ExposuretoTungsteninThreeNevadaCommunities.pdfVIP

Exposure to Tungsten in Three Nevada Communities Report Submitted to the Nevada State Health Division June 2003 INTRODUCTION In March and April 2002, the Health Studies Branch (HSB), Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assisted the Nevada State Health Division (NSHD) in conducting a cross-sectional exposure assessment of selected environmental contaminants in Churchill County, Nevada1. NSHD and CDC undertook the assessment because of a statistically significant increase in the number of cases of childhood acute lymphocytic and myelocytic leukemia. A key finding of this exposure assessment was that approximately 68% of the study participants had urine levels of tungsten above the 95th percentile of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) reference population. However, there was no difference in tungsten levels between families with children with leukemia and families without children with leukemia. This finding raised the question of whether these higher levels are unique to the Churchill County community, or if tungsten exposures similar to those of Churchill County occur in other communities in Nevada. Churchill County is an agricultural area irrigated by water from the Carson River. Groundwater in the Churchill County area also principally derives from Carson River water. Tungsten concentrations in Carson River water reportedly range from 1.5 to 23 µg/L.2 The Carson River watershed contains numerous tungsten mines and prospects.3 Geologically, tungsten is associated with intrusive granitic rocks. 3 Extensive outcrops of these rocks are in the headwaters of the Carson River. Drinking water in Churchill County is supplied by domestic and public supply wells. Because research on tungsten