Signature of high exposure to WTC toxics identified
KURUNTHACHALAM KANNAN
quency is those who got there on their blood, says Arnold Schecter, At least 10,000 firefighters and the first day but missed the cloud. M.D., of the University of Texas other emergency personnel who The next highest is the people School of Public Health in Dallas. responded when the World Trade who arrived during the first week, Approximately 65,000 emerCenter (WTC) buildings collapsed and it goes down from there,” gency responders and volunteers in 2001 believe that their heroic Landrigan says. Kannan’s findings were exposed to smoke and dust efforts may have harmed their are consistent with these observafrom the WTC collapse, says Philhealth. In March 2010, New York tions, he says. ip Landrigan, M.D., of the Mount City and its insurers offered to Because nearly everybody settle a class action lawsuit in the U.S. has detectable alleging that the city did not levels of PCBs, dioxins, and adequately protect workers furans in their bodies, Kanfrom the disaster’s hazards, nan’s study is noteworthy but the settlement’s current for identifying unusual upstatus is unclear. In the take patterns of these commeantime, a new article pounds in those exposed to published in ES&T (Environ. greater amounts of WTC Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/ smoke and dust, Landrigan es100282d) presents consays. The paper shows that vincing evidence that the these responders had levels concentrations of polychloriof furans that were 5 to 10 nated dibenzofurans times higher than other (PCDFs) in responders’ Emergency responders with greater exposure to WTC workers exposed to lower blood may be a “signature” smoke (MSE) and dust had significantly higher levels of of higher-than-average levels PCDFs in their plasma than responders with lower exposure amounts of the smoke and dust, Kannan points out. of exposure to WTC smoke to the smoke and dust (LSE) and the general public. The new study’s conclusion and dust. that the responders’ furan Samples taken after the concentrations are significantly Sinai School of Medicine. Mount WTC collapse document inhigher than those of the general Sinai researchers are studying the creased concentrations of dioxins, U.S. population is also compelhealth of 27,000 of these workers furans, and PCBs in the nearby ling, but more research needs to and volunteers. It is one of three environment. The new study by a be done with a larger sample major studies of people exposed group of researchers led by Kusize, Schecter says. to dust and smoke from the tragrunthachalam Kannan of the New The new paper is also one of edy. The health issues docuYork State Department of Health’s the first to report concentrations mented to date include lung Wadsworth Center and State Uniof polychlorinated napthalenes problems, gastrointestinal comversity of New York at Albany is (PCNs) in the U.S. population. A plaints, and mental health conthe largest one to date to assess few samples contained very elcerns, Landrigan says. uptake of these compounds in evated concentrations of PCNs, The researchers who conducted WTC responders. Kannan’s team but it isn’t clear if the exposures the ES&T study also determined analyzed plasma taken from 43 were related to the WTC collapse. the participants’ relative degree of New York State employees and The findings point out the need exposure to WTC air and dust usNational Guard personnel who for more research into U.S. citiing U.S. EPA’s air monitoring data worked at “Ground Zero”. The zens’ PCN concentrations, Schectcollected soon after the disaster. results were confirmed indepener says. Information on the responders’ dently by researchers at the JapaKannan and his colleagues also work assignments and the type nese National Institute of calculated dioxin toxic equivalenand frequency of personal protecAdvanced Industrial Science and cies (TEQs) for the measured tive respiratory equipment they Technology and the Center for compounds that have the same used was collected by a Environmental Science in Saitamechanisms of action. The new questionnaire. ma, Japan. study shows that the PCDFs are “We know that all of the Emergency personnel respondthe most significant contributors [health] symptoms occurred with ing to other fires and explosions to the total dioxin-like toxicity in greatest frequency in people who involving buildings containing the responders who were exposed were actually caught in the dust PCBs have previously been found to greater amounts of dust and cloud, and the next highest freto have high levels of furans in 4834 9 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / July 1, 2010
10.1021/es101629d
2010 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 05/24/2010
U.S. EPA, REGION 2
and reproductive systems, Schecter says. Kannan and his colleagues hope to follow up by conducting the same analysis of dioxinlike chemicals on more than 1380 additional samples that they have collected. This would enable the researchers to look for correlations between exposure to dioxin-like compounds and health issues such as lung impairments, he chemicals in combinations that have probably never been encountered,” according to Phil Landrigan, M.D., of says. the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. —KELLYN BETTS
smoke, Kannan says. In comparison, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) are the major source of dioxin-like activity for responders exposed to lower amounts of dust and smoke, but these levels are similar to those of the general population, he says. Toxicological research and studies of people exposed to high levels of dioxin TEQs have linked PCBs, dioxins, and furans with cancer, immunological problems, and impairments of the nervous, endocrine, WTC responders were exposed to “a whole soup of
July 1, 2010 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 9 4835
