Case study: the crude MCHM chemical spill investigation and recovery in West Virginia USA

Whelton, Andrew J.; McMillan, LaKia; Novy, Caroline; White, Kevin D.; Huang, Xiangning

doi:10.1039/c5ew00294j

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The initial Camp Fire response revealed analytical problems similar to the 2014 large-scale drinking water contamination incident in Charleston, West Virginia. There, the lack of SOPs and quality assurance/quality control resulted in erroneous data reporting (Whelton, McMillan, Novy, White, & Huang, 2017). During Camp Fire testing, spot-checking of commercial laboratories was not conducted, and duplicate samples, as required by USEPA Method 524.2 (USEPA, 1995), were not collected regularly.…”

Section: Control Data Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire caused widespread drinking water distribution network contamination

Proctor

Lee

et al. 2020

AWWA Water Science

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The Tubbs Fire (2017) and Camp Fire (2018) are the first known wildfires where widespread drinking water chemical contamination was discovered in the water distribution network and not in the source water after the fire. In both disasters, drinking water exceeded state and federal government‐defined exposure limits for several volatile organic compound (VOC) contaminants (e.g., benzene at 40,000 µg/L [Tubbs] and >2,217 µg/L [Camp]). This work outlines factors that influence wildfire‐induced drinking water quality threats based on the findings from these two fires and explores related scientific and policy issues. For example, certain plastics in the network may serve as a primary VOC source through in situ plastic pyrolysis. Depressurization of the distribution network likely transported contaminated water that subsequently contaminated undamaged infrastructure. As wildfires at the wildland–urban interface are likely to occur more frequently, greater scientific evidence is needed to guide agency responses that will better protect public health.

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Section: Control Data Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire caused widespread drinking water distribution network contamination

Proctor

Lee

et al. 2020

AWWA Water Science

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“…Propylene glycol phenyl ether (PPH) is an industrial chemical used as a latex coalescent and a solvent for textile dyes. Toxicological significance of MCHM and PPH is associated with a recent spill and large scale contamination of drinking water in West Virginia [18]. N,N-dimethyl-p-toluidine (DMPT) is an accelerant for methyl methacrylate monomers in medical devices that has been shown to induce liver carcinogenesis in male and female F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice in a 2-year oral exposure study.…”

Section: Gene Expression Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

The sensitivity of transcriptomics BMD modeling to the methods used for microarray data normalization

Mezencev

Auerbach

2020

PLoS ONE

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Whole-genome expression data generated by microarray studies have shown promise for quantitative human health risk assessment. While numerous approaches have been developed to determine benchmark doses (BMDs) from probeset-level dose responses, sensitivity of the results to methods used for normalization of the data has not yet been systematically investigated. Normalization of microarray data converts raw hybridization signals to expression estimates that are expected to be proportional to the amounts of transcripts in the profiled specimens. Different approaches to normalization have been shown to greatly influence the results of some downstream analyses, including biological interpretation. In this study we evaluate the influence of microarray normalization methods on the transcriptomic BMDs. We demonstrate using in vivo data that the use of alternative pipelines for normalization of Affymetrix microarray data can have a considerable impact on the number of detected differentially expressed genes and pathways (processes) determined to be treatment responsive, which may lead to alternative interpretations of the data. In addition, we found that normalization can have a considerable effect (as much as~30-fold in this study) on estimation of the minimum biological potency (transcriptomic point of departure). We argue for consideration of alternative normalization methods and their data-informed selection to most effectively interpret microarray data for use in human health risk assessment.

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“…In this issue of Archives appears a study of health effects, or absence thereof, following an uncontrolled release from a 150,000-L tank of about 28,400 L of the chemical 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) into the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia, on 9 January 2014 from a storage tank from a storage tank owned by Freedom Industries. 1,2 Freedom was in possession of an industrial storm water discharge permit, the only special environmental permit required of it.…”

Section: Editorialmentioning

confidence: 99%