Dioxin Sources in the Humboldt Bay Area
DIOXIN IN PENTACHLOROPHENOL: A CASE STUDY OF CANCER DEATHS IN THE LUMBER INDUSTRY
By Richard Alexander
Mr. Kirby from March 1962 to March 1984 worked continuously in the Arcata mill of Simpson Timber Company. He worked on the paint line continuously between 1962 and whenever the paint line shut down in 1972. In 1963 he was a helper on the paint line. After two years as a helper he became the operator. Mr. Kirby recalls brushing Woodlife when he was the operator during the period from 1968 through the shutdown. Mr. Kirby recalls using Woodlife on the paint line for clear siding, occasionally as back prime for white paint, and that a brush was used to coat the ends with Woodlife. In addition, it was sprayed in the booth.
During the two (2) months Lloyd Taylor worked on the paint line in 1967, he recalls a curtain-coater was used to apply Woodlife.
Tim Skaggs testified at his deposition that he began work at Simpson on March 8, 1971. He started on the night shift as a laborer and would be assigned to work where he was needed. An hour lunch break would take place between 9:00 and 10 o’clock and Skaggs would eat where he was working that shift, in the dry sorter shack, the planing mill, or on the paint line.
Tim described the paint line as having curtain coaters which would spray the lumber with paint or Woodlife, it included three dryers and two curtain coaters. One would do one side and flip the board over and then send it back to the other one. One of Skaggs’ jobs on the paint line was to work where the lumber came off the paint line itself and he would stack it by hand. On the paint line he was handling lumber without gloves that was almost always dry but sometimes, when the sealant wouldn’t permeate, “it would be wetter.” Very few people wore gloves on the paint line handling the warm treated wood, according to Skaggs. Another job he did in the paint line room was to trim lumber with a small trim saw located on the south wall. He also was assigned to work on the paper wrapper in the paint line room. The boards that were handled at the paper wrapping machine had been coated with a sealant. Of all the times Skaggs worked in the paint line room, half the time was spent on the trim saws, a quarter of the time was spent off loading at the paint line and a quarter of the time was spent on the paper wrapper.
Alan Glaseroff, M.D. testified at his deposition that Tim was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia at Stanford University. He first learned from Dr. Neil Water that Dr. Water had three people who had some type of leukemia and all worked at the same place. It was at that time that Dr. Glaseroff contacted the State of California to explore a cancer cluster.
Dr. Glaseroff was aware of Woodlife prior to this case. It contains a chemical within it known as dioxin which is a “big issue up here.” There have been a number of dioxin concerns with dumping in the bay and two pump hill plants having to change their process of bleaching wood from a non-chlorine process to get rid of dioxin contamination. The statement that is generally attached to dioxin is that it is “the most potent carcinogen known to man.” In Dr. Glaseroff’s opinion, Tim Skaggs’ cancer was secondary to his workplace exposure to PCP (pentachlorophenol).
Dr. Gardner reports that a study of of saw mill workers in southern Oregon reviewed hospital admissions in three counties where there was a three-fold increase in leukemia suggesting that chlorophenol could be a cause. He confirms that Dr. Hardell’s 1981 article in the British Journal of Cancer studying 105 non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas in patients exposed to chlorophenol and toxic acids shows an association between pentachlorophenol and tumors of the B Cell Lymphocytic line and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, as similarly occurred at the Arcata Mill. In summary, Hardell’s investigation suggests that exposure to organic solvents, chlorophenols and/or phenoxy acids constitutes a risk factor for malignant lymphoma. In addition a case study from the Mayo Clinic in 1963 show an association between pentachlorophenol and leukemia.
http://web72345.ntx.net/article/lumber.shtml#simpson
JH Baxter and the LD McFarland wood preserving facility on Highway 99N emit pentachlorophenol to air. Penta is also contaminated withhexachlorobenzene and chlorinated dioxins and furans—some of the most toxic chemicals known.
