bmasters « back to results for ""
Below is a cache of http://www.clarku.edu/mtafund/prodlib/iatp/round5.pdf. It's a snapshot of the page taken as our search engine crawled the Web.
The web site itself may have changed. You can check the current page or check for previous versions at the Internet Archive. Yahoo! is not affiliated with the authors of this page or responsible for its content.
EXPLORING EPOXY USE AT THE OAK RIDGE K-25 FACILITY and NEW CONCERNS ABOUT NEUROTOXIC RISKS Final Report





EXPLORING EPOXY USE AT THE OAK RIDGE
K-25 FACILITY

and

NEW CONCERNS ABOUT NEUROTOXIC RISKS

Final Report

Prepared by Richard Bird, MD, MPH with significant project
contributions by
Ken Silver, DSc, MS and Mohamed B. Abou-Donia, Ph.D.

June 2007





Supported by A Grant from The Citizens Monitoring and Technical
Assessment Fund (The MTA Fund)


The Investigators wish to express a special thanks to the administrators of
the MTA Fund for their support of this project and to the Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy for their sponsorship. We would also like to
thank all of the workers from the Oak Ridge K-25 Facility, Including
Members of the United Steel Workers Union (formerly Paper, Allied-
Industrial Chemical and Energy Workers Union), who provided important
information about epoxy usage at the K-25 facility. Many have suffered
from serious illnesses impacted by workplace hazards over the years and it
is our hope that this project will help to lead to a more systematic means
by which comprehensive medical evaluations and health care can take
place for Department of Energy workers who are potentially suffering from
work related diseases. It is also our goal to further characterize the
neurotoxic potential of epoxy usage for the protection of all workers and to
systematically begin a worldwide screening process so that neurotoxic
industrial materials are more readily identified in the future.
1
EXPLORING EPOXY USE AT THE OAK RIDGE K-25 FACILITY
AND NEW CONCERNS ABOUT NEUROTOXIC RISKS

Table of Contents







Introduction 2
Initial Concerns at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee
K-25 Department of Energy (DOE) Facility..... 2
Objectives and Methods
Exploring the Neurotoxic Potential of Epoxy Usage and
Developing a Public Health Strategy ......................................... 4

Epoxy Industry Review

Definition of Epoxies for Addressing Neurotoxic Concerns . 5
Comment on the Potential for Inhalation Exposures.. 5
Epoxy Constituents and Master List for Literature Review. 6
Description of the Epoxy Industry... 7
Commercial applications today.......................... 7
The Workforce at Risk: During Production, Formulation & Usage. 8
Airborne Exposure Measurements... 10

Existing Recommendations for Protecting Workers.... 13

Epoxy Usage at The Oak Ridge K-25 Facility - Historically Representing
Circumstances that Involve Higher Exposures 14
The Index Case Details... 14
Epoxy use by Masons, Painters and Centrifuge Workers @ K-25.. 18
Epoxy use by Masons and Helpers @ K-25.. 19
Epoxy use by Painters @ K-25... 23
Epoxy use by Centrifuge and Winding Workers @ K-25 25

Discussion of the Pattern of Symptoms 31

The Scientific Basis for Concern that Epoxy constituents are Neurotoxic 33

Comment on The Lack of Studies Targeting Neurotoxic Impact 35

Reports of Neurological Abnormalities in Studies of Epoxy
Workers That Did Not Consider the Potential Role of Epoxies.. 36


Epidemiological Study of Centrifuge Workers @ K-25 36

Symptoms Reported in Epoxy Workers in Washington State 37

Conclusions and Recommendations. 39

Appendix A-List Of Epoxy Compounds For Neurotoxicology Review .. 44
Appendix B-Worker Interview Questionnaire 50
Appendix C-Study Description and Consent Form. 57
Appendix D-Description of Rotor and Flywheel Epoxy Winding at K-25. 58
Appendix E-Some Epoxy Compounds Used At Oak Ridge Winding ~ 1980s 59
Appendix F-Unclassified Inventory of Y-12 Epoxy Composite Bldg 8/2000 61
Appendix G - Neurotoxicity Of Epoxy Compounds, Dr. Abou-Donia, 6-2007 63
References.. 77
2
EXPLORING EPOXY USE AT THE OAK RIDGE K-25 FACILITY
AND NEW CONCERNS ABOUT NEUROTOXIC RISKS

Final Report

Prepared by Richard Bird, MD, MPH with significant project
contributions by
Ken Silver, DSc, MS and Mohamed B. Abou-Donia, Ph.D.

June 2007
Introduction


Epoxies are used widely in industrial and domestic applications, and
apart from carcinogenic concerns, they are best known as both sensitizers
and irritants in terms of dermatological and respiratory impacts.
Neurological impacts from epoxy use, however, have not been reported thus
far in the occupational or environmental health literature.

Initial Concerns at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee K-25 DOE Facility


In the later 1990s a group of over 50 sick workers from the K-25
Department of Energy (DOE) Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee asked that
outside investigators determine whether their illnesses were related to
workplace exposures. In the course of this investigation, several workers
were found to have neurotoxic abnormalities in addition to illnesses
impacting other systems. The neurological findings included cognitive brain
abnormalities and peripheral neuropathies; the latter included, in some
cases, impacts on the autonomic nervous system. For most of the individuals
who had confirmed neurological illnesses, workplace exposures were
determined likely to have played a significant role. The majority of these
workers were involved in industrial activities in a wide variety of settings
which placed them at risk for exposure to many potentially neurotoxic
materials including solvents, heavy metals, pesticidal products and other
semivolatiles such as PCBs. In many cases it was not possible to isolate one
exposure situation which led to these illnesses, however, several had
cognitive abnormalities characteristic of specific classes of neurotoxins and
some developed symptoms chronologically after working in specific jobs. (1)

One worker who was not involved in industrial activities developed a
peripheral neuropathy condition within several weeks to a few months
following exposure to epoxy vapors. This occurred when epoxy was applied
over a two week period of time in thick layers to level the floor outside of this
workers office. Other epoxy filler materials had been used to patch walls
over a longer period of time near this office as well, and the air conditioner in
3
this workers office was set up to pull in air from the hallway where the epoxy
work took place. Because of the unique chronology and single exposure event
in this patients case, further inquiries were made regarding the nature of
epoxy use at K-25 and questions were raised about risks to other workers.
Based on direct discussions with sick workers being evaluated, and with their
co-workers, it was learned that epoxies were used for a variety of applications
at K-25. In addition to epoxy paints, these included covering and coating
concrete areas posing a risk of chemical spills, leveling and patching floors,
and using winding processes to build centrifuges and motor machinery. Some
of the sick workers who had been found with confirmed neurological
abnormalities during the detailed clinical evaluations had worked some of the
time on these epoxy jobs and several co-workers on these job assignments
also described having neurological symptoms.

With a lack of information in the literature about epoxies and
neurotoxic concerns, the chemical structures of various epoxy components
were considered, and their makeup was discussed with epoxy and industrial
chemists. It was determined that, based on their chemical structure, this
class of compounds, which includes epoxy reactive diluents (2), contain
reactive areas that classically have the potential to damage nerves. (3)
Discussions with neurotoxicologists corroborated this potential (4) and it was
discovered that unpublished animal studies of epoxy constituents and similar
compounds had been pursued, yielding positive neurotoxic findings. (5)

The provocative structure of epoxy compounds in the face of the
unpublished animal study findings and the clinical cases at K-25, has posed
both a challenge and obligation to further understand epoxy neurotoxic risks.
Several applications at the K-25 facility in the past utilized epoxies in a
manner that provokes concern: applying them in layers that are several
inches thick for leveling and covering concrete, and, in the case of the
winding processes, applying them repeatedly in open rooms with
questionable ventilatory protection. Epoxy formation usually involves
varying degrees of exothermic or heat producing reactions (6) which provides
an opportunity for inhalation of vaporized and un-reacted compon