8/19/1997 BOARD OF SELECTMEN Minutes

Home Browse Search

i" i( i i.' 2 Z. PUBLIC HEALTH STATMKMT 1.2 gCrW xjr I BE 27 OSI n To 3.Z-D=BR0X0Z ? You can be exposed to low levels of 1,2-dibromoethane in drinking water (especially well water) and in air. Before EPA stopped the use of 1,2-dibromoethane as a pesticide, the most common way you would have been exposed was by eating food that had very small. amounts of this chemical in it. You could still be exposed to low levels of 1,2-dibromoethane, particularly from groundwater (well water) , in areas where the chemical was used in farming or from hazardous waste sites. Most of the 1,2-dibromoethane that enters the soil will get into the groundwater or evaporate into the air. Small amounts can remain in very tiny particles in soil near hazardous waste sites or in areas once used as farmland. The compound may be released from these particles slowly over time or if the soil is crushed or disturbed. You can be exposed to 1,2-dibromoethane in the air near production plants . Background levels in the environment are very low. The air most people breathe contains between 0 .01-0.06 parts of 1,2-dibromoethane per billion parts of air (ppb) . Because 1,2-dibromoethane easily evaporates , most surface waters do not contain detectable amounts . Groundwater is more likely to contain 1,2-dibromoethar_e with an average concentrative of about 0. 9 ppb . In foods , 1,2-dibromoethane has recently been found in 2 out of 549 samples at concentrations of 2 and 11 ppb. There is no information on background levels in surface water or soil. If you applied 1,2-dibromoethane an a farm or gulf course, ifY ou worked to pack fruits gassed with 1,2-dibromo ethane, or if you worked in a factory that made 1,2-dibromo ethane, you could be exposed to much higher than background levels. For more information on human exposure to 1,2-dibromoethane, see Chapter 5 . 1.3 HOW CAN lo,2-DIBROMOET-ILINE ENTER AND LEAVE MY BODY? 1 2-Dibromoethane can enter your body after you eat or drink contaminated food and water. It can also enter your body through your skin wheny ou bathe or swim in contaminated water. The 1,2-dib romp ethane inside tin soil articles may enter your body if you crush or eat contaminated soil. y - P y � you breathe air that contains The chemical can enter your nose and lunbs when y 1,2-dibromoethane or when you shower with water that is contaminated. Near hazardous waste sites or near areas that once were farmed, the most likely way thatY ou will be exposed is by drinking contaminated groundwater. 1 rapidly 2-Dibromoethane will be ra idl taken into your bloodstream by any method of os f it builds u in our liver and kidneys where it is rapidly exposure.ur e. Nio s t P your broken down to different substances. These substances leave your body quickly -fin the urine and smaller amounts are passed in liver bile into the stool. Small amounts of 1,2-dibromoethane that are not broken down can be breathed out of our lungs . Chapter 2 has more information on how 1,2-dibromoethane enters and leaves the-body.