What is TCE?
Source:Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry US Department of Health and Human Services
TCE—The Usages and the Dangers
What happens to trichloroethylene when it enters the environment?
How might I be exposed to trichloroethylene?
How can trichloroethylene affect my health?
How likely is trichloroethylene to cause cancer?
Is there a medical test to show whether I've been exposed to trichloroethylene?
Has the federal government made recommendations to protect human health?
Drinking or breathing high levels of trichloroethylene may cause nervous system effects, liver and lung damage, abnormal heartbeat, coma, and possibly death. Trichloroethylene has been found in at least 852 of the 1,430 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Vapor systems have been installed in many houses where TCE levels were found to be significantly above EPA standards.
What is trichloroethylene?
Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a nonflammable, colorless liquid with a somewhat sweet odor and a sweet, burning taste. It is used mainly as a solvent to remove grease from metal parts, but it is also an ingredient in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correction fluids, and spot removers.
Trichloroethylene is not thought to occur naturally in the environment. However, it has been found in underground water sources and many surface waters as a result of the manufacture, use, and disposal of the chemical.
What happens to trichloroethylene when it enters the environment?
- Trichloroethylene dissolves somewhat in water, but it can remain in ground water for a long time.
- Trichloroethylene quickly evaporates from surface water, so it is commonly found as a vapor in the air.
- Trichloroethylene evaporates less easily from the soil than from surface water. It may stick to particles and remain for a long time.
- Trichloroethylene may stick to particles in water, which will cause it to eventually settle to the bottom sediment.
How might I be exposed to trichloroethylene?
- Breathing air in and around a home which has been contaminated with trichloroethylene vapors.
- Drinking, swimming, or showering in water that has been contaminated with trichloroethylene.
- Contacting soil contaminated with trichloroethylene, such as near a hazardous waste site.
- Contacting or breathing contaminated air while manufacturing trichloroethylene or using it at work to wash paint or grease from skin or equipment.
How can trichloroethylene affect my health?
Breathing small amounts of trichloroethylene may cause headaches, lung irritation, dizziness, poor coordination, and difficulty concentrating.
Breathing large amounts of trichloroethylene may cause impaired heart function, unconsciousness, and death. Breathing it for long periods may cause nerve, kidney, and liver damage.
Drinking large amounts of trichloroethylene may cause nausea, liver damage, unconsciousness, impaired heart function, or death.
Drinking small amounts of trichloroethylene for long periods may cause liver and kidney damage, impaired immune system function, and impaired fetal development in pregnant women, although the extent of some of these effects is not yet clear.
Skin contact with trichloroethylene for short periods may cause skin rashes.
How likely is trichloroethylene to cause cancer?
Some studies with mice and rats have suggested that high levels of trichloroethylene may cause liver, kidney, or lung cancer. Some studies of people exposed over long periods to high levels of trichloroethylene in drinking water or in workplace air have found evidence of increased cancer. Although there are some concerns about the studies of people who have been exposed to trichloroethylene, some of the effects found in people were similar to effects in animals.
In its ninth Report on Carcinogens, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) determined that trichloroethylene is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that trichloroethylene is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
Is there a medical test to show whether I've been exposed to trichloroethylene?
If you have recently been exposed to trichloroethylene, it can be detected in your breath, blood, or urine. The breath test, if it is performed soon after exposure, can tell if you have been exposed to even a small amount of trichloroethylene.
Exposure to larger amounts is assessed by blood and urine tests, which can detect trichloroethylene and many of its breakdown products for up to a week after exposure. However, exposure to other similar chemicals can produce the same breakdown products, so their detection is not absolute proof of exposure to trichloroethylene. This test isn't available at most doctors' offices but can be done at special laboratories that have the right equipment.
Has the federal government made recommendations to protect human health?
The EPA has set a maximum contaminant level for trichloroethylene in drinking water at 0.005 milligrams per liter (0.005 mg/L) or 5 parts of TCE per billion parts water.
The EPA has also developed regulations for the handling and disposal of trichloroethylene.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set an exposure limit of 100 parts of trichloroethylene per million parts of air (100 ppm) for an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek.