Liver Dysfunction in Residents Exposed to Leachate from a Toxic Waste Dump

Abstract

It has been estimated that there are some 30,000 chemical waste dumps in the United States. Many of these landfill operations were undertaken in the early 1950s and 1960s, when knowledge regarding the safe and prolonged containment of the waste buried was nonexistent or minimal at best. As a result, many of these dump sites were located in areas that were geologically unsuitable for toxic chemical wastes. The Love Canal area in Niagara Falls, NY, is probably the best known of these dump sites. While a few of these sites have attracted wide media coverage, the availability of objective scientific information regarding the health effects of such sites has been deficient. The present study of a large toxic waste dump located in Hardeman County, TN, its contamination of surface and underground aquifers and the health effects on the area residents exposed via ingestion of contaminated water, offers the first objective evidence of organ dysfunction in such a human population. During this study comprehensive evaluation of that population revealed multiple symptoms, evidence of hepatomegaly and elevated liver function tests apparently caused by ingestion of water contaminated by numerous organic chemicals, many of which are known to be hepatotoxins.