there to help you keep the day moving” reads the company’s website, another corporation as American as apple pie with more than $20 billion in annual sales. For 45 years, the Whirlpool refrigeration production facility was based in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

In 1967, they started using TCE as a degreaser and discontinued its use in 1981. Yet, in 2001 the company became aware that a plume of TCE had been found in the groundwater beyond its property and underneath homes in a nearby neighborhood.

TCE is known to have a latency period of 20 years or more. When I worked with this community, people reported brain tumors, throat cancers, and nasopharyngeal cancer, and these rare cancers always raise a red flag for me. The Fort Smith plant closed in June 2012, and the company has been working to clean up the contamination ever since.

Most people get exposed to TCE by consuming contaminated drinking water. The water is contaminated from some combination of industry discharge/spills and existing hazardous-­waste sites.

TCE breaks down slowly and can move through soil to find its way into drinking water sources. It was added to the list of substances known to cause cancer in the “14th Report on Carcinogens” released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in November 2016.

TCE and its health effects made the cover of Newsweek in 2014 because it was one of the top pollutants at Camp Lejeune, a North Carolina military base that is considered one of the worst toxic sites in the U.S. TCE was found in the drinking water of the 240-­ square-­mile base as part of what was described as “a toxic cocktail of industrial solvents, dry-­ cleaning chemicals and gas.”

Perchloroethylene (PCE)

PCE (or Perc) and TCE are both nonflammable chlorinated solvents that are volatile organic compounds. PCE can biodegrade into TCE, and PCE may contain trace amounts of TCE as an impurity or a contaminant. The chemicals can often serve as alternatives for each other.

This solvent has been widely used in products for brake cleaners and adhesives, in commercial applications such as dry cleaning, and in many industrial settings. Safer alternatives are readily available for the majority of these uses.

It has been linked to health issues, including damage to the kidneys, liver and the immune system.

As a follow-up to consultations with small businesses, EPA plans to release compliance guidance for the use of PCE in dry cleaning and energized electrical cleaning in the coming months, as well as for TCE.

Speaking Out On The Impact

For years, advocates and environmental groups have called for this ban, citing the devastating illnesses and deaths, affecting military families and others who drank tap water contaminated with TCE at Camp Lejeune.

Retired Marine Corps Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger, who was stationed for many years at the base, lost his daughter Janey, in 1985, at age nine from leukemia after she was exposed to toxic chemicals while living at Camp Lejeune. I have a whole chapter about it in my book Superman’s Not Coming and you can learn more about his story here.

Mike Partain, a son and grandson of Marine officers who was born at the base, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, at the age of 39.

The two worked tirelessly for years to raise awareness about TCE and its health impacts.

In a statement released this week, the wrote:

Mike and I welcome this ban on TCE by the EPA. This is proof that our fight for justice at Camp Lejeune was not in vain.

The Camp Lejeune–contaminated drinking water issue has dragged on over the better part of 40 years, ever since TCE and other organic solvents were first documented in the base’s drinking water supply, in October 1980.

My daughter, Janey, was conceived at Camp Lejeune during the drinking water contamination and died of leukemia in 1985, at the age of nine. I first began my fight for justice in 1997 and was later joined by Mike Partain in 2007, who was also conceived at the base and diagnosed with male breast cancer at the age of 39.

We, along with the estimated one million Marines, their families and base employees exposed aboard the base from 1953-1987, welcome the news that the EPA has finally decided to implement a permanent ban on the organic solvent TCE. This dangerous synthetic organic solvent has a long, troubled history complicated by interference from the chemical manufacturing industry and their proponents, which has long delayed this needed outcome.

On September 28, 2011, the EPA first declared TCE a human carcinogen. But knowledge of toxicity to humans resulting from exposures to TCE first appeared in the 1930s. Dr. Carey P. McCord, a pioneer in the field of occupational health and a Chrysler corporation physician, raised the first concerns about TCE in his Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA, article titled “Toxicity of Trichloroethylene” in 1932—almost 100 years ago. His article was in response to what he termed as “increased promotional activities” to expand the use of TCE in industry to include dry cleaning, pesticides, degreaser and bio solvent.

McCord warned that while manufacturers may find the use of TCE desirable, the resulting exposures would be a disaster for exposed workers.

Twenty years later, a second JAMA article by Dr. Edward J. McCormick said that TCE passed through the placenta in cattle who were exposed to TCE-treated soybean oil. He advised against the practice of using TCE-extracted soybean oil meal as a feed for animals utilized for human consumption.

Lastly, in a 1987 ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington found that prior to 1950, TCE was generally known to be dangerous and poisonous. The court also noted that TCE was not fit to be consumed nor should it be in the water supply. Yet TCE was not finally properly classified as a human carcinogen until 24 years after the court decision. Why?

There exists a long history of political interference, supported by industry, of blocking the EPA’s ability to protect the environment and public health.

Mike and I were witness to one such episode as documented in the award-winning documentary “Semper Fi: Always Faithful.” In January 2009, we attended a National Academy of Sciences review of TCE’s grandfather chemical perchloroethylene, or perc, and the EPA’s efforts to study and develop regulation guidance for perc. We were the only members from the general public in attendance. The other attendees were representatives from perc's manufacturers and consumers who were all united in their criticism of the EPA’s process and work. They argued that the existing studies of perc’s risks were inconclusive, and more studies were needed.

As I stated in the film, “My intent for appearing here today is to ensure that science is allowed to do its work without human biases affecting the results. I can’t say that for many of the other special interest groups whose motivations are driven by the almighty dollar and others who are attempting to shirk their liabilities.”

I concluded, “I listened to everybody here, and while we fully admit that this is a carcinogen to rats and other animals, but yet we still just haven’t tweaked that thing to where we can say it is a carcinogen to humans, the benefit of the doubt looks like it is going to go to the chemical and not to protect public health. What is wrong with this picture?”

In many ways, Camp Lejeune has become the poster child for long-term exposures to TCE and other dangerous organic solvents. The base’s drinking water was contaminated with TCE and other solvents for over 34 years.

The highest recorded level of TCE was found at the base naval hospital in 1982 when a sample from the emergency room sink was found to have TCE at 1,400 parts per billion, or ppb. Another sample taken three years later found TCE at 1,148 ppb in the drinking water fountain of a base elementary school.

Subsequent health studies conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, or ATSDR, found increased mortality from cancer of the kidney, bladder, leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The ATSDR also found a link between the early onset of male breast cancer in the service members exposed to a TCE toxic solvent cocktail in the base’s drinking water.

The Veterans Benefits Administration in 2017 established a presumptive service connection for eight conditions found at Camp Lejeune. The occurrence of these diseases in the base’s exposed population at the base eerily echoes the EPA’s own research into the health effects resulting from exposure to TCE.

It is our sincere hope that in the future, the EPA will be allowed to continue to do its work unfettered by political interference initiated by proponents for the manufacturers and consumers of toxic chemicals.

The future of our children and the health of our country vastly outweighs the needs of the almighty dollar.

An Ongoing Struggle

Nowhere is it more telling about the ongoing struggle to remove dangerous chemicals from drinking water than in Hinkley, California. It’s incredibly difficult to clean up contamination once it has polluted a community.

If you missed it last week, the Washington Post ran a great follow-up story to what’s happened in Hinkley since the Erin Brockovich movie came out in 2000, and how cleanup processes for decades-old water contamination crises persist throughout the country.

Read more about my friend Roberta Walker and many other people in the community here.

Journalist Silvia Foster-Frau writes, “The lingering presence of chromium-6, also known as hexavalent chromium, in Hinkley illustrates how hard it is to clean contaminated drinking water, even in a case depicted in an award-winning movie that brought national attention to a community.”

My friend Gary Praglin, a lawyer who represented residents in the case against PG&E in the 1990s, says it best about remediation.

Remediation “is going to take hundreds of years. It’s like a wasteland,” Gary told the Post. “You’ve got what I’ll call fast companies and slow regulators. … And it’s not just Hinkley.”

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Thoughts or questions about TCE and PCE? Let us know in the comments below.