manganism
see below

danger danger

dangerous until proven innocent
 .......................................................
49: Am J Ind Med 2001 Apr;39(4):434-5

MMT, Deja Vu and national security.

Landrigan PJ.

Department of Community and Preventive Medicine.

The Ethyl Corporation, the manufacturer of the gasoline additive tetraethyl
lead, has developed a new anti-knock agent, MMT, methylcyclo-pentadienyl
manganese tricarbonyl, an organic derivative of manganese. Ethyl has
already used international free trade laws to force MMT on a reluctant
Canadian government, and the Corporation appears to be attempting to market
MMT in the United States. These efforts are eerily similar to the events
that took place 80 years ago when Ethyl successfully introduced tetraethyl
lead to the American market. The tetraethyl lead story began in 1922, when
the Ethyl Corporation began commercial manufacture of this organic lead
compound [Rosner and Markowitz, 1985]. Despite concerns about its health
hazards, manufacture of tetraethyl lead was justified on the grounds that
it was essential for the production of high-octane gasoline for
high-compression engines. A few months after Ethyl began producing
tetraethyl lead, 80% of the chemical workers at its plant in Bayway, New
Jersey began hallucinating, some developed acute convulsions, and five
died. Others were left permanently psychotic. A brief moratorium was
imposed on production. But after a hasty study by a compliant U.S. Public
Health Service, the chemical was declared safe, plant conditions were
improved and the additive was put back into gasoline [Rosner and Markowitz,
1985]. At peak production in the 1970's, more than 200,000 tons of
tetraethyl lead were produced annually in the United States [National
Academy of Sciences, 1972]. Vast amounts of this lead were released into
the environment from the tailpipes of cars, trucks and buses. Widespread
contamination of dust, soils, surface water, and the food chain resulted.
For many years the hazards of this contamination to public health went
unrecognized. Several generations of American children unknowingly suffered
loss of intelligence and alteration of behavior on the result of
subclinical lead poisoning. The health, welfare and security of the nation
were diminished [Hertzman and Keating, 2000]. In the 1970's, after 50 years
had elapsed, scientists and regulators came to realize that lead from
automobile exhaust was getting into the brains of American children to
cause neurodevelopment impairment [Needleman et al., 1979; Bellinger et
al., 1987; Dietrich et al., 1991; McMichael et al., 1998; Wasserman et al.,
1997]. This chronic impairment was shown to increase the number of children
with mental retardation, to reduce the number of truly gifted children and
to increase the number of adolescents with a propensity to violence and
criminal behavior [Needleman et al., 1990; Needleman et al., 1996]. As a
consequence of these findings, tetraethyl lead was phased out from gasoline
in this country-one of the most important public health actions in the last
three decades. As a direct consequence of this action, the level of lead in
Americans' blood has declined by over 90% [CDC, 1997]. The national
intelligence has increased [Schwartz et al., 1985]. Propensity for violent
and criminal behavior has diminished. MMT, like tetraethyl lead, is a
neurological toxin that can cause agitation and convulsions, as well as
pulmonary damage [Penney et al., 1995]. In 1994, the EPA attempted to block
the manufacture of MMT in the United States citing it as a potential health
hazard. But in October of that year, a Federal Appeals Court in Washington,
DC ruled on narrow technical grounds that MMT was not covered by a
regulation that required fuel additives to be tested before they could be
sold. The Court ruled that the Ethyl Corporation could test the additive
while selling it and set no deadline for completion of such testing. In
essence, the Court stated that the chemical was to be considered innocent
until proven guilty. A much wiser approach to the management of MMT would
have invoked the precautionary principle [Goldstein, 1999]. The
precautionary principle would argue that a chemical such as MMT with
potentially serious and irreversible health hazards should be considered
dangerous until proven innocent. Application of the precautionary principle
would require extensive testing of MMT prior to its use and would demand
explicit debate about the wisdom of releasing this potentially dangerous
material to the American environment. A decision to market MMT has the
potential to be a disaster for public health. MMT poses potential hazards
of unknown magnitude for mechanics, gas station workers, other workers and
members of the public who might come into contact occupationally or
environmentally with fuel containing MMT. Manganese, the metal that would
be released to the environment by the combustion of MMT in gasoline
engines, is also a well-known neurotoxin [Rom, 1983]. Industrial workers
exposed to manganese such as miners and welders, are at risk of manganism,
a disease of the central nervous system characterized by tremors similar to
those of Parkinson's disease. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)

 PMID: 11323794 [PubMed - in process]
 .......................................................

                                 Ray Strand
                             Prairie Sky Design
 -----------------(   on  the Edge of the Prairie Abyss  )---------------
                          when  the  sky  is  clear
                            the ground is visible

                         49/dx PD 2 yrs/40? onset

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