Facing significant community pressure, Georgia’s #1 emitter of TCE is taking steps to use less TCE by eliminating TCE from it’s degreasing operation (thereby presumably emitting less TCE into the local environment). Last week, in a letter addressed to “Neighbors and Friends of the Winterville Community,” Nakanishi President Kunio Kanaeda promised
[By] the end of 2007…[we] will eliminate the use of TCE in our degreasing operation.
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Nakanishi Manufacturing Corporation remains committed to being a good corporate citizen and a good environmental steward in the Winterville community.
Congratulations to Nakanishi, Jill McElheney (thanks for keeping us in the loop), Micah’s Mission, Clean Air Athens, and all those working to reduce Georgia’s exposure to TCE.
Though we originally attributed the statement in the article headline below to University of Georgia Professor, Dr. Jeff Fisher, we were recently informed by Dr. Fisher that he did NOT make this statement. He was kind enough to email us, explain the situation, and request that we change our headline. We have gladly done so and apologize to Dr. Fisher for the improper attribution/implication. We have posted Dr. Fisher’s clarification (sent to us via email) with his permission:
From: Jeff Fisher
Date: Oct 8, 2005 10:00 AM
I need to tell you that the editors of the local newspaper added the
headline about TCE is a human carcinogen. I did not say, ‘TCE is really
a human carcinogen’. I think that statement is a very controversial
statement and I am not qualified to evaluate the epidemiological data
that support or refute the claim. It is regulated as a probable human
carcinogen, which means is that the goal is to protect the population
from its potential carcinogenic effects. I would appreciate you removing
the statement from your article on your website. It suggests that I say
TCE is a known human carcinogen.
After the Athens Banner-Herald’s Sept. 22 editorial on the use of trichloroethylene at Nakanishi Manufacturing in Athens-Clarke County (”Allegations of local TCE harm not yet proven“), I’m compelled to provide a better-informed view. I’ve spent 20 years conducting toxicological research on TCE, and I participated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent reevaluation of the health risks it poses.
TCE is regulated as a human carcinogen. Authoritative consensus-based bodies classified TCE as a probable human carcinogen in 1995 and in 2000. Human cancers associated with TCE are liver/biliary, kidney, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, cervix and esophagus. The editorial is incorrect in stating “it is not abundantly clear there is a link between TCE exposure and cancer.” The cited references are out of date.
TCE is a common environmental contaminant. Many industries now use other cleaning products, or have changed processes in order to reduce or eliminate reliance on TCE. I compliment Nakanishi for its effort to reduce or phase out TCE use, and encourage aggressive action in that regard. I say this not only because of citizen concerns, but because a pending National Academy of Science review of the health risks will probably impact environmental regulations for TCE in the United States.
The public health “state of affairs” when a company emits tons per year of a chemical carcinogen such as TCE into the air of a neighborhood with a school is one of great polarization and controversy. This circumstance has repeated itself many times across this country during the last 20 years. My real surprise in Athens-Clarke County is that no air quality or water quality data are available to determine the exposures of local residents and children to TCE. From a thermodynamic point of view, people in the community are highly likely to be exposed to TCE. The question is what the concentration of TCE is in the air, or, perhaps, the water. The only hint of what the TCE exposures may be to local residents comes from mathematical models that predict the air concentrations of TCE based on reported stack emissions data.
The limited modeling data I have seen predicts TCE concentrations of 1 to 4 micrograms per 1,000 liters of air. Members of the expert panel of which I was a part last month were verbally recommending a TCE air guidance value ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 micrograms per 1,000 liters of air to the New York State Department of Health. I think a better understanding of community exposures to TCE is one step in the right direction to better understand the heath risks posed from TCE in the community.
To demonstrate harm to children from exposure to TCE in the Coile Middle School or community, as suggested in the editorial, would require a large and fairly expensive research/clinical study to evaluate selected health concerns such as neurobehavioral/reproductive problems. Also, many cancers take years to develop, so children from the school would be adults before the onset of cancer. This approach is probably not an option without federal assistance and the willingness of the community to participate. Proving harm also suggests that the burden of proof relies on the citizens. They have complained about health issues.
Clean Air Athens has created a web page with information about Nakanishi Manufacturing and TCE contamination. From the web page:
Nakanishi Manufacturing dumps massive quantities of trichloroethylene, or TCE, a “dinosaur” chemical that it is being phased out around the country. It’s the chemical that poisoned the community in the movie “A Civil Action.” Safer alternatives exist, and Nakanishi claims they have been studying alternatives for several years. Demand that Nakanishi to switch to non-cancer-causing solvents immediately.
Pollution coming from the Nakanishi Motor Corporation’s plant near Winterville does not pose a health threat to its neighbors, and there is no reason to deny the company’s application to renew its pollution permit, state officials said at a public meeting Monday night.
The 1225 Voyles Road plant vents more than 100,000 pounds of year of a solvent called trichloroethylene, or TCE, less than one-third of a mile from W.R. Coile Middle School. But it is so diluted by the time it reaches the school or a nearby church that the health risk is far below any federal standards, said Randy Manning, coordinator of the state Environmental Protection Division’s Environmental Toxicology program.
Lenny Siegel, Director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO) offers:
This article raises two questions:
First, what level of TCE in air do Georgia regulators consider safe?
Second, why is Nakanishi Motors still using such large quantities of TCE? My impression is that most industrial users of TCE in the U.S. have phased it out. At least, that’s the case here in Silicon Valley
The state Environmental Protection Division will hold public meetings on pollution permits for Athens’ top two industrial air polluters over the next month.
At the first meeting, EPD scientists and officials of Nakanishi Manufacturing near Winterville will discuss that company’s application to extend its permit. The meeting is scheduled for Monday at W.R. Coile Middle School, in sight of the Nakanishi plant at nearby 1225 Voyles Road.
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Nakanishi, which manufactures machine bearings, filed for an extension of its existing air quality permit, and is not asking for permission to increase its pollution output.
The EPD does not hold information meetings on all air quality permit applications, but scheduled Monday’s public meeting because environmental regulators are working on a mandatory five-year review of the permit and because someone in the public requested the meeting – specifically, Micah’s Mission, a faith-based group focused on environmental effects on children’s health.
Nakanishi released 111,462 pounds of trichloroethylene, or TCE, in 2003, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s annual Toxic Release Inventory, compared to about 102,000 pounds in 2000 and 130,000 in 2002. TCE, a cancer-causing chemical used as a degreaser, is one of several dozen chemicals the federal government requires be tracked as “toxic” air pollutants.