Meyer C R
Environ Health Perspect. 1983 Feb;48:9-13. doi: 10.1289/ehp.83489.
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.
据估计，美国约有3万个化学废物倾倒场。其中许多填埋作业是在20世纪50年代初和60年代进行的，当时对于安全且长期地封存掩埋废物的相关知识尚不存在，或者最多也只是微乎其微。因此，许多这些倾倒场位于地质上不适宜存放有毒化学废物的地区。纽约尼亚加拉瀑布的洛夫运河地区可能是这些倾倒场中最为人所知的。虽然其中一些场地引起了媒体的广泛报道，但关于此类场地对健康影响的客观科学信息却十分匮乏。目前对位于田纳西州哈德曼县的一个大型有毒废物倾倒场的研究，包括其对地表和地下含水层的污染以及对通过饮用受污染水而接触到的该地区居民的健康影响，首次提供了此类人群器官功能障碍的客观证据。在这项研究中，对该人群的全面评估揭示了多种症状，有肝肿大的迹象以及肝功能测试结果升高，这显然是由于饮用了被多种有机化学物质污染的水所致，其中许多有机化学物质已知是肝毒素。
