Health effects three years after potential exposure to the toxic contaminants of an electrical transformer fire

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989 · Archives of Environmental Health; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00039896.1989.9935886· OSTI ID:5477545

Fitzgerald, E F; Weinstein, A L; Youngblood, L G; Standfast, S J; Melius, J M ^[1]

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1. New York State Department of Health, Albany (USA)

A medical surveillance program has been established for 482 persons who were potentially exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dibenzo-p-dioxins, and dibenzofurans from an electrical transformer fire in a Binghamton, NY office building in 1981. Vital Record and Cancer Registry data, medical records, and mail questionnaires were used to assess mortality, symptomatology, cancer incidence, and reproductive events through 1984. The numbers of deaths, cancers, fetal deaths, and infants with low birth weight or congenital malformations were similar to those expected on the basis of age- and sex-specific rates for upstate New York and other comparison populations. Two suicides were observed compared with 0.31 expected, but the difference was not statistically significant. After adjustment for possible confounders, persons with the greatest degree of potential exposure were significantly more likely than those with less exposure to report unexplained weight loss (relative risk (RR) = 12.80), muscle pain (RR = 5.07), frequent coughing (RR = 4.14), skin color changes (RR = 3.49), and nervousness or sleep problems (RR = 3.19). The possibility of recall bias and the intervening effects of stress, however, weaken the conclusion that toxic chemicals caused the symptomatology. Exposure-related systemic disorders, e.g., chloracne or peripheral neuropathy, were not diagnosed by personal physicians; however, some persons refused to release their medical records because of ongoing litigation. The findings are consistent with those of our earlier assessment.

• OSTI ID: 5477545
• Journal Information: Archives of Environmental Health; (USA), Vol. 44:4; ISSN 0003-9896
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BENZOFURANS
TOXICITY
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
DIOXIN
FIRES
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
NEOPLASMS
NEW YORK
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
TRANSFORMERS
AIR POLLUTION
AROMATICS
DISEASES
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FEDERAL REGION II
FURANS
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
USA
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology