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Connecting the dots: Study finds link between plant workers' use of chemical, nervous disorders(Paducah Sun, The (KY) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 20--Bettye Graves vividly remembers her husband coming home daily from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant reeking of chemicals. His clothes stank even after washing, drying and starching. "I told him I thought it was dangerous," she said. "I bought him nail brushes and didn't allow the children to bother them." The hands of 82-year-old Paul Graves of Lone Oak now tremble from Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological disorder. A recent University of Kentucky study linked parkinsonism -- a group of nervous disorders with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease -- with workers who once used the common solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) at a plant in Berea. "The important thing our study did was connect the dots," lead researcher Don Gash said. Diagnosed in 1995, Graves is among at least 13 former Paducah plant workers who say they have Parkinson's, according to James Harbison, liaison for a health-screening program run by the plant nuclear workers' union. He said four others are reported to have died with the disease. Deeper look The UK study "raises a red flag" compelling enough for a thorough review of Paducah nuclear workers, said Dr. Steven Markowitz, a Queens College epidemiologist and head of the screening program nationwide. Combining human and animal studies, the UK report is more convincing than two previous case reports, he said. "I don't think the report establishes TCE as a cause of Parkinson's, but it does provide some evidence and means we need to look much more closely because they are a tremendous number of (Paducah plant) people who have been exposed to TCE," he said. Markowitz said the records of 3,000 previously screened Paducah workers will be reviewed for Parkinson's and TCE exposure. He estimated that 7,000 to 10,000 people have worked at the plant since it opened in 1952. The plant stopped using TCE in the early 1990s. The Paducah group is worthy of study similar to Berea's, Gash said. "I would hope we could get some colleagues interested in that." Claims review Scientists with the Department of Labor's Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program will examine the UK study, said Pete Turcic, program director. If warranted, TCE will be added to a pending bulletin associating several more work toxins with Parkinson's-like symptoms, he said. "Basically what the bulletin is saying is we found relatively new scientific information that in a significant number of cases there's been a misdiagnosis of parkinsonism as Parkinson's disease," Turcic said. "The literature doesn't show that much related to Parkinson's disease. We'll reevaluate every case that had been denied for Parkinson's disease in accordance with the bulletin." Now 81, Paul James of Paducah has Parkinson's and a pending claim that it was caused by exposure to welding fumes containing toxic manganese gas, which some studies connect with the disease. Without respiratory equipment, the former process engineer cut compressors and converters out of the plant's massive process buildings. Turcic said manganese II chloride will be one of the chemical compounds in the new bulletin. Used like water Graves retired in 1988 after 36 years at the uranium enrichment plant. Wearing no gloves or masks, he and other electricians in the 1960s cleaned capacitors by dipping them into 55-gallon drums of TCE in the switchyards. "We'd put our hands in it and wash with it," he said. "Then we'd wipe our hands off with a rag and go back to work." Graves said he used the capacitors to test electrical insulating oil containing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which wound up on his hands and clothing. Some worker studies suggest high, prolonged exposure to PCBs may cause liver damage and cancer. Doctors for a U.S. Department of Labor program to compensate sick nuclear workers rejected Graves' claim that PCBs caused his Parkinson's, even though some studies also draw a correlation. Prior to the UK study, Graves hadn't thought of refiling his claim with TCE as the culprit. He said records clearly document his work with the degreaser. Massive pollution Investigations have found extensive TCE beneath a plant building called C-400 where the chemical was heavily used. Some groundwater concentrations are more than 20,000 times greater than the drinking water standard of five parts per billion, equal to five drops of ink in a canal lock full of water. DOE contractors plan to use in-ground electrodes this year to evaporate TCE from beneath the building, considered the chief source of billions of gallons of contaminated groundwater. Pumping and treating has been ongoing for several years to try to control the problem. Using cranes, C-400 workers for decades lowered machinery into a heated indoor vat containing TCE. "I'm not aware that I ever used trichloroethylene," he said. "But I'm sure I was exposed to the fumes walking through that building because they were very pungent." Graves recalls climbing inside a large tank outside C-400 that had been drained for inspection. He wore a mask, but immediately smelled phosgene, a toxic gas he knew well from chemical-weapons training during World War II. He said he was later told that TCE reacted with chemicals in his mask to cause the phosgene. "I dropped out of there," he said. "I never forgot that smell." Joe Walker can be contacted at 575-8656. What is trichloroethylene? Trichloroethylene (TCE) is clear liquid degreaser that smells like chloroform. It also is used in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correction fluids and spot removers. Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant workers used TCE extensively for decades until it was banned at the factory in the early 1990s. The solvent is the leading groundwater contaminant at the plant, found in trace amounts in a few neighboring residential wells in the late 1980s. TCE is the chief reason the Department of Energy replaced the wells of more than 100 homes and businesses in the early 1990s with free municipal water. Overexposure to TCE mainly affects the brain. Some animal studies suggest high levels of TCE may cause liver, kidney or lung cancer. About the disease Parkinson's disease affects the brain, causing shaking and stiffness of hands and feet, slowed movement, and impaired balance and coordination. It usually affects people over 50 and is progressive. Other symptoms may include depression; trouble swallowing, chewing and speaking; urinary problems or constipation; skin problems; and sleep disruptions. Aging is the biggest risk factor, followed by exposure to chemicals such as pesticides. About the study University of Kentucky researchers have linked TCE to parkinsonism -- a group of nervous disorders with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease -- based on recent studies of 1970s workers at a now-closed Dresser Industries plant in Berea. Three people working extensively with TCE developed Parkinson's. Fourteen more, who breathed TCE vapor, had early symptoms of parkinsonism but not Parkinson's. Another 13, also exposed to TCE vapors, showed no signs of parkinsonism, but their fine motor skills were slower than others their age. The UK findings were published in December in the online edition of Annals of Neurology, an American Neurological Association journal. To see more of The Paducah Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.paducahsun.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Paducah Sun, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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