Subject(s)
Chemical Hazard Release/history , Congenital Abnormalities/history , Public Health/history , West Nile Fever/history , Biomedical Research/history , Emigration and Immigration/history , Epidemiology/history , France , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Israel , Italy , Leadership , Poland , Preventive Medicine/history , Typhus, Epidemic Louse-Borne/history , USSR , World War IIABSTRACT
RATIONALE: On January 6, 2005 a train derailment led to an estimated 54,915-kg release of chlorine at a local textile mill in Graniteville, South Carolina. OBJECTIVES: We used the employee health spirometry records of the textile to identify enduring effects of chlorine gas exposure resulting from the incident on the lung function of workers employed at the textile mill. METHODS: Spirometry records from 1,807 mill workers (7,332 observations) were used from 4 years before and 18 months after the disaster. Longitudinal analysis using marginal regression models produced annual population mean estimates for FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC ratio. Covariate adjustment was made for sex, age, smoking, height, season tested, technician, obesity, season × year interactions, and smoker × year interactions. The increased prevalence of mill workers having accelerated FEV1 decline was also evaluated after the chlorine spill. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: In the year of the accident, we observed a significant reduction in mean FEV1 (-4.2% predicted; P = 0.019) when compared with the year before the incident. In the second year, partial recovery in the mean FVC % predicted level was seen, but the cohort's average FEV1/FVC ratio continued to decrease over time. Severe annual FEV1 decline was most prevalent in the year of the accident, and independent of mill worker smoking status. CONCLUSIONS: The Graniteville mill worker cohort revealed significant reductions in lung function immediately after the chlorine incident. Improvement was seen in the second year; but the proportion of mill workers experiencing accelerated FEV1 annual decline significantly increased in the 18 months after the chlorine incident.
Subject(s)
Chemical Hazard Release/history , Chlorine/adverse effects , Inhalation Exposure/adverse effects , Lung/physiopathology , Adult , Disasters/history , Female , History, 21st Century , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Middle Aged , Railroads , Regression Analysis , South Carolina , Spirometry , Textile IndustryABSTRACT
The devastating environmental impacts of the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 and its media notoriety made it a frequent comparison to the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the popular press in 2010, even though the nature of the two spills and the environments impacted were vastly different. Fortunately, unlike higher organisms that are adversely impacted by oil spills, microorganisms are able to consume petroleum hydrocarbons. These oil degrading indigenous microorganisms played a significant role in reducing the overall environmental impact of both the Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon oil spills.
