14 DAY TRIAL // A paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed journal Environmental Health proposes that the solvent tetrachloroethylene (PCE), which used to be used for treating drinking water, and is currently a staple of dry cleaning, may be linked to the development of mental illnesses.
If confirmed, the correlation could mean that people who used to drink water treated with PCE are all at an increased risk of developing these disorders. Some of the most common symptoms associated with exposure to the chemical include mood changes, anxiety, and depression.
In previous studies, the chemical was proved to be a neurotoxin, and its use discontinued in certain applications. But several industries, including dry cleaning, are still using plenty of the stuff, which means that exposure rates for the general population are not as low as originally thought.
An interesting connection that a past study made was that the children of people who work in the dry cleaning industry tend to exhibit higher chances of developing schizophrenia than their peers.
In the paper published in BioMed Central’s open-access journal, investigators also linked PCE exposure in children to the development of bipolar disorders (BPD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), PsychCentral reports.
Boston University scientists analyzed healthcare data on a large number of individuals who were born in Cape Cod, between 1969 and 1983. People in this group were exposed to the dangerous solvent both before birth and during their earliest years.
The reason why this particular population was selected is because Massachusetts water companies tended to prefer using vinyl-lined (VL/AC) water pipes from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. These pipes used to eliminate PCE into the water supply.
People in the group who were fetuses or infants at the time were 200 percent more likely to develop BPD during their lives, and 50 percent more likely to develop PTSD. However, no clear correlation was found between exposure to this chemical and depression.
“It is impossible to calculate the exact amount of PCE these people were exposed to – levels of PCE were recorded as high as 1,550 times the currently recommended safe limit,” Boston University School of Public Health epidemiologist Dr. Ann Aschengrau explains.
“While the water companies flushed the pipes to address this problem, people are still being exposed to PCE in the dry cleaning and textile industries, and from consumer products, and so the potential for an increased risk of illness remains real,” the expert concludes.