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WATER GREMLIN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT: PUBLIC COMMENT DRAFT <br />after exposure stops. Also, there is no medical test to determine whether a person was exposed to TCE <br />from Water Gremlin. The re.are.no recommendations for any in creasedscreening for cancer or other <br />health effects, although people may wish to share. the fact that they were or may have been exposed to. <br />TCE in air from this situation with the Ir.physicians. <br />There is.a general lack of data demonstrating differences in health effects from TCE exposure based on <br />factors such as age, gender,.genetics, race/ethniclty, preexisting health status. and lifestyle (IPA; 2011). <br />It is. not known. whether children are rhore susceptible. than adults to the effects.of TCE. <br />Babies born to women exposed to TCE during the first eight weeks of pregnancy (when the babys heart <br />is forming) are considered the most sensitive. This is in part due to the post ibilitythat TCE exposures <br />could have been considerably higher than:the annual averageconcentrations for shorter windows of <br />time .and may have occurred at the same time fetal heart development occurred. Regardless, no <br />changes in regular prenatal..care.are recommended as a result of T'CE.exposures, If the fetus developed <br />normally there is no future risk. of ca.rdiac.defects. <br />In addition to pregnant women and the developing fetus;. MDH considers infants and children, the <br />elderly, and those with a compromised immuneSystem.generallyto be more sensitive to exposure to <br />chemicals. <br />What Happens to TCE in the. Body? <br />Mostof the TCE people breathe jn will go into the bloodstream and ❑thee organs.. While some TCE is <br />exhaled unchanged, much of the TCE that. enters the. body is metabolized, or chemically broken down, <br />primarily In. liver. Other organs and tissues, especially kidneys, also. break down some TCE. Most of <br />the TCE breakdown products leave the .body in the. urine within a day .(ATSDR, ?014). <br />When the body absorbs more. TCE than it can break down quickly; some of the TCE or its. breakdown <br />products can be stored in body fat fora brief period. However,:once. absorption stops, TCE and its <br />breakdown products quickly leave the fat, <br />The health concerns attributed to TCE.are generally due to the. breakdown products rather than TCE <br />itself. <br />B. 2019T2020 Air Emissions —trans-l:,2-dichforoethylene-DCE) <br />After Water Gremlin was forced to stop TCE use in January 2019, they expressed interest 1n resuming <br />coating operations with a product called Flu6oly W5 in place of TCE (NuGenTec,.2019). EluoSo1v is <br />composed. primarily of t-DCE, and.its use in coating results in air emissions of t-ME from the facility.. <br />What is trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene (t-DCE)? <br />t-DCE is. a.clear liquid that is highly flammable. and evaporates easily (it is categorized as a VOC).. It. is <br />used as a solvent for cleaning and degreasing, as well as.a propellant. and. blowing agent (LJ.S. EPA; <br />2019b). It has recently.been used as an alternative to TCE.. Exposure occurs mainly by breathing it in at <br />workplaces where t=DCE is made or used, <br />What Happens to t-DCE in the Air? <br />When t-DCE gas is continuously released into: the air there can be localized elevated. air concentrations.. <br />Farther away from .the source, t-DCE mixes into the atmosphere by spreading out in all directions and <br />becomes increasingly diluted. In the atmosphere, t-DCE is broken down.to half the initial amount after <br />14 <br />