Occupational, Environmental and Public Health in Semic: A Case Study of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Pollution

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, October, 1989.

Summary: Eleven workers with readily observable symptoms of exposure to PCBs and other chemicals were chosen for detoxification from a group of 24 male volunteers from a factory using PCBs in the manufacture of capacitors. The remaining 13 served as a control group. Detoxification treatment reduced both the body burdens and the symptoms of treated workers while no such improvements occurred in the control group. This study, undertaken in cooperation with the University Medical Center of Ljubljana and the Institut fur Toxikologie, University and Technical Faculty of Zurich, supports the use of health screening and detoxification for individuals affected by toxic exposures.

Human Contamination and Detoxification: Medical Response to an Expanding Global Problem

Proceedings of the MAB UNESCO Task Force on Human Response to Environmental Stress, Moscow, 1989.

Summary: Individuals with a variety of workplace exposures were unable to work or had reduced work capacity. Following detoxification, each was able to return to work. Though the results presented are anecdotal, they confirm previous findings in the peer-reviewed literature (Schnare et al., 1982; Roehm, 1983; Schnare et al., 1984; Schnare and Robinson, 1985; Tretjak et al., 1989) and demonstrate that this approach can be effective in reducing body burdens of toxic compounds and returning individuals to the workplace.

Neurobehavioral Dysfunction in Firemen Exposed to Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs): Possible Improvement after Detoxification,

Archives of Environmental Health, Vol.44, No. 6, 1989.

Summary: Fourteen firemen were exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and their by-products at the site of a transformer fire and explosion. Six months after the fire, they underwent neurophysiological and neuropsychological tests. They were re-studied six weeks after detoxification. A control group of firefighters was selected from firemen who resided in the same city but were not engaged in the fire in question. Initial testing showed that firemen exposed to PCBs had poorer neurobehavioral function than the control group. Significant reversibility of impairment was noted after detoxification.