Human Health Effects from Exposure to Hazardous Environmental Substances

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Human Health Effects from Exposure to Hazardous
Environmental Substances
Janice PanichelloEnvironmental Occupational
EpidemiologyOregon Department of Human Services
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Types of Asbestos
Amphibole Brittle rod or needle-like shape
Higher cancer risk tend to be longer, sharper,
and are more likely to lodge in lower lung.
Chrysotile 95 of commercial asbestos use
Fibers flexible and curved.
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Asbestos Fibers
Greater risk if fibers size is greater than 5
microns (1 inch 25,000 microns) Most fibers
removed from lungs within a few hours. Long
and/or thin fibers, particularly in the deepest
parts of lung may stay for years or may never be
removed.
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Examples of Asbestos Use

• Shingles
• Floor tiles
• Asbestos cement
• Roofing felts
• Insulation acoustical products
• Steam pipes, boilers
• Popcorn ceilings
• Patching, joint compounds, textured paint,
  asbestos paper tape
• Brakes, clutch facings
• Plastics, fabrics, paints, paper

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Characteristics of Asbestos

• Naturally occurring mineral with thin, separable
  fibers.
• No detectable odor or taste.
• Fibers do not dissolve in water or evaporate.
• Resistant to heat, fire, chemical biological
  degradation.
• Are not broken down into other compounds, and
  remain virtually unchanged over long periods of
  time (but may break into more and shorter
  fibers).

• May remain suspended in the air for a long time
  and be carried long distances by wind or water
  before settling.

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Who How Exposed?

• Close to asbestos factory 0.01 fibers/mL or
  higher
• Disturbance of asbestos demolition,
  remodeling, insulation, brake repair, improper
  disposal

• All of us Typical air 0.00001 fibers/mL
• Occupational exposure
• Families of workers

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Asbestos-Related Health Conditions

• Cancer
• Lung cancer
• Mesothelioma
• Other cancers

• Non-Cancerous Lung
• Abnormalities
• Asbestosis
• Pleural plaques
• Pleural thickening
• Pleural effusion (fluid) (Can be an early
  indication of mesothelioma)

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Asbestos fibers lodged in lungs.
Asbestos-related conditions affect the lungs and
surrounding tissues.
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Asbestosis

• Shortness of breath Persistent and productive
  cough chest tightness can lead to heart failure
  
• Onset usually 10-20 years after initial exposure
• Incidence rate increases and the disease becomes
  more severe with increasing dust level and
  duration of exposure.

• Scarring and inflammation of lungs caused by
  long-term exposure to asbestos
• Can be disabling or fatal

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Number of deaths recorded with asbestosis as an
underlying or contributing cause on the death
certificateU.S. residents aged 15 and older,
19681996. (Source NSSPM 1999.)
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Lung Cancer

• Smoking increases risk by 12- 20 times
• Asbestos exposure (non-smoker) increases risk by
  5 times
• Smoking Asbestos Exposure together increase
  the risk 50-90 times
• 5-year survival rate in U.S. only 14

• Accounts for 50 of all asbestos-related disease

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Mesothelioma

• Caused by asbestos (not related to smoking)
• No effective treatment known
• Rare about 200 cases diagnosed in U.S. Each
  year (30 cases diagnosed in Oregon in 1999)
• Usually fatal within one year of diagnosis

• Cancer of lining of lung (pleura) and lining of
  abdomen (peritoneum)
• Accounts for 10 to 18 of deaths among workers
  exposed to asbestos
• 15 to 40 years from first exposure before
  diagnosis

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Other Health Conditions from Hazardous
Environmental Substances
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Lead

• Health Effects
• Brain damage and lower intelligence
• Nervous system damage
• Behavior and learning problems
• Impaired speech and language
• Slowed growth and development
• Kidney and liver damage
• Coma, convulsions, or death
• Detection Blood Test

About 1 in 22 children in America have high
levels of lead in their blood.
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Mercury

• Brain damage
• Kidney damage
• Changes in brain function, such as tremors,
  changes in vision or hearing, memory problems, or
  irritability.
• Increased blood pressure or heart rate

• Lung damage
• Effects passed from mother to fetus mental
  retardation, blindness, seizures, inability to
  speak
• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rashes
• Detection Urine Test

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Asthma
Reversible obstruction of the upper airways that
causes breathing difficulty

• Increasing O3 and Particulate Matter are
  associated with
• ? in asthma symptoms and medication use
• ? emergency department visits
• ? in asthma hospitalizations

• 7.7 of adults have asthma 190,000 adult
  Oregonians with asthma
• 7.5 of US children have asthma. If prevalence
  among Oregon children is the same, then estimated
  50,000 children in Oregon have asthma

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Pesticide exposure
Health symptoms headache, muscle twitching,
tremors, lack of coordination, abdominal cramps,
diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, chest
tightness, blurred vision, excess sweating,
weakness.
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Illegal use of pesticides
Oregon Pesticide Cases Intentional poisoning of
well water with 2,4-D herbicide. Infant fatality
possibly due to misuse of insecticide spray gt100
people poisoned by eating illegally treated
watermelon, cucumbers, cantaloupe.
Unlicensed pest control operators indoor spraying
of over 2,000 homes in South and Midwest with
Methyl Parathion (permitted only for outdoors).
Cleanup cost over 50 million.
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Oregon Resources for Human Exposure to Hazardous
Environmental Substances
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Department of Human Services, Environmental
Occupational Epidemiology (EOE)

• Focus Identification, intervention and
  prevention of occupational and environmental
  illnesses and injuries to Oregonians
• Programs
• Health risk consultations at Superfund or other
  toxic sites.
• Lead poisoning
• Pesticide poisoning
• Asthma
• Dermatitis
• Hazardous Substances releases

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Oregon Pesticide Analytical Response Center
(PARC)

• Multi-agency board of 8 state agencies with
  jurisdiction over pesticide use in Oregon
• Provides information on appropriate biological
  and environmental sampling, laboratories,
  decontamination, prevention strategies, public
  education
• Identifies and investigates cases of pesticide
  poisoning and exposure

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EOE/PARC Contact Information

• [phone]
• www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/eoe/
• www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/parc/