Comparison of Size and Geography of Airborne Tungsten Particles in Fallon, Nevada, and Sweet Home, Oregon, with Implications for Public Health

Abstract

To improve understanding of possible connections between airborne tungsten and public health, size and geography of airborne tungsten particles collected in Fallon, Nevada, and Sweet Home, Oregon, were compared. Both towns have industrial tungsten facilities, but only Fallon has experienced a cluster of childhood leukemia. Fallon and Sweet Home are similar to one another by their particles of airborne tungsten being generally small in size. Meteorologically, much, if not most, of residential Fallon is downwind of its hard metal facility for at least some fraction of time at the annual scale, whereas little of residential Sweet Home is downwind of its tungsten facility. Geographically, most Fallon residents potentially spend time daily within an environment containing elevated levels of airborne tungsten. In contrast, few Sweet Home residents potentially spend time daily within an airborne environment with elevated levels of airborne tungsten. Although it cannot be concluded from environmental data alone that elevated airborne tungsten causes childhood leukemia, the lack of excessive cancer in Sweet Home cannot logically be used to dismiss the possibility of airborne tungsten as a factor in the cluster of childhood leukemia in Fallon. Detailed modeling of all variables affecting airborne loadings of heavy metals would be needed to legitimately compare human exposures to airborne tungsten in Fallon and Sweet Home.

Tungsten Toxicity in Plants

“…While in the former USSR investigations concerning the toxicological profile of W have began already by the 1950s and environmental regulations on W pollution were developed since the 1980s, research on W in USA and the European Union has started relatively recently [ 13 ]. Commence of research over W toxicology in the USA was encouraged due to cases of the leukemia clusters in Nevada State [ 14 ]. Especially the cluster in the city of Fallon, regarded as “one of the most unique …ever reported” [ 15 ], provoked extensive research in an attempt to find the preliminary cause.…”

Urinary tungsten and incident cardiovascular disease in the Strong Heart Study: An interaction with urinary molybdenum

“…Participants in the Strong Heart Study are likely exposed to W through groundwater contaminated by the upwelling of geothermal waters or geological deposits containing W (Grimes et al, 1995; Seiler et al, 2005). We are not aware of any specific industrial sources of airborne W in SHS communities, but this has been recorded as a potential source of population exposure in other communities, including in Nevada and Oklahoma (Sheppard et al, 2012). Arsenic and W often occur together in drinking water aquifers due to their similar deposition properties and common industrial sources.…”

Effect of low-dose tungsten on human thyroid stem/precursor cells and their progeny

“…Despite the concern raised by its use in the military industry (Miller et al 2004) and by the occurrence of leukemia clusters in areas of heavy W pollution (Sheppard et al 2012), the tungsten mechanisms of carcinogenicity have been studied only in a limited manner (Lemus & Venezia 2015) and never at the thyroid level.…”

“…Tungsten is not classified as carcinogenic to humans, such as IARC class I metals (As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb and others), mainly because insufficient data have been collected in this regard (https://monographs.iarc.fr/ agents-classified-by-the-iarc). However, much evidence suggests that tungsten and its compounds may have carcinogenic effects (Sheppard et al 2012, Laulicht et al 2015. In particular, chronic exposure to W caused altered development of B lymphocytes both in vitro and in vivo (Guilbert et al 2011, Wu et al 2019, an observation reminiscent of the increased incidence of F Gianì et al Tungsten and thyroid stem/ progenitor cells…”